CDT Day 45: The Butterfly House

Not realizing it was there until I was just a few miles from the highway, I was pleasantly surprised to find the Butterfly House hostel in Garfield, CO to be artsy and cozy, complete with a disco ball and lava lamp. It was nice to see a proper resupply box again, and between that box and some leftover food from the lodge I had my full resupply. No need to go down into Poncha or Salida, though the altitude did seem to be getting to me a bit when coupled with the pressure of the thunderstorms. It had taken me a full hour to consume breakfast this morning, even having to take some to go. Really only altitude, heat, or a stomach bug stills my hiker hunger at this point.

It was the silver Tesla from Chico, California that picked me up after waiting almost an hour for a ride back up to Monarch Pass. I got my photo with the fun Divide sign there and continued back down towards Garfield. About half way down in one of the large pullouts there was an older man in a large RV, and we began to chat. His RV had broken down, and we chatted about the succulent in his window that his was in honor of his wife, and how he traveled full time in his RV now. I told him how my dad had told my mom to look for the butterflies, and so I made sure to get my Monarch Pass photo. He hadn’t previously spoken with thruhikers and was in disbelief that people did such a thing. Before long the dark clouds began to descend, it began to rain and though he invited me in to escape it I wanted to make it back to the lodge and dinner.

It began to hail and the thunder was loud, and so I took off running down the road. I’m not one to casually chance lightning if it’s that close and I can make it out of danger relatively quickly. A couple miles later I was back at the Monarch Lodge, again one of the only customers. I reveled in the silence and watched the rain fall.

I’ll take the rainbow popping up on the walk back as a good omen.

Arriving again at the hostel, there was a thruhiker from Sedona (a Colorado Trail one). “You’re really on the tail end of the CDT hikers, I’ve been passing a bunch of them but the bubble has fizzled out,” he said. Ya, I know, I get it, I’m not the cool trendy hiker leading the pack. That seems to be all the rage, as if getting there sooner is more valiant than getting there on good pacing. I’m averaging 20 miles/day with my zero days included, as I’d always planned. My mileage and timing is on pace to finish and I’m enjoying myself. I’ve never been one to try to fit in, and I’m not starting now. There’s a reason I could never be an influencer. It was fun to chat with another thruhiker for a bit, especially about the upcoming excitement for the San Juans (for him) and the Collegiate Peaks (for me).

After taking a dip in the hot tub out back and enjoying the moonrise, I went upstairs to stretch and wind down for bed. With a hazard weather warning full of thunderstorms all week, I had to be ready for the Collegiate Peaks ahead.