September 24th and 25th.
I stayed in Pagosa Springs. It is an interesting town, but not too hiker-friendly. It is basically like a barbell. At one end is a concentration of businesses near the springs and some restaurants and motels. There is a 2 mile highway stretch and then another concentration of new, generic stores and motels.
I ended up walking from the spring end where I was staying to Walmart in the new area. It is not fun walking along a highway. On the way back, a car passed and came to a rapid halt in front of me. Out of the front passenger side, a guy asked if I needed a ride. I said no thanks as I was pretty close to my motel. He asked if I was a through hiker. I thought I must smell pretty bad if a passenger in a moving car can smell me. His trail name was Let it Be and he had hiked the CDT and said I just looked like a through hiker. Even though it was a busy highway, we had a good, brief conversation. What a great guy.
There were some good restaurants. The fish tacos at Kip’s were great. The hamburgers at Riff Raff were good. Indeed, at the Riff Raff you can order a lamb, yak, or bison burger. Oddly, I have had a trail craving for fried chicken and I was able to get some in town.
It felt good to dry out and eat too much. Still, I found myself getting antsy to return to the trail.
backpacking over the hill 