Tuesday, July 9th, 2024, 0700-0800
York creek bridge to Coleman, mm 92
3 miles, Gain: 170′, Loss: 570′, elevation 4800′
It was hard to get up after a late night and 2 long days beforehand but the call of town breakfast lured us. The last 3 miles on the road flew by, especially with the mosquitos chasing us. We need not have rushed because about the only breakfast joint in town didn’t open until 9 am. We plopped down outside and I went in search of a toilet. The town reminded me of an old mining town in Colorado, with a classic western main street.
Georgie and Vince joined us for breakfast. They made it all the way into town the night before and had gotten a hotel room. The food took a little while to come out but was generous in portion. I surprised myself by how hungry I was. I ate a 3 eggs omelette with a fruit bowl and side of french toast. I guess not eating dinner the night before and having 2 huge effort level days put a dent in me.
We got our resupply boxes from Chantel the shuttle driver’s house and were able to check into the hotel early. One thing I never expected was to desperately want a room with AC in Canada. But the heat spell was really hitting hard and I was so relieved when the lady told us there was indeed AC in the rooms. We cranked it and settled in for the day, setting the TV on the broadcast of the Calgary Stampede. I had no idea but it’s one of the biggest rodeos in the world. The city was just gearing up for it before we started the hike and now it was in full swing. It’s famous for its chuck wagon races.
I took a long overdue nap and then we all went to dinner. In addition to the 4 in our group, Canadians Michelle, Ricky-Bobby, and Helena joined us…we were almost outnumbered by these National hikers! Imagine that. Alex and Strider went to nearby Fernie, so the ladies definitely had the guys outnumbered this night. The food was again pretty good and generous. The place was called Rumrunners but I had a local beer. I often don’t sleep well in towns but I crashed hard this night. I was so glad we were already taking a zero. I needed one.
Wednesday, July 10th, 2024
Zero
I woke up with the goal of doing almost nothing at all, and I mostly accomplished this. I laid in bed forever, working on my phone and even ignoring breakfast. When it got late enough, I ran across the street to get a footlong Subway. It was pretty subpar, even for Subway, but at least I didn’t have to go far. Woody had joined the others for brunch and then they took a cab to nearby Blairmore to do some laundry and visit the gear store. I just washed my clothes in the sink the night before because going to another town just for that chore seemed excessive. Also, the cabs were outrageously expensive. We’d called for a ride to go from downtown to the outskirts of Coleman just 1 km the day before and the fare was $18! It was $20 to go 3 miles to Blairmore, relatively a better deal but still…
In the afternoon, I started pondering the sliding insole problem in my shoe. The right one was bunching up in the heel and my toes were curling over the top end. It was annoying but not a deal breaker. I called the running and camping store in Blairmore to see if they might have spare Altra insoles laying around. No dice. But they did have the fancy insoles made for correcting foot problems. Just for fun, I decided to see how fast I might hitch to Blairmore. The corner outside the hotel was a perfect spot so if I didn’t get a ride right away, I could just easily give up and go back in the AC. I took my umbrella, which I’d just marked up, one side reading “hiker to town” and the other side “Hiker to Trail.” I barely had time to twirl the umbrella when perhaps the 4th car stopped. Well, as usual, hitching was stupid easy. The guy was a coal miner and on his way to Pincher Creek to get food from Walmart. Things were so similar in Canada.
The insoles at the gear store were definitely the wrong shape for Altras and way too expensive. I was going to hit up the pharmacy for Dr Scholl inserts next, but a funny pair of shoes caught my eye. Well, rather the price tag of $110 CA. The shoes were Saucony Peregrine 13 ST and looked a lot like Salomon speedcross. They had huge aggressive lugs, speedlaces, and gaiter or sock-like uppers. They had limited sizes so I tried on the men’s display model, a size 8.5. They were probably a size too big but I instantly liked them for some reason. I reasoned that for $85USD, they were worth giving a shot. I could bounce my Altras ahead and put off worrying about the insert. But I’d only ever worn Altra Superiors for all my thru hikes, except for the TA, where I wore Altra Lone Peaks. I knew it was probably a bit stupid to switch to an entirely different brand right before going into a 12 day section, with basically no chance of switching shoes. But I also had faith that my feet could handle just about anything I threw on them. So I bought the shoes.
The hitch back took me a bit longer…maybe 10 minutes. A sweet couple of friends in a van picked me up. They almost seemed sad that I only needed to go 3 miles. They were on their way to Whitefish and sounded like they would have been fun to spend some time with. I loved hitching…a great way to meet interesting people. I also loved sticking it to the cab company.
We went out to dinner again, this time to the Rock Rabbit (which had a picture of a pika…guess that’s what Canadians call them?). The wings were half price so we all loaded up on them. I also got a salad. I was very pleased once again and even had some leftovers to take back for breakfast. I had many more chores left to do, so I didn’t get to bed until after midnight. But at least I got a nap earlier. This town stop flew by!