Category Archives: Hiking The Continental Divide Trail

15-04-16. Day 5 Lordsburg – Mark Trail CDT

16 Thursday Apr 2015

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15-04-16       Day 5.     Lordsburg

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Today is a town day so no worries waking up and getting at it. Hiking at 5:32 am, looking for a shower and a salad, Yes. We had 4 miles to water cache #5 and 6.9 to town. After an hour and a half of going to town hiking, ( 3 miles per hour ), we came to the road where the water cache was supposed to be. Where’s the cache? Where’s the “Trail” signs? Scrambling with the maps and gps we both come to the conclusion we were a mile off the trail in the wrong direction. One mile isn’t a big deal in the 60 mph car world, ( More like 70 today), but it’s 20 to 30 minutes in the 2 mph hiking world. We finally saw the cache south of the trail 6.9 miles from town. You need water? I have a liter. I have a liter too. The cache was south of the intersection and in reality not to far off the trail but at that point not worth the effort and not needed. We would make it to town on 1 liter. That would be 26 miles on 5 liters with an overnight… Great.

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The Econo Lodge was bustling with activity. Since the Continental Divide Coalition set up shuttles to the border, 10 hikers will leave to the start hiking while 10 will arrive from the start, hiking back into town about 5 days later.

Juan, our driver, who has helped us without question..greeted us. “Well, how did it go?” It was as I expected and more than I expected. Thats how I could sum it up. We went next door for pizza and had a hiker feed with Dan, Giggles, Boston Bone and Grits who I met while he was hiking the AT last year.

Back to the room to pack for the next section and write.. Nice day.

Lordsburg NM Econo Lodge, 11.4 miles

15-04-15 Day 4 SourScout – Mark Trail CDT

15 Wednesday Apr 2015

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15-04-15    Day 4.    SourScout

Up at 5:00am and on the trail at 6:00am. We hiked along with one headlamp.  Somewhere many miles back is Sourdough’s headlamp laying in the trail. We left Coyote Hills headed to Pyramid Peak, a 6,008 ft cone. Between Sourdough’s Binoculars and GPS, we could see the peak all day as we weaved ourselves across the desert.

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We picked up 5 liters of water at cache #4. The water cache was filled with 40 gallons of water as the CDT shuttle has started transporting 10 hikers a day to the start. In four days we have only seen Alex, Wagon Wheel, and two sobos. NICE!!! The wind picked up during the day and the clouds made the hike much better than it could have been.

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We took an hour lunch at 12:30 knowing we were trying to hike 20 miles to the next water. 7:30 and we were warn out. Found a gully to block the wind..

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Oh Sourdough almost got bit by a rattlesnake.

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Rockhouse Seep. 22 miles

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15-04-14 Day 3. Lost, Found, and Lost – Mark Trail CDT

14 Tuesday Apr 2015

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Rise and Shine at 5:00. Fire up the stove for some Hot Chocolate / Coffee mix and oatmeal.  Oh no..Where is my spoon? Tear my whole pack apart… No spoon. It’s hard to eat without a spoon. Sourdough lent me his but I was disheveled. Where did I put it?

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We were hiking by 5:50 am.. The sunrise entertained us while we left the Little Hatchett Mtns. It was our first day of full sun. By 10:30 my eyes were tearing. I had my glasses on and not my contacts, due to my dirty hands and conserving water for the 20 mile section between water caches. What was I going to do. I grabbed my sunglasses and put them on over my glasses with instant relief…  At 2:30 we hiked 16 miles to the third water cache. We put up my tarp for shade and made lunch, an oasis in the middle of nowhere. As was getting my food bag, my spoon jumped out.  Instant Joy!!!!. I could eat..

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Alex and Wagon Wheel joined us for a much needed siesta.  We watered and packed up as we had 13 miles to hike to the next water. We passed a nice water hole for the cows who were gracious enough to share. The water was cool and refreshing as it was our third day out. Say goodby to the Hatchetts Mtns and hello to the Coyote Hills. There was a nice place to sleep about half way to the next cache that we couldn’t resist. As we set for the night, Sourdough couldn’t find his headlamp. Big problem. He’s still searching as I fell asleep.

Halfway to Cache #4  24 miles

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15-04-13 Day 2. The Way – Mark Trail CDT

13 Monday Apr 2015

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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.

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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…

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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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15-04-12 Day 1 The CDT – Mark Trail CDT

12 Sunday Apr 2015

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Day 1.         The CDT

 

     Juan Reynon arrived ten minutes early,7:20 am,  at the Econo Lodge while Sourdough and I finished our breakfast. We packed the four-wheel drive suburban with 17 gallons of water to place in 5 water caches on our way to the border. As we left town we looked for yellow heet for Sourdough with no luck. As Juan drove, we talked about the history of the starting point of the trail where a Crazy Cook was murdered. What a great place to start….We picked up Wagon Wheel and Alex in Hachita as we began dropping off our water. It was crazy thinking that we would be back in a few days to pick up the water at the boxes. The Suburban  bounced along the dirt road as we made our way to the border arriving at 12 noon. The monument has been vandalized. Bummer… We took a bunch of pictures and off we went. We weaved our way toward Big Hatchet Mtn. Looking for the trail here and there. Oh there it is…. I was warned that this was going to be a different hike. It started to rain off and on then mostly on. At 5:30 Sourdough found a tree to cook dinner under. We fired up our alcohol stoves and had yummy freeze-dried dinners. .Turkey Tetrazzini is one of my favorites. P1000187 At 7:30 we arrived at the Sheridan Canyon water box in a steady rain and called it a day.

 

Day 1 Sheridan Canyon 13.7 mi.

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15-04-11 It’s All Coming Together

11 Saturday Apr 2015

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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
When will the planning part of the adventure come to a close and the fun begin?

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After months of dreaming, I am on the final leg of my way across America to the start of the CDT. Greyhound rides again. I am looking into Mexico from the bus headed to Lordsburg, NM, the jumping off point. Humm…  The mexican border.       Where’s Canada? Six months away… 180 days…, 2,800 miles.  Sourdough will arrive at 5:00 without his alcohol for his stove. He was trying to smuggle it on his bus traveling east from Arizonia…  what was he thinking? My yellow bottles of heet are traveling below, safetly stashed in my Osprey backpack as I travel west from Texas, I don’t look like a drug trafficker like Sourdough….. Yet!

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Maybe our ride will show up tomorrow morning on time. Maybe we will find a place to stay tonight. Maybe everything is packed. Maybe the planning is coming to an end. Yes!!!

Day 0, Miles 0

15-04-01 Fool of Dreams CDT Adventure

01 Wednesday Apr 2015

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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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