An Unexpected Zero

My package did not arrive as expected but UPS assured me that it will arrive tomorrow.  And so we are taking an unplanned zero.  There have been a lot of zeros!  But Ghost Ranch is a great place and cheap.  Due to snow ahead there's no hurry and since we have packages in Chama there's no point in getting there on the weekend.

I had a delicious breakfast in the cafeteria, toured the Paleontology and anthropology museums, and checked out the library.  

The museums detailed digs on Ghost Ranch property including a small dinosaur excavation that is international recognized as the largest and very significant.  Cool stuff!  Also lots of ice cream provided for hikers from Kale, a cook here.  Also fun to see friends hike in.  

Best zero ever!

Here is a video shot at our campground. Film credits go to Pounce.  Ok app won't let me access my video so go to my Facebook page to view.  

Ghost Ranch

As I was packing up this morning I started to think about where I could dig a cathole.  And then I remembered.  There is a privy!  It was the cleanest, nicest smelling privy I've ever experienced and it made me smile.  We road walked the morning into Ghost Ranch Conference Center.  This is a facility owned by the Presbyterian church and is the place where Georgia O'Keefe had a home and created many of her paintings.  There is a campground, dining hall, museums, library, horse back riding and a pool.  It's a very relaxing spot and while phone reception is poor, there is wifi.  There is laundry and showers too.  

As we were walking this morning the following popped in my head and I had to stop and quickly write it down in my notes:  I'm five days from Colorado.  There have been trials and tears, joy and wonder.  It has been challenging both physically and mentally.  That's a thru hike.  But all the moments of beauty when strung together turn the hard times to dust blown away by the wind and forgotten.  

Sleeping Bare is here and he fired up his grill and cooked elk burgers and hot dogs for all the hikers here.  

It's Pounce and I, LB and Tickled Pink, Spit Walker, and Mellow.  It's always fun to catch up with everyone.  Birdy is here too, but is staying in town.  Her daughters showed up and surprised her.  Really cool.  

A Fairytale Scene

Northern New Mexico has gradually changed from desert to mountains.  There are still mesas but they reflect the higher elevation.  We were able to get our water at a creek right away and set out ready for another good day.  The trail has been good tread, well marked and easy to follow.  This morning it took us into a wooded Fairytale.  The sun was shining through the thick trees when I caught a flash of white.  It was not a cow.  More movement in the trees and a herd of horses materialized.  

Beautiful horses.  

It was a real treat.

We climbed to the top of a mesa.  It was a steep climb and the sun was out so I was back to my turtle pace.  Once at the top however the trail was more gentle and the miles seemed to pass quickly.  

We walked through a wide canyon with a sea of sage brush stretching between the walls.  The rock walls had red, orange, yellow, and white layers.  In the evening we reached the Chama river which we are following on the way to Ghost Ranch.

 We found a campground off of the road to camp for the night.  The presence of people car camping here reminded me of the holliday.  So Happy Memorial Day and much thanks to all who've served and are currently serving.

Let it Snow

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the landscape can change when you're just walking.  Before Cuba we were in a desert.  Today, leaving Cuba, we were in an alpine environment. We stopped at the RV park to say goodbye to Sleeping Bare on our way out of town and then on to San Pedro Park trail head.

It was a steady climb all morning through a forest of pine and aspen to 10,000 feet.  Everything was green and there was water everywhere in creeks, streams, and running down the trail.

 There was a lot of mud too.  We both felt strong and had no issues with the elevation.  At lunch we heard the rumble of thunder and didn't hesitate to pitch the tarp.  We're prepared!  Bring it!  The thunder only lasted twenty minutes but we waited longer to be sure.  It was snowing.  It snowed all afternoon as we waded through a marshy area, slogged through mud, and scrambled over and around downed trees.  There were some beautiful alpine meadows.  After awhile the trail descended back to 8,000 feet and the sun came out.  

We sang every sunshine song we could think of.  So it was a great day.  We had hoped to camp near a spring but couldn't find it so we just found a good spot.  There's a stream in another mile where we can fill up our bottles.

