Day 22: Saturday, August 16, 1998. Hike out of Collegiate Peaks Wilderness, CO and drive to Kearney, NE.

Our last day in the wilderness was marked by Ben, Joe, Elaine, and I marching the 9 miles out of the wilderness in less than 3 hours.  It's not that we were in a hurry (well, some of us weren't) but it felt like a good challenge.  Waiting for us at the van was Rick, who was taking antibiotics for Giardia and had already started feeling much better.  Despite our lack of showers, we headed for Dillon, CO, which will forever be known to us as the greatest fast food stop we have ever made.  Burger King, Subway, McDonald's, Arby's,...the list went on and the food kept coming.  From Dillion we went to Fort Collins to drop off Holly and get a shower at the local pool.  Then there were 12, and we headed to our scheduled overnight stop with Joe's relatives in Kearney, Nebraska.