I ended up staying in Bonner’s Ferry for two full zero days. The first day, I found a coffee shop and sat there for about 4 hours, absolutely basking in the feeling of being caffeinated with nothing important to do. A local motel that was offering camping with a shower for $10/night. After I set up there, I got a message from Bugs saying that they met the owner of the Feist Creek restaurant, who had apparently flown(!?) them across the mountain in his small airplane, and they would be showing up in town the next morning. This is the first and only instance of aeroblazing that I have ever heard of, and I think it should probably go down in thru-hiker history.

I met Bugs, Moose, Cookie Monster, and Morning Star downtown on the second day after I mailed my cold-weather gear (micro spikes and rain pants) back home from the post office. Even though I had only met them all twice, they felt like long-lost friends. We spent a long time standing on the street and excitedly catching up with each other.

Bugs and Moose got a room at the motel where I was camping, and the three of us walked over to a $7 all-you-can-eat pizza buffet and absolutely gorged ourselves. The rest of that day was fairly uneventful, but I was glad to be with people again. The infamous Lion’s Head Bushwhack was coming up two days ahead on the trail. I felt a lot more confident knowing I would have other hikers to stick with through the potentially-dangerous 5-mile bushwhack.

I resupplied at a Safeway across the street from the motel, and with nothing better to do, I went to sleep as soon as it got dark.