Food

One of the most common topics of conversation amongst thru hikers is food.  Yes, it's all about the food.  What are you eating for dinner? For lunch?  Can I taste that?  Yummy, this is the best of my dehydrated dinners yet!  What are you craving in town?  I can't wait to get ice cream.  And on and on.  I like to make up silly songs about food.  This hike I added dehydrated veges from Harmony House to my dinner creations and used a variety of spices.  I've been very happy with the results.  My favorite dinner so far was a yellow curry dish.  My favorite town food is the green chili cheeseburger.  My favorite trail snack is the salted caramel hazelnut spread on a granola bar.  Hiker hunger is a beast but it's great to be able to eat as much as I want.  I try not to go to overboard though.  I lost 25 pounds when I hiked the PCT but I learned a lot from it so this hike I've been able to stay at a healthy weight.

Pounce and I ended up taking an unanticipated zero day in Cuba.  By the time we got our town chores done it was afternoon and more thunderstorms were coming in.  We weren't going to hike out in bad weather.  So we will be getting up very early tomorrow to make tracks.

Best Laid Plans

We had a plan, Pounce and I.  We'd hike within 5 miles of Cuba, camp, get our boxes Saturday morning and keep hiking.  This way we'd save money on a hotel room with plenty of time to get our town chores done.

It started out great.  We had a good pace in spite of the deep sand and the ups and downs on and off mesas.  Our goal for lunch was Jones spring in Jones canyon.  After the cows ran away (finally cows who are afraid of us), we filled up and ate our lunch.  Meanwhile, clouds were rolling in.  Black clouds.  A storm.  I take back what I said about them being exciting.  We hoped it would pass quickly so we hunkered down with our umbrellas and sit pads.  The temperature dropped and the wind picked up.  It rained.  Hard. It hailed.  We were getting cold and it was a big storm so we set up Pounce's tarp and huddled inside.  Every time we thought it was done and we could go another boom of thunder and a flash of lightening would occur.  3 hours later it finally stopped.  All of that sand?  Mud.  The ground and trail was a swampy, muddy mess.

It was still dark over the next mesa so we decided to take an alternate route- a forest service road that led to state highway 50 and to Cuba.  We were caked in mud.  The sun came back out and I got this picture.  

After road walking for awhile as it was getting dark we decided to hitch the remaining few miles.  So after about 5 minutes we were picked up by John and his dog Max from Albuquerque.  A few minutes after that we were at the Del Prado hotel and Mrs Yang was checking us in.  I'm very pleased that in spite of the downpour, everything stayed dry in my pack!  Whew, what a day.  A shower never felt so good!

Desert Solitaire

Desert Solitaire is a favorite book of mine written by Edward Abbey about the desert in southern Utah.  I was reminded of it on the descent off of the mesa.  

It was an eventful day.  We saw a cowboy on a horse driving cows, a collered lizard,

found the best rest stop,

and crossed a vast wasteland of tall mesas, deep arroyos, and jumbled rock.  Yet there were flowers blooming and springs.

 There are no words.  And as I type it's raining and there is thunder and lightning and wind.  Kinda exciting when I'm cozy in my tent. 

Smoky

There has been well maintained, well marked trail the last few days along with the usual roads.  I can zone out, listen to music, or get creative.  I made up some lyrics about the CDT to an old tune.  

I didn't think I'd have anything to write about today as we were on a long stretch of forest service road all morning.  It changed at lunch.  We descended into a canyon to reach Los Indios spring.  It was lush and green in the canyon and a few aspens stood bright against the backdrop of canyon wall.  

Great place to eat and relax.  Birdie hiked up while we were there.  It was nice to see another hiker.  A few miles north of the spring we started smelling smoke.  There were a lot of burn areas that looked recent.  We rounded a corner and saw flames about the size of a campfire.  

Pounce called it in while I doused it with some of my water.  Later on there were signs from the BLM that they were doing controlled burns in the area.  It was still eery.  

We've been walking up on a mesa and will be descending to the desert floor soon.  This is a view at another rest stop.

