The last challenge was the most emotionally difficult but not physically, we had to leave the Chicago Basin—as you can see from the picture above, this was not an easy feat.
We spent our last night enjoying our amazing spot and the incredible view while finishing the whiskey and wine, relaxing in our hammocks, and of course the amazing company of our hiking crew.
We got up bright and early because we didn’t want to risk missing the train. There was a slow group and a fast group; the slow group, which I was a part of, left earlier because we were really paranoid we were going to take about as long as it took to hike up. Thankfully this wasn’t the case and we finished in a little under three hours.
After our hike out, we sat and enjoyed the river and bridge while waiting for the train. Once on the train we headed immediately to the bar—a beer and a bloody Mary was my reward for making it through this trip, exactly what my body needed!
We enjoyed our final pictures of the seriously breathtaking scenery on the train and then pulled into Silverton. Reality set in as we all received cell service again and the world we had left quickly returned.
We were back but not done with our trip just yet. Next we headed to Ouray for lunch and ate at the Ouray Brewery. We had barbecue and wings; it was such good food in general but the perfect first-real-food-meal to eat after four days of dehydrated food.
We then went to go to the Ouray Hot Springs but as we pulled up we realized there was way too many kids so we went to a much more adult hot springs. We went to the Orvis Hot Springs and the amount of naked old men will always be imprinted in my brain. To get away from this view I got a 30 minute massage that was of course incredible. Then after this we hit the road for the long trip back to Denver, the trip was over.
The night ended with me feeling so refreshed after a shower and in a real bed with Taco Bell.
