15-04-30.    Day 19.      Road Rally

Since the way we were taking into Pie Town was total road, we wanted to start at 6:00 am. To bad we had hot drinks and breakfast to enjoy. We could eat ALL the food left in our packs so we were eating. At 6:20 we had enough light to start hiking, enjoying the sun rise. .. The road had lots of rocks and gradually got better on our feet. We took turns listening to music to make the walk more enjoyable.

We arrived at the only water for the entire walk into town. Gene came out to show us how to operate the well and to share some time together. He owns the property that has the well and is a Trail Angel to CDT hikers. He said he had the water tested and did not need to be filtered. It was cool and refreshing. Sourdough cooked lunch to get rid of the now excess food we were saving to get us into town. Gene commented that ” Maybe you guys won’t get to town today” . That reminded us that we still had 16 miles to town to hike and off we went.

At 1:00 pm we stopped for second lunch. We cranked up some tunes to get us in the mood for the road walk. Many hours later we were rushing to get to town before the store closed. Alex set the pace and we arrived in Pie Town at 6:15. Just a little to late for pie.

Pie Town.     22.9 Miles

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15-04-29.       Day 18.       Crush

The coyotes were right on time howling to wake me up at 5:50 am. We were having COFFEE Time !!!!!  before we started hiking and it was awesome.  We are two days from Pie Town resupply so we can start to eat all our food and burn the fuel. The timing was perfect since it was the coldest morning yet with frozen water bottles. At 6:35 am we were hiking and at 6:50 we were off trail…Not lost, just off trail. The start of another wonderful day on the CDT.

We crossed highway 12 where “W” hitch hiked last night  into Reserve NM 10 miles off trail to resupply some food  and hoped to catch us in Pie Town. As we left the road, there was TRAIL MAGIC!!!!  past the gate under a tree. Orange Crush…Yea!!  Thank you who ever you are…..You Are Very Wonderful..

We had two choices of trail to take to Pie Town. The “Official” red route that goes through Pie Town or the purple that evolves a 8 mile hitch into town. We chose the red route thinking to avoid the hitch. We found the trail well marked with new signs and a nice tread. At 10:30 am I looked for our position on the map and couldn’t find our position. “Oh no..” We are on the purple route which is the official route. I was crushed again. Twice I have led us the wrong way this morning…. Since the trail is in the development stage, there is a lot of choices as to what route to take. We reviewed our situation snd made a plan. Hike on and hike cross country for a mile or two to get back on the red route. We had lunch and was looking for our turnoff when the Official trail turned straight up a steep incline. The trail builders installed rock water bars and all. I was gasping for air and again, Crushed… When will be able to hike without getting winded? We were at 8,800 ft so maybe I need a little more time to aclamate.

We all had our compasses out as we hiked cross country. We would take a bearing, pick a tree or rock, hike to it, and repeat. This is just what we learned in Boy Scouts. We come out exactly where we wanted, and headed to Valle Tio Vinces Spring to get much needed water. After much searching, the spring was dry. Another 3.7 miles to Mangas Mtn Fire Lookout for the next possible water. The lookout is 9,691 ft and manned by Dave. He gave us some of his personal water and gave us a tour of the tower. Another amazing day.

FS Road 4914U.   16 Miles

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15-04-28.   Day 17.    Three Hands

The ice on my tarp cracked and shattered as I stuffed it into my pack. It was cold. Real Cold. I had to get moving to warm up. It was 6:38 am and we reached tank no 2 or the Farm Tank just below John Kerr Peak at 7:30 am  for water and breakfast.  Alex was there waiting for us. He was ahead of us when we decided to stop last night.

There was First Man Camped next to the trail. He started a day behind us and passed us somewhere. He got sick and slowed down enough for us to catch him. We shared our past hiking experiences and reinforced that most hikers on this trail have a lot of experience.

It was “9” miles to the next water. Unfortunately that was as the crow flys. We hiked along forrest roads and brand new unfinished trail. It ended with some pink flags guiding us through the woods.  We hiked  “cross country” down to the old trail along a dirt road. At one point I had a map in one hand, a compass in one hand, and a GPS in another hand. What a feat!!!

