July 14, 2017
These are the days set aside for preparations for the next few days, rest for horses and riders, and maybe even a tiny taste of what society is once again.
I feel that these Zero Days are definitely very important for the horses. It allows them to rest and recover muscles and eat additional calories. Meanwhile, us riders look forward to possible showers and meals in town. Looking back out how we spaced out our zero days, I would feel much better if we pushed slightly higher mileage days and then allowed at least 2 days of rest each week. Though, there are a lot of factors with type of terrain, elevation gains and losses, weather, and the list goes on.
This morning Lissa, Annie and our trail parents drove all the way out to Denver to purchase the shoes needed to get their horses shod. We had a farrier coming in the morning. That left Devan, Ragan and I with a cooler full of food (which we cleaned out that morning). It was great just talking and laughing. We rotated the horses off the highline to graze, and all the horses got extra hay to munch on that day.
It was taking much longer than we thought it would for the others to make it back from their trip out to Denver, so Devan volunteered to stay in camp while Ragan and I went into Salida. We did not have a vehicle, so yes… it was time to see how hitchhiking works! It took a few minutes, but one kind stranger finally pulled over and gave us a ride into town.
We ate some ice cream and found a bookstore to buy some new things to read on trail. Eventually, Devan showed up in town with Annie, so we all got together and made our way to the Salida Hot Springs Aquatic Center to shower and spend a bit of time in the pools. Lissa eventually joined us in town and we all went off to enjoy dinner before coming back to camp.
Tomorrow, the farrier was coming in the morning. Once the horses scheduled to be shod were finished, we plan to head out on Segment 15. We are looking at a slightly shorter day since Annie’s parents will be able to meet us along the trail at our next camping spot.
