Mammoth Zero Day #3
0 miles
Mile 903.4
I woke up around 8 feeling great. Other than my toe, my body felt back to normal and ready to hike. While picking at a lemon poppyseed muffin during breakfast at Schat’s Bakery, Spikes and I decided we’d wait until Monday morning to leave since we both needed to use the post office, which unfortunately is closed over the weekend.
After breakfast we went back to the motel room to pack up our crap to migrate to Davidson Street Hostel where other hikers we knew were staying. Once we checked out we hopped on the trolley to be ferried across town to our new digs. A small boy on the trolley kept staring at Spikes’ legs in disgust…it was pretty funny.
Post holing into the sharp ice had wrecked her legs. When we arrived at the hostel we were delighted to find Mike and Shiva there, and met two new hikers, Roadrunner and Spice Man. The hostel was fantastic. It’s amenities included a fully stocked kitchen, an outdoor balcony and a neat lounge with comfy leather couches, board games and a tv. We chatted with the other hikers on the balcony for a bit before Spikes, Mike and I headed out to run some errands.
We caught another trolley ride back across town and made an impromptu pit stop at Roberto’s for margaritas and nachos. While conversing on the patio we saw Snowman, a Canadian hiker we’ve been leapfrogging, walking down the street. We gave him a holler and he joined us at the table.
Margs drunk and nachos eaten, I split off from the group to take care of some chores. First, I swung by Mammoth Business Essentials to make postcards from some pictures I’d taken on trail. Craig, the owner, was super helpful. Within no time I had a hand full of custom made cards to send out to family and friends.
My next stop was the public library. I needed a computer to make some edits to my website that I couldn’t do on my phone. I spent a few hours there trying to focus as the hooligan children surrounding me chattered away.
Work done, I swung by Vons to grab some beer and snacks for the evening before getting a ride back to the hostel. I returned to the hostel around 5 to find Spikes whipping up dinner. She was as excited for an opportunity to cook as I was to eat it! Before long I had a terrific looking plate of dill marinated salmon with a ferro salad in front of me.
It was incredible! Thanks Spikes! After dinner I washed the dishes before migrating to the lounge where we chilled for a bit before heading to the Village in search of ice cream. Once again we were disappointed to find the joint closed when we arrived. We just keep striking out on ice cream in this town!
We ended up grabbing a pint of caramel cone Haagen Daz at the General Store, along with some candy for the walk back. The trolley pulled up as we exited the store, so we ran over to hop on. As it pulled away we realized we were going the wrong way…whoops! What should have been a short ride turned into a multi leg journey through town until we arrived back at the hostel.
We spent the rest of the night hanging in the lounge watching Westworld while eating ice cream.
Cheers!
P.s. and here’s my toe…
