Locked Out of Our Hotel in the Middle of the Night

This morning we had a fairly early start to the day. We are trying to start our slack pack as early as possible to beat the heat. At the room I got packed up and situated. Then I headed over to the continental breakfast before we hiked out. We are going to be leaving our bags at the place that we are staying at tonight. So we walked a mile and a half into town to leave our bags there. 

Cute fake grizzly bear prints that go along the sidewalk through anaconda.

9 Lives and I are going to be staying at the Hickory House Inn. There’s a hostel in town, but they don’t have any rooms available right now for women. Apparently the rooms are sectioned off by gender, which isn’t completely common with hostels. That means that the guys were able to get a room there, but we had to find our own accommodations. In the end the place we chose though was really cute, so I was glad that we were staying there. It was old, historic, and adorable. While we were inside the inn we ran into a hiker that we met back in glacier named Taxi Man. It was so nice to see him again.

The sign for the Hickory House Inn. I’d recommend staying here for sure if you’re going through Anaconda.

The adorable living room at the inn. All of the furniture was clearly historic.

After we left our bags at the room, we started hitching. Because we are slack packing we are going to try to get a ride down to the end of the road, then we can just walk back to town. We could walk out and attempt to get a ride back at the end of the day. But typically when slack packing it is easier to get a ride further from where you’re trying to be, and then walk back to where you want to be.

It only took about five or so minutes for us to get a ride. A really nice woman named Sonia picked us up and was really interested in what we were doing. She drove us about 13 miles down the road and dropped us off. Then all we had to do was walk back to our room in Anaconda. It was super hot out and we didn’t really start walking until around 9am. But it was still going to be much nicer walking on the road with light backpacks versus our heavier backpacks yesterday.

Getting a ride down the road with Sonia.

With our light backpacks we made fantastic time walking along the road. We only had to do about 12 miles so we figured we could do it all in one push to town. Just like yesterday it was incredibly hot walking along the road. But it was a bit earlier today so it wasn’t nearly as bad. I listened to music and tried to zone out as best I could. Fortunately, today all of those tricks worked very well and we were back in town by noon. It felt like it really flew by. All I ate along the road walk was a McDonald’s breakfast sandwich that I had packed out from town.  

9 Lives, High Profile, and Sidequest, just ahead along the road.

The McDonald’s that I packed out to eat along the road walk.

Just like yesterday when we got back into town the first thing we passed was a gas station. So all of us headed over to the gas station to grab something to drink. Then we continued walking through town. There was a grocery store which we walked past and decided to go in to resupply. That way, we don’t have to do a long walk later in the day to resupply. When we were outside the grocery store we ran into Nana Man and Case who were just walking around doing some errands as well. It was nice to see them again.

Nothing better than a sun umbrella and a Mountain Dew along a road walk.

When we left the grocery store, we stopped at a couple different places before getting back to our room in town. At one convenient store I got a massive blue icee, which was so good. Then we went to Dairy Queen and a couple people got food, but I didn’t have the appetite for it. Eventually we actually headed back to our room to do our chores and relax. I got organized and took another shower. Then I walked to the post office to get some boxes which had been sent there. I had a box full of food which I’ve been bouncing around since Glacier. I really didn’t want anything from inside the box either, sadly. When you’re hiking, your taste for certain food can change very quickly. Foods that I’m obsessed with become unappetizing very fast.

The big blue icee from the gas station.

Fish tacos that I got from a place in town for late lunch.

After I did my errands, I hung out at the inn and got work done for a few hours. I drafted up some of blogs and did some video work as well. It felt good to be productive and get a lot done. Along with posting daily blogs, I’ve also been making short daily videos for the CDT. Feel free to check them out on my Instagram page @madisonblagden.

Later on in the evening we still had to do laundry. But we weren’t able to do it at the inn. So we reached out to High Profile to see if we could do it at the hostel he was staying at. Luckily we were able to do it at the hostel. So we went and dropped it off and then met up with some of our friends at a brewery in town.

The whole gang! This is the complete tramily, which is about 10 people.

Everyone playing “shoey” outside the brewery. An iconic thru hiking game.

While the laundry was going we hung out with everybody in town. Then after the brewery close we ended up going down the street to a nearby bar. I really wasn’t planning on drinking much because we have to hike out tomorrow. But everybody was in a pretty wild mood already. It’s hard to avoid drinking when people are buying you drinks all night long, even when you’re not asking for them.

Giggles, 9 Lives, and I ate the bar.

The local bar where we spent most of our evening.

All of us wound up staying out way too late. Around 11pm we finally attempted to go back to the inn. But when we got there, 9 Lives realized that her phone was dead and she didn’t remember the passcode for the front door. That meant we had to go find someone with a phone charger so that she could get her phone turned back on. Then she could check to see what the passcode was for our front door. That was a pretty hilarious thing to have to do at 11pm at night.

9 Lives and I with Dirty, trying to figure out how to get back into our room.

Sitting outside of the hostel at night, using Tripod’s charger to turn 9 Live’s phone back on.

Luckily, one of our friends was still awake and they were able to help us out. So we got her phone turned on and got the combination for the door. Then we were able to get back into our room for the night. Back at the room, all I wanted to do was go to bed. But I never organized my food resupply from earlier today. So I decided to do that so that I didn’t put it off till tomorrow morning. Once I was all done with that I brushed my teeth and finally called it a night.

The new hat that I got today in a box from the post office! If you like it, you can get your own from the treks website.

Tonight at the bar I braided Nana’s hair again and he looked so pretty.