My mattress has deflated and I’m not sleeping much. The girls have given me their Z-Pads to sleep on but I feel like the princess and the pea. I want my inflatable mattress. George ordered me a new one after failed attempts to fix mine. So once I get to Pinedale, Wyoming, I’ll be sleeping like a princess once again. Until then, not so good!

Atsuko hasn’t been able to remedy her blisters and that has been a concern of mine. We broke camp knowing we had close to 20 miles ahead of us and a lot of elevation.

We all took off early and headed south. The cranes were singing, the temperature was cooler and the trail was, well suitable for horses. Indeed it was a horse trail that we were using to get us back onto the CDT. The past few days we have been seeing bear prints, but not any kind of bear. These are massive griz prints that were imprinted in the dirt trail that we were sharing.

After three miles, we saw the Game & Fish ladies. They waved at us and came over to commiserate with Atsuko. Fearless had talked with them minutes before and they wanted to see if there was anything they could do. Provide First Aid bandages, a ride out on horseback, anything. I thought for a moment and asked them if they knew of a shortcut out of here?

The girls came in through an area west of us, known as Turpin Meadows. They told us it was only thirteen miles to the parking lot and trailhead. This compared to our thirty-five miles that would take us to Brook Lake. It had less elevation and would save us a day of hiking. That’s all they needed to say! We located our escape route on the map, contacted Curt, Atsuko husband, and had a plan. Now we just needed to relay this to Fearless and Hogged Up.

Atsuko stride improved, her face lit up and I believe her blisters were beginning to heal. As we came over the hill, the girls were waiting and we were all onboard to leave this trail today. Yeah, town food, laundry and showers were closer now than ever!

The hike out was a breeze. It was long and dusty, but relatively flat compared to what we thought we would be doing today. We followed the horse trail all the way back to the barn, following a highway of horse manure, trails of rocks, ruts and all things familiar to our four legged friends.

Our last bit of downhill was greeted by no one else but Curt. He had his sandals on and was coming up the trail to greet his bride. He took her pack, gave her a hug and escorted us down to his awaiting truck.

We were welcomed with ice cold towels to wipe the sweat off our faces, ice cream sandwiches and beverages of our choice. That’s the way to be greeted from six days and close to a hundred miles on trail. Curt, can you follow us to Mexico?

Once we were all loaded in the truck, we drove to the town of Dubois where we had a cute log cabin room waiting for us. Fearless, Hogged Up and I were dropped off while Curt and Atsuko drove back to their fine home on wheels.

Atsuko, it was a pleasure to have you for this stretch. You have always been my go-to partner on the trail when things get tough. I thank God for all the friends that have come my way. Most definitely the Lord knew what I needed and when. What a boost for my heart and soul having my beautiful friend to share this enormous journey with. I’ll be praying that your feet heal and you come back to hike another day with me. Much love to you Atsuko, aka PT Cruiser.