July 20th
I was wiped out from the night and got to the desolate Bannock PassPass over an hour before my scheduled pick up.
No Internet or cell signal. I started to update blog posts since I would soon be near power. However, in the warm morning sun, I dozed off. I awoke to a large bull elk moving rapidly uphill through the cattle field. The steers were making noise, but it was unclear whether they were cheers or jeers as the elk easily jumped the barbed wire fence forming the prison around the cattle.
Town was great. I had a huge breakfast, took a nap, and had a huge dinner. The only restaurant in town was interesting. I ordered an omelet and the deep fried french toast. After about 10 minutes the cook/ waitress asked me if I wanted eggs. I said definitely and to put them in the omelet.
When I had Internet access, I did some research and found that deep fried french toast is only legal because of state fairs. Without the audacity of state fair food, it would be too dangerous. It was four sizzling crispy slabs of French toast, each dotted with a tablespoon of butter. That I ate it plus the omelet and the hash browns was fairly impressive and disgusting at once.
I resupplied, napped and had dinner. At dinner, I was more conservative. There were a few other hikers in town. I made arrangements with the motel owner (Sam) for a ride back to the trail in the morning.
Leadore is a nice hiker town. It is dry and in a big valley devoted to ranching. I’m not sure a car based traveler would relish it as much as a hiker
backpacking over the hill 