First Man came along and showed us how he could have passed us.  With legs up to my arm pits we said “HI” and zoom, he was gone.

I was getting a little nervous as the miles wore on with no water. We passed one green tank but my stomach couldn’t take it. At 6:00 pm we arrived at the Aragon Well, Windmill and tank. It was a beautiful sight with great water. We loaded up and found Alex next to an old buss.. Shelter!!!

As we made dinner, Dr. Sourdough performed surgery on Phil’s blisters…. It was hard to look at. I don’t know how he is hiking…Great dinner of White Bean Chili.

Aragon Water Well.      19.1 Miles

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15-04-27 Day 16.    The Divide

It was cold, very cold, not freezing, but cold. I had all my cloths on except for two extra pair of socks. It rained a little, Sunshined a little, and hailed a little. We headed to Cox Canyon between Eagle Peak and Pinon Knob.

We first climbed to 8,400 ft. then up to the Divide at 9,023 ft. There was still snow on the ground from falling the day before. Chef Sourdough made a wonderful freeze dried pasta salad for second lunch. The sun came out and we dried out our sleeping bags. We left the dirt road and hiked along the Divide on trail. It felt really good to be on trail. It was short lived as we soon were in a burn area with no trail. We looked at the map and GPS and headed cross country where we picked up the trail again. It was 6:30 pm and hungry. We didn’t make it to the next water but made due with what we had. We cooked over fire since we were low on fuel. We saw Elk, Mule Deer, and lots of birds.. Sourdough knew them all, especially the robins… Nice Moon…

Tularsa Mtns.     29 Miles

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15-04-26. Day 15.   Snow

The drops of rain gave me enough time to run a string and set up the tarp. It was 11:58 pm. Alex having sent his tent in for repairs jumped under. By 6:00 am the rain turned to snow. Not a good time to be stream crossing. At 9:00 am the snow/rain stopped and it was time to go. The rain and snow and sun took turns, changing from one to the other.

At 2:22 pm I crossed the Gila River for the last time. As I sloshed on with my soaking wet feet, I reminisced of the past 6 days. The Gila was at one time a great hike. Since the flood it is different. It is river crossings, rock hopping, sand grinding, willow wacking, tree climbing, trail finding, snow raining, four alarm adventure. As Moonwalker would say, ” I’m done with that taste”…. Next…..

The birds we saw or heard were Canyon Wren, Common Merganser Duck, Mexican Whip-por-will, and Zone-taried Hawk. Animals, Elk, Bear, Beaver and Turkey Prints

We are a little short of food and hoped to mooch some at the Snow Lake Campground. Alex and WW hauled out a chair and stainless pot from  “camp trash” they found in the canyon. We saw some campers and brought them “Gifts”.

Suddenly WW had four hot dogs on the fire. Brothers Bobby and Gilbert were at Snow Lake to hunt turkey. They told us the whole story of how to grab us a turkey. All we need is another 20 lbs of gear.. The hot dogs were fantastic along with mustard and buns. Where they turkey dogs? Humm….. Suddenly you could see the rain comming over the mtn. We quickly  thanked them and ran back to move our packs as we were again rain/snowed on. The bathroom sheltered us from another wave of weather. At 4:20 pm we needed to move on to Gail Tank where we had dinner and watered up. What a day…..

1 mile past Gail Tank. Xx Miles 7,920 ft. Snowing again…

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15-04-24  Day 14  Little Things/Big Things

What is a cup of hot water? The notes on the map said we had 85 more river crossings. By 6:45 am I had already lost count and we weren’t even at the point where the note stated the counting started. My feet were numb and the rocks were like 80 grit sandpaper gringing on my feet. Every time I entered the river I would shake the sand and stones out from between my Tevas and my feet only to have them fill up again as I climbed out. By 8:00 am I was being tested.

Off in the distance we could see a person. As we approached we could see a fire and a “Hello”. Do you want a cup of coffee? ”

Do you really mean it? YES!. Burny, Rick and George from Tucson, Az were out for week. They asked a lot of questions while we enjoyed drinking hot coffee by the fire. We were all warmed up and it was time to go. I said ” Little things to Through Hikers are big things and this is a really BIG Thing”. It was. Thanks so much!  I was ready to hit the river again. As amazing as it was, it was challenging as well.

