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.