Mt Taylor

Summiting Mt Taylor was definately the highlight of the day.  It was a steady climb, not to steep.  On the way up we had to go through a gate.  On the other side it was like we entered a different world.  The forest opened up giving us glimpses of the surrounding mountains and there was a grove of white aspen trees.  Pounce said it was "bright and cheery".  The view from the top was a vista of desert, mesas, canyons, and mountains.  

So awesome!  We did it! It was cold and windy at the top and on the way down we encountered patches of snow.  

I love being up high but soon we were down in the middle of what we'd been looking at from the summit.  We saw a wild horse and later cows with their calves.  This herd was friendly and mooed at us as we walked by.

 Hopefully they won't disturb our campsite.  We are stealth camping among some trees in cow land.  Here's my first panorama picture taken:  

Up On the Mesa

Once again it was a road walk out of town.  Bye Grants.  After stopping at the ranger station on the outskirts of town for water, it was only another couple miles to the trailhead.  A sign said "Continental Divide Trailhead", a first.  The trail climbed up onto a mesa where it was sometimes open, sometimes spackled with short stubby trees, and always a plethora of cow patties.  But slowly the trees morphed into pine and thickened and we were walking through a forest.  The trail was soft from all of the pine needles.  Sometime in the afternoon we got a great view of Mt Taylor, tomorrow's challenge.  

There was a sign next to the trail giving the elevation.  

The Mumm's stocked another water cache off of a forest service road.  I really appreciate what they do as it's so so needed.  Pounce and I set up our tents tonight for a change.  We usually cowboy camp but my tent missed me. 

Introspection

My hike got off to a rough start.  I got sick, hiked alone for a week, was homesick, wasn't "feeling it", and my heart wasn't in it.  I didn't understand why.  I'd been wanting to hike this trail for two years and here I was!  Why wasn't my heart in it?  In hindsight there were many contributing factors including preconceived ideas since this wasn't my first through hike.  Once I threw it all out the window, kept an open mind and found my "people", it started getting better.

A few mornings ago I woke up with a memory of my sister Lori and I playing "let's explore" with Cheetah and Rufus (stuffed animals).  It brought a smile to my face and gave my heart a profound flip.  Instead of a groan at the hard section ahead I felt anticipation.  This trail is all about exploration.  It's not one continuous path.  It's multiple routes.  Pick one.  Pounce has been telling me about an alternate route through Yellowstone.  The official route cuts the western corner and follows the Idaho/Montana border.  The route we want to do goes through the eastern part of the park by Cody and reconnects with the CDT near Helena.  It's more scenic, passes through some cool towns, and is a tad shorter.  I'm soo excited about this plan!  And the whole trail is this way which appeals to my sense of adventure. I've found my groove, gotten into the rhythm of trail life, getting stronger every day, and falling in love with the CDT.  This is fun!

How to filter yucky cow water:  1. Pour water through bandanna several times to remove floaties.  2.  Treat with bleach or chlorine tabs.  3.  Squeeze through filter.  4.  If really bad boil the heck out of it after above steps.

The End

Grants

Alarm went off at 5 am but I was already awake and ready to start moving.  It was an easy morning walk and the sun set the canyon walls alight.  The road snaked through the canyon and into the outskirts of town.

 The trail goes right through Grants. There will be the usual town chores but that's tomorrow.  Today is for eating, resting, and catching up with friends and family back home.

A couple of noteworthy items:  we saw a yellow tanager bird drinking out of a cow trough 2 weeks ago, and 2 days ago in the badlands we saw a western collard lizard. 

The Badlands

O"Do not leave a cairn until you have the next one in sight" the sign at the Zuni Acoma trailhead said.  There was no trail, just a route marked by cairns across the lava flow.  The lava is scarred with crevasses, fissures, caves and rock bridges like a glacier.  There's a lot of jumbled rock.  You wouldn't think anything could grow here and yet there are trees, flowers, and cacti.  They thrive in the in between spaces.  

It took us 4 1/2 hours to cross it.

