4 miles to civilisation. 4 miles. Of course, it was 4 miles up! It felt like it went pretty slow, but I got there before 10am. There were more glorious views even in that short hike.

I had booked accommodation in Alma, which meant I’d need to get a couple of hitches at least. The first was relatively quick, one as a guy was dropping his girlfriend off at the pass and offered me a lift to Jefferson, which was on the way to Fairplay (which was in the way to Alma). I took the offer gladly.

Jefferson isn’t really even a town, there are about four buildings. But it does have a general store that served hot food.

I ordered some biscuits and gravy and some lemonade. I did my best not to moan out loud when I got that lemonade. I’m not sure I succeeded, but I did my best. I smashed about 4 of them before my thirst was somewhat satiated. Thank Thor for free refills! As for the biscuits and gravy? I could hardly eat any of them. My stomach rebelled.

I actually felt a bit sick, and sat there for a good long while trying to steady myself. Suddenly my stomach reminded me that I had not gone number 2 for a few days. It was not a gentle reminder.

After sorting that out I went back to concentrating on not throwing up. It took a lot of concentration.

After agreeing peace terms with my stomach, a temporary peace as my stomach made it clear there would be war later, I got up to leave. A lady eating at the table next to mine asked me if I wanted a lift back to the pass, which was super nice of her, but it was the opposite way. So I headed out into the midday sun to hitch a lift to Fairplay.

It took a good 15 minutes or so, but eventually someone took pity in me and gave me a ride. He was a cool dude in an old beat up Jeep Grand Cherokee. I think his name was Steve, but I was beyond exhausted at this point and names just wouldn’t stick. Still, very cool dude for giving me a ride.

Fairplay used to be called South Park. Yes, that one. I popped into the supermarket and bought more things I probably didn’t need and then went to a Tamale place next door. My stomach had decided I needed to eat something. I didn’t get a tamale, but something else with rice and beans. It was pretty nice. I was steeling myself to go out and hitch again when a guy asked if I wanted a ride to the pass. After I said I was heading to Alma, he said “oh no problem, we can drop you there!” Sweet!

Again I got their names but it just would not stick in my head. Sorry guys! They were a cool, good looking couple and we chatted about Fairplay and it’s connections to South Park on the way to Alma. I was super grateful for the ride.

Alma is apparently the highest incorporated town in the US at 10,355 feet. It has a population of about 300, but many more stop on the way to Breckenridge. It was a pretty damn cool little town.

I stayed at the Treeline hostel, and it was a joy to shower and put my clothes in the laundry. I was lucky enough to have the room to myself and promptly dozed off for a couple of hours.

That evening I managed to eat half a chicken burger from Otto’s food cart and smash a few cokes. I then had another shower, just for the hell of it, and relished feeling vaguely human again.

Now I had to think about my plans for the next few days. To be honest, I was feeling pretty beat up and I did not relish the thought of going back on the trail tomorrow. Plus I had to sort out a new filter. What to do, what to do?