My Continental Divide Trail Adventure: 2013

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Deming, Columbus, Mexico border

Road walk to the border. In order to make our ride home we decided to stay on the roads instead of trails as it was less miles and easy terrain. We stopped by a farm supply store and I finally found a big sun hat ( I've been looking since the Wyoming Basin) as sometimes its too windy to use my umbrella and my visor leaves my neck exposed. Although the scenery wasn't great we were able to keep our average up to 25+ miles a day which was great. We got into Deming in 2 days! In Deming we stayed at a super hiker friendly motel called the Butterfield

oStage motel. They had a hiker box full of goodies and the owner was super friendly. Since we made such good timing we took a zero in Deming so we wouldn't be waiting at the border for too long waiting for our ride (only 35 miles!). After resting we got an early start and stopped on our way out to get breakfast. From Deming to the border we saw TONS of Border Patrol which made me feel safe but also very nervous about how much cartel activity really goes on. So we are hiking down the highway and a red truck slows down and pulls over. The truck was tinted so I couldn't see who was inside making it even creepier. I looked over and Kraig had his hand on his knife then the doors opened and out popped Baboon and Spins! What a relief! They had finished their triple crown earlier that day and stopped to say bye. We continued on down the road before hitting a check point. They had a German Shepherd out working so I stayed across the street while Kraig went to talk to them to let them know we would be camping a few miles down the road. The k9 didn't care that Kraig had approached his handler an just stared down Grizby at the end of his leash with only his front paws off the ground, handler did nothing... We camped behind some bushes off the highway and woke up at 5am we were both so excited to finish. We only had 11 miles to the border and were very motivated to finish. Grizby was super excited although he had no idea what was going on. We made it to the border around 10am after quickly passing through Columbus. We were about 50 yards from the border when Mr. Ortiz passed us. The timing couldn't have been more perfect! We walked to the border signs took our pictures drank the crown Spins and Baboon gave us and hoped in the truck. We then had to go pick up Hinanu from Albuquerque. We got to the kennel by 3 drank another celebratory beer then headed back to California! We got home around 5am then I headed to LA to drop off Kraig. By the time I got home the sun was out and I couldn't sleep. I caught up with my family, best friend, and the Walking Dead before falling asleep at 7pm. The trip was officially over and it felt good to be home. The only problem is I'm already itching to go on another thru- hike... PCT or AT... I've caught the backpacking bug.

Oh Grizby...

: )

I did it!

The dog made it from border to border!

Group shot - Hinanu

Friday, November 8, 2013

Grants to Silver City...only 5 days left!

Grants to Pie Town was more road walking with a few suprises thrown in. The trail angels of Grants (the Mumms) told us about a new section of trail that went up above the canyon onto the mesa and it was a mile shorter. The terrain has been a mix of dirt trail and gravel roads. Overall mellow with no huge mountains but there has been plenty of cacti that are regularly picked from the dog's paws. The water sources have left much to be desired in New Mexico. Luckily the Mumms provide and maintain two caches with fresh water. The other water sources have been windmills, tanks (cow shit puddles), wells, and a few springs. Luckily I didn't know until after but one of the water sources we drank from had a bird skeleton in it... Yuck! We hiked through an area called El Malpais or "the bad lands". El Malpais was a lava field we had to hike through. We were warned to keep an eye on the cairns and to be sure we found the next cairn before leaving the one you were at. Some of the cairns were from 700ad. The Mumms told of us a story of a hiker who was wandering around for 14hrs. because he wasn't paying attention. We took a break and cooked dinner under a large Juniper once we got through before hiking down the highway to the next dirt trail. As we were walking down the highway a truck pulled up next to us asking, "want a ride and some cookies?" Who could say no! We happily hoped in the truck bed and munched on some cookies and talked with the four guys while viewing the arches. They tried to take us all the way into Pie Town but we didn't want to jump the whole section so we declined and just took a ride to the dirt road to get off the highway. We ended up getting out of the car full of cookies and one of the guys gave me a turkey sandwhich which was a treat! Its interesting how things change on a thru hike. Down the dirt road we camped after finding a good hidden flat spot. Apparently in this area drug cartels have been spotted (by previous years hikers) slow low flying planes dropping off packages then a car picking it up and driving off... Just a little sketchy. Luckily at night we heard no planes or cars just about 20 coyotes yipping and howling off and on all night. We found an old house dated back to 1200ac in the canyon that was pretty neat. Going into Pie Town we got some weather. The clouds rolled in and we got a variety of rain, hail, and snow. The winds were pretty strong so my umbrella was useless. We ended up getting another hitch down the road and into town after spending all morning and most of the afternoon fighting the headwind and weather. Apparently Pie Town closes at 4pm so we didn't get our packages or food. We read about a place called The Toaster House which is a hostel in the area. We headed over and found Baboon and Spins already inside with the fire going. Nita who owns the house (but doesnt live there) opens her home to the hikers, bikers, and whoever else wanders through the area. The pantry, fridge, and freezer are full of food and beer. She accepts donations to help keep beer in the fridge. It was perfect to relax and prepare for the end of the trip. The next day we collected our boxes and hit up the pie shops. Both pie restaurants were delicious and wayyy too much pie was consumed. We left Pie Town and it was 6 days to Doc Cambells our next resupply. 6 days means heavy packs with all the food and carrying 2 days of dog food too. The dog can only carry about 4 days worth and that's pretty much all that will fit in his pack anyways. We took an alternate to the Leys alternate because the trail down the Gila River was completely washed away during the flooding from September. The alternate we took kept us up on jeep roads and was easier to keep a faster pace and do some bigger miles. We also decided to not sleep in with the time change so instead of waking up at 6 we now wake up at 5am... I'm not a morning person so although its technically the same time we are still up with the sun it still feels early. We heard and saw a buck get taken out and he was impressive but not the biggest we have seen on the trip. We also took a wrong route or an alternative depending on how you look at it and walked an extra 6 miles one morning. We saw a dead coyote in the road. New Mexico is full of dead animals. We made our way down the canyon to the Gila River and made our one crossing vs. the 85 the original alternate entailed. We walked up stream and found a good spot where we could walk without getting wet. It was about 7:30am when we made the cross and I was about 3/4 across when... Of course... I slipped on an icy rock and fell in. It was freezing! I scurried across the rest of the way super pissed off and immediately changed my clothes. My feet hurt so bad and I couldn't feel my hands. After changing quickly we climbed back to the top of the canyon which warm me up and then we finally got into the sunlight. After a rough morning the temperature warmed up to the high 50s which is great for hiking. Up trail we made it to the Gila cave dwellings which were very impressive. 5 miles later we made it to Docs to pick up our resupply. Our box was not there : (. Luckily there was enough at the small store to resupply for a couple days to get us into Silver City. After over paying for simple and a couple expired items we camped out at the hot springs near Docs. We didn't go in the hot springs but enjoyed the flat camping spot. Bright and early we booked it and headed into Silver City. About 5 miles into our day a truck passed us and my tumb accidentally stuck out and we got a hitch. We enjoyed the scenery from the back of the truck bed and the two day walk took only 40 minutes. Walking is not the most efficient way to travel. We got into town and picked up a care package from my parents. Hot chocolate is now a main food group : ). Two more stops and we are finished! Deming then Columbus! We locked down our ride and we should be home on the 16th. Hopefully it's a smooth finish.