The water cache maintained by trail angels was empty.  Fortunately I had cell service and was able to call them and they came out.  Yay for trail angels!  We didn't have enough water to continue and would've had to hitch into town.  We ate lunch while we waited. 

After all of that it was an easy and beautiful walk through Bonita Canyon and Zuni canyon.  As I was walking down the road enjoying the evening and beautiful view I walked right by a napping rattlesnake.  Never saw it.  Hello!  A classic "helicopter" moment.  Pounce saw it and gave it a wide berth.

Pounce and I are weary and sore but in good spirits.  We are only 6 miles from Grants and are planning on a much needed rest.

Adventures on the CDT

Pounce and I woke up to the sun warming our campsite and headed out.  After a few miles the trail exited the canyon and we had a road walk along highway 117.  The scenery was becoming increasingly more dramatic with towering cliffs, interesting rock formations and the edge of the El Malpais "badlands".  

We got to the Narrows picnic area right at lunch.  It was so exciting for us to have a picnic table, toilets, and trash cans.  And then things got a little exciting.  Our maps had a note that said the rim trail was not to be missed.  It was 3.5 miles in the right direction and would avoid some road walking, plus it would give us a view of Ventana Arch.  It's an out and back trail but our maps had a route down marked out.  It was as advertised, with great views of the Malpais and the cliffs.  

We got to the end, checked out the arch, took a break and then looked for the way out.  Initially there was a little path marked with cairns, but that ended and we had to pick our way around looking for the route down.  Fortunately I spotted the cairn marking the start of the descent because it was the only way down.  It was steep and around and over boulders, no path, just a scramble down.  It reminded me of some of the canyoneering and climbing approaches I've done.  We let out a yell when we made it down.  

Unfortunately the whole experience took up a lot of our afternoon and we didn't get as far as we wanted.  The trail angels in Grants maintain a water cache at the Zuni Acoma trailhead.  This route takes us across the Malpais lava flow for 8 miles.  Since there's no place to camp out there we had to stop for the night at 6.  It's warmed up quite a bit so we had our umbrellas out all afternoon.  The plan is to get up an hour earlier to get the most out of the cooler morning. 

Canyons

I started out the day all wrong.  I couldn't get my contact in, fumbled around a lot, froze my fingers and wound up grumpy.  I ended the day with a view and a smile, content.  In between was more road walking between ranch land till the trees petered out.  We ate lunch in the shade of the very last tree and walked into this.  

We eventually got to Amijio canyon road where we turned right and walked towards this.  

We sang the Alleluijah Chorus and waved our poles to some aggressive cows who thankfully let us pass.  Then we entered the Cebolla Wilderness and it got interesting.  The trail channeled us into Amijio canyon where we came upon an old homestead.  

There are petroglyphs in this canyon and pottery shards but we didn't see any.  Then we climbed up and over into Sand canyon.  It has tall rock walls that look golden in the evening light.  We finally made camp on a hill looking out across the canyon.  Both canyons have deep arroyos.  Beautiful. 

A Leisurely Walk

Aah the Toaster House.  I slept so good.  I was warm.  I could have stayed in my bed forever but the smell of coffee was wafting up the stairs which started my tummy grumbling and my bladder complaining.  I got up.  

Nita, the owner of the house stopped by and gave Pounce and I a short tour of Pie Town, then dropped us at the post office to mail a bounce box up the trail.  Pie Town has a windmill museum and is one of several Very Long Distance Arrays (giant antenna) located around the country.

We are taking two alternates between here and Grants.  The first is the Cebolla Wilderness, which is 50.1 miles.  We only planned to do 15 miles today because the Thomas Ranch welcomes hikers to get water from their well and camp in their yard.  So we left after 10 am and just walked at a liesurely pace.  We hadn't gone too far when a county truck pulled up alongside us.  It was Sheridan! He chatted with us a bit and wished us well.  Too funny.  Yes, we are still walking on roads.  We had some nice views of the Sawtooth range though as we walked and we picked a scenic spot for lunch.  

