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!
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