Recovering from Doing an Ultra While Thru Hiking

This morning everybody slept in at the hotel room. This is our second zero day in a row, but I really needed the rest. To no surprise, hiking 120 miles in 48 hours could make you a little bit sore.

Once again, I only got up so that I could make it to the continental breakfast in time. I ate a couple things there and then came back to the room to just hang out and get some writing done.

Syrup had made plans to meet up with a friend of his who is in town. They wanted to get food at the local Thai restaurant so we decided to all go over there together for lunch. It’s actually a Thai buffet and it’s only $15, so we could not resist. Before we headed over there Sparkle and James came over to the room to hang out before they hiked out for the day. They had gotten kicked out of the hotel because of check out but weren’t ready to hike out yet. It’s been so cool seeing Sparkle after having spent so much time hiking together in Canada last year.

Sometime after noon we called the local free bus to come and pick us up and take us into town. The bus in Rawlins is ridiculously convenient. The guy will come at the drop of a hat and take you anywhere you need to go. I think the bus is two dollars per person per ride, but it doesn’t really seem like the guy cares about charging you. The first time we got on he didn’t charge us, so the second time we rode the bus we threw him some extra money. When we got picked up we said goodbye to Dirty who is now officially off trail. It’s sad that we won’t see him again on this hike.

Heading into the Thai restaurant which had a lunch buffet.

All of us got to the Thai restaurant and immediately went to town on the buffet. I was surprised that it was one of the best buffets I’ve ever had. The assortment was great and the food was in small portions so it was clearly fresh. In the time that we sat there, we watch the people refill all of the dishes a bunch of times. I ate some crab Rangoon, spring rolls, rice with curry, pork, and all kinds of other things. Everything was super fresh and flavorful. I ate so much food that I made myself feel sick of course. And I also got a Thai tea.

One of the plates I made at the buffet. I went back a few times to load up.

Syrup friends came and met us at the buffet and then we all hung out there for a while. By the time that we left there, I couldn’t eat another bite and definitely felt sick. While we were sitting at the buffet, Sparkle and James actually popped in. The road walk we’re going to be doing tomorrow walks you right by this restaurant, which is pretty funny. So we got to see them again before they continued on.

Before we got the bus back to our hotel we decided to go down the street to bubble tea place. I am absolutely obsessed with bubble tea, but usually you can’t really get it that much on trail. I wound up getting two so that I could take one back to the room to drink as I hung out for the rest of the day.

At the bubble tea place I got an oolong milk tea and a taro milk tea. Both were very good.

When we did get back to the room I decided to go and sit in the hot tub for a while. When we stay at a hotel that has a hot tub I love to sit in the hot tub and do some voice to text or make some phone calls. It’s nice to feel like you’re multitasking, working, and relaxing all at the same time. But today the hot tub was basically half full, and the water wasn’t warm. They just treated the water last night so I’m not really sure why they drained the hot tub. But I just sat there in the tub for a couple hours anyway.

Eventually, I was too cold to stay there any longer so headed back to the room. I had to take a hot shower to warm up because the water in the hot tub was truly just lukewarm. But I still enjoyed myself. After I showered, I got comfortable for a little while. Then I decided to walk over to Walmart to finish my resupply. It felt like the day was already getting away from us and I didn’t want to have to go to the store too late in the evening.

Over at Walmart I wound up doing one of the best resupplies I’ve ever done. Originally, I wasn’t sure what to get for my resupply. I grabbed a few things that I wasn’t completely sold on. Then when I was walking through the Mexican food aisle, I noticed that they sold the Mexicali dehydrated refried beans. I’ve tried these before because 9 Lives had them. They are ridiculously good, but for the most part you can only find them online.

I wound up buying four bags of beans. Because I don’t want to just run out of them after this resupply. I also gave a call to the gang to see if they wanted any, and of course everyone wanted a bag of their own. So for my resupply I got dehydrated refried beans, taco seasoning, packets of beef creations taco beef, chicken fajita chicken packets, and a few other odds and ends. I’m really excited to try the beef creations packet. It’s made by the same brand as the one that makes the chicken and the tuna packets. But the idea of a beef packet sounds pretty cool.

A beef creations sloppy Joe packet, which I wish I had bought.

I’d never seen anything like this before! A beef creations bbq beef packet.

In the end I probably got way too much stuff for this resupply. But the assortment of food was too good to pass up. Then I began walking back to the hotel. On the way back I tried to get a milkshake from Burger King, but they said they were too busy to serve any more customers. That was pretty wild. So I went over to McDonald’s and got a milkshake and then headed back to the room.

Our brief time in the basin definitely got me nice and tan again! I was starting to loose my hiker trash tan.

When I got back, everyone was envious of McDonalds. So they wound up doing their resupply after that and then going to McDonald’s as well. I just hung out by myself in the room for a little while and got some more work done. 

Once everyone came back, we had a relaxing rest of the night. Everyone ate there McDonald’s or Taco Bell, whatever they got. Then we watched the movies before falling asleep. This rest has been fantastic. But I am excited to get back to hiking again tomorrow.