Day 153– continental divide!!!

I slept great and got some much needed rest. I packed up and headed for the hills. I stopped for breakfast at the only has station in South fork. I also grabbed a blimpie sandwich for later. After I ate and talked to a few people at the gas station, I left and walked through town. There was a shop who did ski and rafting tours. I popped in to see if they had a beanie cap. They did but it was marked for tourists at over $20. I said that was just a little too much for me. Before I walked out, the manager stopped me and asked about my cart outside. Told him what I was doing and he tossed me a beanie in the air. I will wear it proudly. 
The incline began. I was feeling full of energy and ready to go as far as possible today. Hopefully reaching the summit but had my mind set on a ski resort just a mile from the top. (Last resort, get it?)

A few miles into the ascent, I came upon a campground. I needed to pee and wanted to put sunscreen on. I figured the restroom there would be a good a place as any to handle those tasks. I walked into the office to ask permission and the woman was so sweet. A southern accent that reminded me of Georgia. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had offered up a slice of pecan pie. She had no problem with me using the restroom there. 
Not long after the campground, a cyclist riding down the hill was approaching and we stopped to say hello. Daniel is from South Korea and is cycling across the US. His English was good but he had a hard time with the pronouns. We understood each other enough though. 
At the 9 mile mark was another campground. I had planned on stopping here anyways. I sat and ate half of the blimpie sub and refilled my water bottle. As I was sitting there, a family pulls up and wanted to say hello. They saw me on the road and had all sorts of questions. They are from England and driving across America. Husband, wife, and 2 teenage daughters. They looked like good girls but I still took the time to express my cause and the importance of staying away from drugs. They were very nice and brightened my mood up. 
There was a long stretch of zero shoulder at this point. It was obnoxious but there were pull offs every so often. For some reason, all of the cars coming downhill were in large groups. I would run from pull off to pull off between the large groups. At one of the pull offs, a car was waiting and it was 2 guys around my age who wanted to say hey. 
Chris and Dominic. They were headed to go ride mountain bikes. We talked about everything and then another person pulls up, Michael. We all just hung out on the side of a mountain highway like that’s what people do. They took pictures and I asked them to share my cause to help me raise awareness. 
Same routine with the pull offs. A few pull offs later, I was met by yet another car who saw me. This was great. I love when people aren’t in such a rush that they can stop and meet the guy who’s walking across America. Damien and Diana. This was awesome. Damien is an addict in recovery and Diana’s father had walked from New Jersey to Toronto. The perfect people to run into. 
We talked for quite a long time and it was amazing. I hope to stay in touch with them. Still no damn shoulder. I was starting to get pissed about it. The whole point of me taking this specific route was because there was a wide shoulder. I guess I was wrong. I kept going anyways. I mean what else would I have done?
I came up to a big pull off with restrooms. I decided to take advantage of them and after that, the wide shoulder returned. Yay. The incline was getting steeper and steeper throughout the day. I had to stop more often than usual. But that was fine. I was in no rush at all. 
I start seeing signs for construction ahead. This explained the swarms of cats. They had a section that was down to one lane. I approached the guy holding the stop/slow sign and asked him what my best option was. We sorted it out and I made it through the construction zone safely. 
The incline was very steep after that. I had to stop every mile to rest. I was moving slowly but steadily. I came up to a much larger construction zone and the line of cars waiting was so long that people were outside of their cars talking to each other. I strolled by and was making jokes about passing them. Some of them didn’t like that at all. Others understood the humor. 
I talk to the flag guy again and came up with a plan again and got through the zone again. I stopped to break at a place where the construction workers parked their cars and was met by some of them who asked about the walk and offered some cold water. I was running low at this point so I took a few bottles. They tried to give me more stuff but I explained that it was hard enough to get up the hill and weight is truly a factor. 
It was about 5 pm now and they were all going home. The road was back opened. I get to where I can see the ski area and was so happy that I made it so close. I still had plenty of time in the day and I felt good still so I decided to go and make it to the top. I was only moving at about 1 mile per hour it felt like. 
I see another damn cyclist coming down the hill. She stopped to say hey also. Mina is cycling around the world. We took pictures and swapped info on what was ahead and went our separate ways. I pulled up to the entrance of the ski area and sat on the guard rail for a rest. 
I looked over and there were 5 bottles of water and a cliff bar just sitting there. I took 4 bottles and the cliff bar and left one bottle to hold a note that I wrote “thank you” on. It had to have been the construction worker from earlier. 
I was a mile from the top now! I rested up well for the last ascent and when I was ready, I went in strong. Excitement ran through my body. This will be the highest point of the entire walk. My biggest milestone. The top of the freaking rocky mountains!
There was a big sign on the side of the road with people pulled over standing around it. I assumed that was the marker for the top. I jogged the last 100 yards or so and when I crested, I threw my hands in the air and yelled a cheer of victory. Some people looked at me like I was mad and others joined in on the celebration. 
There were quite a lot of people so I had to do the whole people thing for a while. When they all left, I finally had my moment with the sign. The sign explained how all of the water to the east of the line flows to the Mississippi River and all the rivers to the west of the line flow to the Pacific Ocean. Naturally, I peed behind the sign and made sure to wave back and forth on both sides of the line. 
More people stopped every so often and I’d talk to some of them. I think I scared the others. I set up camp in a field behind the sign. The continental divide trail was right there and I got to walk on it a little to find a good place to camp. The continental divide trail (CDT) is a hiking trail that stretches from Mexico to Canada and follows the continental divide. It’s total madness. I don’t know how people do it. Guess I’ll find out when I do it in a few years haha.
I ate, then hung up my food bag so that yogi doesn’t steal it and then watched the sunset from my tent. It didn’t take long for me to fall right asleep. I woke up at about 130 and decided to write the blog before going back to bed. So here you have it. It’s about 40 degrees right now and I’m very thankful for that beanie from this morning. I’m going to sleep in until the sun is high enough to warm up when I crawl out of my cocoon.