At lunch we reviewed our progress and realized we underestimated how long it would be till we get to Pie Town, our next food stop. Maybe we can get some food from the campers at Snow Lake tomorrow.

Along The Gila River near Swinging Cross Canyon.   15 Long Miles.

Oh, Phil fell today…….Sourdough fell in the river…..

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15-04-24.  Day 13.  Gila Cliff Dwellings

It sprinkled as we were going to bed and it started to rain at 1:00 am for a few hours.  I was suppose to get up at 5:00 am. but at 5:30 I was still in bed. It’s hard to get up when it’s been raining.

We packed up and hiked to the porch of Doc Campbell’s so we could get out of the rain and eat breakfast. The rain was off and on as we road walked to the Gila Cliff Dwellings.

They are about a mile off the trail but a must stop on our way north. Sourdough filled me in on the history of the 40 year time frame when the (pre pueblo) cliff dwellers lived here.

As we walked to the Little Bear Canyon trail head we met a group from New Mexico Junior College.  They rolled out the first trail magic for us, Little Debbie Snacks… YUM!

It was Friday and the first time we saw hikers on the trails. We hiked to the Gila River and headed upstream to Jordan Hot Spring. When we arrived there was a group from Arizona taking a Leave No Trace and Leadership 18 day class. To bad we were hiking to Canada. We still had miles to hike weaving in and out of the Gila River. I found my Darn Tuff wool socks did the best to hike in. The nylon and Seal Skin socks attracted every stone in the river bottom to lodge between my foot and my Tevas. Ouch…

The first day on the Gila River I said, “this is the best”. That was then and this is now the best. The canyon walls were mesmerizing.  I am so blessed to be able to hike this trail.

2 miles Before The Meadow on the Gila River.      12 Miles

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15-04-23.    Day 12.    Hiker Trash Tour

Crossing the Gila in the dark at 5:30 am was to much to digest so we settled on 6:30 as the sun was coming up. We woke at 6:00 and needed to start in shorts. Oh boy… It was cold. Phil decided to have the best sleep he had ever had in two years, he slept in till Sourdough served him coffee at 6:20 in bed. I got back into my Zpacks 10 degree bag to wait till the last minute to get out. Since we were in no hurry, I boiled water.  The Via coffee that Phil brought made my hot chocolate taste much better. Off we went at 7:00 am for our first crossing. Oh …..Oh that’s cold. By 8:00 am I had lost count of the river crossings but knew it was more than I have ever crossed in all my backpacking experience.

By the time my feet thawed, it was time for another crossing. At one point I had to wrestle my way through 20 feet of thick willows.  As the sun came up the water warmed quickly. We settled into bushwack, cross and bushwack again up the river gorge.

W, Alex and I come across two old rafts and some trash. Decision time. W and Alex are Eagle Scouts and get it. We all took a load and carried it out on the tradition of the Hiker Trash Tour.. CDT 2015.

As we hiked we found two hot springs on the side of the Gila river. We stopped at one and soaked our feet.

We came to the Gila bridge and on to Doc Campbell’s to get our packages. Too much food. Really?…..yes really!. We loaded the hiker box with all our extras although we have 7 days of food to get to Pie town.

Off to the Hot Springs for a soak. Dinner and Sleep…

Gila Hot Springs. XX Miles

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15-04-22.      Day 11      The Gila

Sourdough woke us at 5:00 am a healed man. Not perfect but much better. 5:30 am we were headed to the famed Gila River.. Up we climbed Sheep Correll Canyon to 6,900 ft along the Sapillo Trail before dropping to 5,200 feet to the Gila River.

We stopped on our way for breakfast and Alex and Wagon walked up. Somehow they took the long cut out of town and had great stories of their adventure. We all hiked together to the river for lunch. Eats and his son Ents joined us for a true hiker feed. They moved on quickly as they were doing big miles having started 3 days behind us. Everyone hikes their own hike.