Otherwise the landscape is miles of ranch land with short stubby trees.  The dirt however has changed color from gray to brown to rust.  Meet donkey at the ranch.  

Pie Town

It was a nice morning for a walk into town.  With only 6 miles to go we weren't in a big hurry, but we were hungry.  First stop, Nita's Toaster House.  This is an old house for hikers, named for the old toasters hanging off the gate.  

There are a lot of hikers here!  Several got here over the weekend and had to wait for the post office to open.  So I saw Tickled Pink, LB, my Portland friends Xana and Paniorama, the group I've been leap frogging with, and the group from England who I started with.  The cafe opened at 10 am and we went there next.  They were not serving breakfast and had a limited menu but the food was delish.  I had a 1/2 pound green chili cheeseburger with fries and a slice of New Mexico apple pie.  That's apple pie with green chilis and pine nuts in it.  I was also happy, very happy for the wifi as there is only 1 bar for phone.  Pie Town has two cafés, the Pie-O-neer and the one we ate at, a post office, and tiny mercantile with snacks & souvenirs.  

Next we got a ride to the Top of the World store to do laundry and get food to supplement our resupply boxes.  Now the store is three miles away.  We did not want to walk.  So we hitched.  No cars. In 20 minutes only a school bus and a car went by.  Then came a white truck and it was obviously not going to stop, driving fast.  When it was abeam of me I tugged on my pink hat and "screech" brakes squealing, it stopped.  We had a ride from some guys doing work near the CDT.  They were from Kalispell, MT and very nice.  "We don't usually see ladies hitching on the side of the road" they said.  Then finally a shower, dinner, socializing, and bed.  I'm tired!!

It's All About the Water

Anothercold morning.  I sense a theme here.  We saw a large herd of deer right off the bat this morning.  We finally had consistently good trail and it climbed high to a ridge with our first open views in awhile.  

So I had to let rip a yell.  Pounce heard an echo.  Cool.  Then the search for water that defined these two days began.  First was following a dry creek .3 miles off trail to a spring which had two tiny silty puddles.  That was a challenge.  Next water was a disgusting cow poo muddy "pond" with swimmy things.  

We took a liter as emergency water hoping we wouldn't have to drink it.  And then... well water!  And our hiking friends we've been leap frogging were having lunch under a shady tree.  We tanked up there but the next source was dry.  The one after that was unfilterable.  We rationed. Consequently we had to push to get to the next spring.  It was dry and the sun was setting.  So no cooked dinner or hot drink in the morning.  We ate our lunch and snacks instead.  It was a 25 mile day.  We are on the Pie Town alternate which is all forest service roads.

Next morning, all we could think of was water and we made the last of our water stretch.  First water, nothing.  Second water, 8 miles later, water at last.  We cooked our dinner food.  Finally at the next stop delicious well water.  While filling our bottles there, all of them, a rancher stopped to chat.  He has a "few" cows.  He looked like a stereotypical rancher with white hair an a large cowboy hat.  Then we were on our way again and feeling good. We camped 6 miles from Pie Town, well watered, well fed, and happy.  We are looking forward to town food, showers, and laundry. 

Bushwacking

It was another 20 degree morning.  So again it took two hours to break camp.  We didn't want to get out of our sleeping bags.  We finished up the road walk and were excited to have beautiful trail to follow.  Our excitement was short lived.  The trail ended and it became an unmarked cross country scramble around and over downed trees, rocks, and uneven ground.  All day it was bushwacking interrupted by bits of trail.  Pounce is an expert navigator as she does a lot of hiking at her home in Vermont where there is no trail.  I'm very happy to have her along.

 The trail descended steeply through a burned out area only to climb again.  It was up and down.  At one point we were at 9,000 feet!  

It was definately a slow day with all of the obstacles and the late start.  We are feeling this long stretch.  Smiles and her partner caught up to us again and it was great to see them.  They are tired too.  We are all dealing with blisters and assorted aches and pains.  But our spirits are good.  Little things like the sky being a rich blue, views of the mountains and desert all make this worth it.  And today we've been walking right on the divide.  Cool.  Here's a picture of a water source.