This morning I slept in the room until after 8am. Then shortly after waking up I had the funniest fiasco with 9 Lives. We both wear contact lenses and last night she thought my contact lens case was hers. So she dumped mine out and put her contacts in it. She thought it was just full of contact lens solution. Then this morning she opened her case and found it was empty. And I put her contacts in my eyes and couldn't see very well.

We figured it out and I took out her contacts and got a new pair. Honestly, it was pretty fun. Very few people wear contacts on the trails I've hiked with, so we're both used to being the only ones in our group with contacts. And of course, we use the same solution and the same case. The mix-up was inevitable! But it was such a fun way to start the morning.

After that we got up and went to a nearby store to maybe get some breakfast. They didn't have any food so I just got a chocolate milk. Then we came back to the room and ate my leftovers from last night. After that we hung out in the room for a while and I did a bit of writing. Then everyone packed up and we left right on time for check out time.

A friend of ours, Mosey, lives down the street at a place called Brownies. And apparently they rent rooms for like $75 a night, which is insanely good. Mosey actually booked a room for us to make sure we had a place to stay for the night, so we headed there after checking out. We couldn't get into the room that early, but we were able to drop off our bags and hang out.

We all sat in the living room for a while and I did a bit of writing and videoing. I have some plans for hiking and more than just blogging about it. But we'll see how it all plays out and what I end up doing.

Because of the reserve, there are so many stray dogs here. This one was sitting in the middle of the road for ages! I was so scared he would get hit by a car.

Later that afternoon we went back to the city center to get something to eat. But first we caught up with Gas Monkey and Nana Man who were hanging out at the Looking Glass Hostel. Everything in town was mostly closed except for a casino that had a restaurant inside. That seemed like a pretty good option since it was our only one.

I was really surprised that they had great food there though. We grabbed a couple of beers and ordered pizza, salads and a few other things. Then we hung out there for hours. More hikers came and it became a lot of fun. I was able to meet and talk to some hikers I had never met before, which was great.

The first CDT marker I saw on this trail here in East Glacier.

A guy named High Profile actually met two of my friends from the Pinhoti Trail a few weeks ago! I hiked the Pinhoti with Mule and 5 Pounds and we still keep in touch. When HP told me he had started in New Mexico at a certain time, I thought he might have met them. And apparently they all set off together on the same day. It's a really small world out here. I also met a hiker named B Minus who hiked from Cap Gaspe in Quebec south to Springer Mountain in Georgia last year. It's always so cool to talk to someone about the international Appalachian Trail.

Some beautiful flowers here in town.

After spending hours at the casino and bar, some of us finally decided to head back to the hostel. We stopped for a few drinks and then headed back. And Monarch/Tonya was actually at the Looking Glass Hostel when we got back! It was so nice to see her again. She offered to drive us to Saint Mary tomorrow so we can try to get wilderness area permits again. Hopefully we'll get permits tomorrow and be able to hike again the next day. And if the weather is good tomorrow, we might even be able to do a slackpack tour of that area to get some miles in.

Later that evening I was hanging out with a group of hikers at the Looking Glass Hostel. It's so cool to see familiar faces from other hikes and meet so many wonderful new people. Around 9pm I headed back to the room with Tripod and 9 Lives. It was getting cold outside again and I was only wearing shorts. When I got back I got ready for bed and did some writing before calling it a day.

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