colleen stinchcombe

I wake up and sit with Mermaid and a hiker named Outlaw and we talk about the trail and it’s a really refreshing, honest and polite conversation. I jump in the truck and go to breakfast with a large group and we chat nicely. Twerk is live Instagramming our experience for the Trek. He takes a photo of me with my French toast. 

I catch a ride back to Hiker Heaven and pack up my things and talk with Rawhide. We think we’ll head out around 4. I get my laundry done, including my down jacket, which I don’t even know how to wash. There are several puppies running around and I spend a lot of time petting them and cuddling them.

The other day at breakfast the group said they wanted to name me Bing, because I pop up everywhere, like “bing!” I thought it was a cute concept and accepted the name but later I realized it was a good name, but not for me. So I had to tell everyone at Hiker Heaven that I’d rescinded my acceptance. Nirvana said he really wanted me to have a name, which was sweet, and proceeded to try some out – Mrs. Information? He suggested. What about Informash-ma’am? That one made me laugh a lot. Still not my name, but hilarious. 

It’s not long before I’m hungry again and head back to town. The food here is really good for such a small place. Who do I see sitting at the restaurant but Bruce! We high five and after he finishes lunch with his group he comes and catches up with me.
I head back to Hiker Heaven. It’s hot now and I go inside the trailer and take a nap with Rawhide. When we get up it’s already 330 and Rawhide realizes her phone has shut itself off, which it’s been doing. It doesn’t take long before we’ve decided not to leave today after all, which I am thrilled for – my body isn’t injured but it is tired and it wants a break. We make a plan to leave early the next day, which means we’d have to do 25 miles to get to Casa de Luna. But that’s a problem for tomorrow’s Colleen.
I call my brothers and Mark and it’s hard to know what to talk about but I also want to talk to them, these people who really know me, these people who have decided to like me anyway. 
I get off the phone with Mark and hop on yet another trip to town and get pizza and the pizza guy gives me and four other hikers a ride back to Hiker Heaven. As I eat dinner I chat with a hiker, Rachelle, who is hiking with her husband. She’s earnest about her motivations for hiking which is nice. Then I hear hikers having a sing along so I join briefly before the guitarist runs out of songs we known and I go inside the trailer for bed so I don’t have to unpack my pack and set up my tent.