The trail got washed out in 2013 so it was SLOOOOW going. We crisscrossed the river walking on sand and rocks. Ouch… My feet took a beating in my Tevas that I have hiked in since the border. I have Keen Voyager boots and Topo trail runners ready to switch to when I am ready.. I might be ready.

Along the Gila River  Miles. ?

15-04-21. Day 10. The Eye

The eye looked bad. Real bad. It looked like an old faucet with a constant drip. Sourdough tried to sleep in his contact in one eye. He knew he made a big mistake… Decision time. Head to a Dr. or head to the trail.. Tough it out and head for the trail was the decision. We packed up and headed to the Food Basket Market to get Smartwater bottles of water and Fritos. We just needed the bottles the water came in since we were hiking long streches without water.

On our way we met up with Avelino from the Silver City Daily Press. He is the Editor and was tipped off that there were some CDT Hikers in town by a lady we met while walking through town. He knew the trail out of town so he guided the way for us telling us the history of the newspaper and his years growing up in town. Hiking through the Little Walnut Park added to our great stay in Silver City.

At the end of the park we said our goodbys and hiked on. As we climbed out of town, Sourdough’s eye continued to water and was a big problem for him but he continued on. We crossed our first running water of the entire hike as we crossed Bear Creek. At Moore Canyon Creek we ate dinner and camped below Big Trap Spring.. As we fell asleep we prayed Sourdough’s eye would heal.

Big Trap Spring.     18 Miles

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15-04-20.  Day 9.    Silver City

A Zero Day….  Eating, Resting, Eating, Computer work, Eating, Shopping, Eating, Resting… Thats all…. Well not actually. I couldn’t get to sleep last night. My achilles was throbbing. It felt like someone putting out their cigarette on it, taking a puff, and burning it again. At 1:00am I got up and took some ibuprofen. At 2:00am I wrapped it with a towel filled with ice. I finally fell asleep.  when I woke up my feet looked like they were in a 9 round boxing fight and lost by TKO. Mr. Puffy has arrived. Between my tendon and swollen feet, I was a mess. The feet OK, the tendon hurt… Really hurt. I iced it and massaged it. No improvment. After walking (Limping) around town doing the P.O. and the grocery thing, I took a shower. On closer examination it looked like a blister. Well a blister is much better than an injured tendon. Hydrogen Peroxide followed by moleskin was my treatment.

Phil, Sourdough’s friend from Alaska arrived  at 7:30 pm. He is a trail runner and has never backpacked long distance. He and Sourdough planned to hike New Mexico together and I invited myself to join them on my way to Canada….. Now there are three.  There, Done!

Silver City.  ZERO Miles.

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15-04-18.     Day 7    THE TRAIL

Awoke at 5:13 and hiking at 5:41. For the past six days we have been hiking either cross country or dirt road. After a short road walk we were hiking on trail. Maintained trail. YES!

We headed towards Goat Camp Windmill, climbing all the way..I took a lot of wrong turns including walking a half mile down Knight Canyon Road, two miles short of Goat Camp where we needed to get water. Sourdough, the scout, used his Etrex 20 and Bear Creek Maps to get us back on track.

While we were having lunch, Bill Grubbs walked up. He was the first person we have seen on or near the trail other than Alex and Wagon Wheel.  Bill’s daddy purchased their property in 1959 when Bill was 9. He has been a rancher ever since raising beef cattle. Sourdough showed him his aqua mira to purify the water. Bill wanted to make sure we didn’t get sick from the water in the cow tank.

After lunch we climbed Jacks Peek to 7,919ft. I huffed and puffed all the way up and was rewarded with a great views. We could see all the way back to Big Hatchett Mtn. where we started 7 days earlier. We found the next water along Deadman Canyon. It was late so we ate dinner and camped. Before bed we treated 3 litters each for the next 22 miles into Silver City tomorrow.

Along Deadman Canyon. 19.5 miles

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15-04-17      Day 6.    Sharing

The plan was to get up at 5:45 am and leave by 6:30 am. Like all good plans 6:30 came and went. The lodge was bustling with 10 hikers going over their last minute plans and gear adjustment. The shuttle left at 6:30 and calm returned to the breakfast room. Sourdough made some delicious waffles fresh off the griddle. He has a special recipe he wouldn’t share. What a sour puss. He did load fresh strawberries on top with lots of syrup.

Hiker boxes are located wherever hikers overnight or resupply. If you have to much oatmeal you put the extra in the hiker box. As an example, If you need some ziplock bags that someone didn’t need, you help yourself. Alex said there was a headlamp exactly like the one Sourdough lost in the box…Humm strange coincidence. Another example of trail magic.

We talked with Peru and Radar who are active in the hiker community and are supplying the water caches and helping the CDT Hikers in any way needed.

We said our goodbys to everyone and hit the “trail” at 8:00 am. Walking through town we stopped by the Western Auto. Bernadette was most helpful in showing us her large supply of Yellow Heet used for alcohol stoves. I promptly put the word out on the CDT facebook page helping the hikers behind us.

As we hiked we could see Apache Peak, Gold Hill, and Walker Mtn. The trick was to find Engineer Canyon to hike up. Not being creative in our route finding today, Sourdough took lead in navagation.  By 4:30 pm we were at Engineer Windmill.

Most water sources are water supply for cattle. This was a classic source. The cows lined up one by one, taking turns at the watering hole. There was water for everyone including us hikers. One BULL was upset that we were there but calmed down after displaying a tantrum of stamping his feet and snorting very loud.

We packed up and hiked to the Coop Solar Well about 3 miles farther to camp. As we were hiking we were thankful of the ranchers supplying great tasting water. Sourdough even commented the water had a slight flavor of steak.. YUMM…

Coop Solar Well. 17.5 miles.

PS… Passed the 100 mile Mark today! Yes!!!

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The rain stopped around 9:00 pm. and the wind howled till 10:00. My tarp only blew off twice. I was to tired to put it back up until I had to get up to pee.

After tossing and turning all night we got up at 6:00 and hiking at 8:00 am. Kinda late start but it’s only our first night. Sourdough and I took turns getting lost, found, and lost again. Well actually we wern’t lost. Big Hatchet Mtns were on our right and there isn’t a trail. There are 4X4 wooden posts placed to show you the way….. If you can see them. We used the gps to guide us. Hey it’s over there. Now it’s somewhere over that way.

Sometimes  the markers were blown over. Sourdough needing to do a good turn for today put up three and packed rocks around them. We zigzaged 12 miles to the next water cache arriving at 3:30. 7 hours to hike 12 miles.. Humm. It’s going to be a long day. After we filled up with 5 liters of water and drank 2 20s (Gator Aid Bottles), we hiked on. Sourdough looked for birds while looked for the “way”. I started to use my compass to guide us from post to post…

Sourdough found 7 birds, 3 from Mexico. A Fly catcher, Black Throated Sparrow and a Scale Quail.  Nice.. At 6:30 we stopped for the night.. Oh I forgot. I Fell!  Way to go..

4 miles north of Hachita Peak Road . 16 miles.

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Fool of Dreams

Springer fever is in the air. It’s an exciting time for starting a life changing adventure. For thru hikers of the past it is a time of reminiscing of memories so vivid, emotional, intoxicating and addicting. What is my life about here in our culture? How do I make this or that decision? Where do i fit? There is another life, Another person, with another set of values within me. Trail Life.

For sometime now a new dream has been swimming upstream. Wrestling with our culture as to what, when and how. Now is the window in time to hike the CDT. Once again all the small ardous details that are involved in a long distance hike are coming together. The timeline is making the planning stage come to an end and I rejoice in it. The first post of the journal is another step closer to Crazy Cook, one of three northbound starts to the trail…. Admittedly I have been contemplating all the negative aspects that go along with a long hike. It’s a lot to digest. It’s time to go with the flow. I am ready for some desert and the dessert…. Here we go……
If you would like to read the Story from top down, paste this link into your browser:

Marktrailrocks.com/category/hiking-the-continental-divide-trail/? order=asc

Thanks  Mark Trail

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