Yumm getting water from a trough

Storm rolled in while we were getting water from the windmill

El Malpais

Grizby has to wear his boots over the tough lava

Jumping over giant cracks

Beautiful blue sky

Home was originally built in 1200ac

Pie Town!

Delicious pie and very friendly owner

Yes!

Outside of the Toaster House

Great hiker retreat

Good water source for NM

Gila info

Gila cliff dwellings

Top after crossing Gila River

We got rain and snow during this last section. At least it has been nice during the day but last week it was cold alllllll day.

Big cairn

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Finally in New Mexico!

After a hellish few days in snow and weather we took a zero in Pagosa Springs CO after hearing of another weather front coming in. I am SO over the snow and cold weather. We found a route that took us to Chama NM that kept us out of the mountains and at a lower elevation. The route was a jeep road which also cut off a few miles. Yay! Even with the new route we had about 3" of snow but the road was well traveled enough that the car tracks melted the snow keeping your feet dry. Double yay! Although it was a road walk it was still scenic enough for me and did I mention I kept dry feet? : ) After a blur of road walking we came into a little mining camp ( sorry I can't remember the name) where we were able to get a hot meal ( best burger in CO) and take a load off our feet for an hour or so before getting back on the road. The next day was a push to get into Chama. We were walking along zoning out when a truck stopped and out popped Baboon and Spins! A trucker had offered to give them a ride down the road and since it would be rude to turn down a ride they accepted and they were nice enough to stop to pick us up along the way. It's nice to have friends on trail : ). The trucker gave us a ride to the end of the road then it was another short hitch into New Mexico. We got into New Mexico in the early afternoon with enough time to hit up the post office to get our resupply box and a care package from Regan and one from Mr. Ortiz. Mr. Ortiz's box had traveled all around Colorado before we finally got it. On the way to the post office we met another thru hiker Big Foot. At this point it's kind of hard to tell who is homeless and who is a thru- hiker. He had a buddy who was a little behind him named Barrel Roll. We met up with the two hikers at dinner to exchange stories and experiences. After making myself sick gorging on brownies and cookies from Regan we hit the road walk out of Chama to Ghost Ranch our next stop. We saw an impressive amount of roadkill on our way including an elk, deer, cat, owl, and a lot of skunks. We rushed to get to Ghost Ranch in time for the dinner buffet and barely made it in time. I'm not a big fan of meatloaf but being on trail it was delicious! We stayed the night at the ranch gorged again at breakfast then back on trail. Ghost ranch was a very interesting beautiful historical place here is a link if you want to learn more-

http://ghostranch.org/about-ghost-ranch/history/

Leaving Ghost Ranch we got back to walking on a trail which my joints were very thankful for. I feel like an old lady now everything hurts, sitting, standing, moving, not moving. You get the picture. After Ghost Ranch our next stop was Cuba for our next resupply. There's not much going on in Cuba. After Cuba we hiked through some beautiful mesas and trails but there were long stretches between water supplies making it critical to plan ahead so we could hopefully camp near water making it easy to cook without carrying any extra water. A few days into the section we had a thunder storm which cut our day a little short camping early so we were not the tallest thing around. Because we camped early we did not make it to our water supply so we had no water to drink since we used what was left to cook dinner. We were now wet but thirsty... Only on the CDT... The next morning thankfully the weather broke and we had clear skies and a beautiful sunrise. While breaking down the tent Kraig noticed a little blood where the dogs had been sleeping. I checked the dogs pads since we were hiking through some cactus although neither dog had been limping or showed any signs of pain. Uh oh... Yup Hinanu went into heat early. I had noticed Grizby was very interested in her a few days earlier and had mentioned she looked a little swollen but she had just finished her cycle before we left and wasn't supposed to go into heat until late Dec. or Jan. Isn't it great when nature throws you a curve ball? Since we had heard coyotes very close to camp the night before and didn't want to deal with any hill billy pups we decided we needed to get her off trail ASAP. Luckily Kraig new someone in the Albuquerque area so we called her (I love getting cell phone service in the middle of nowhere) and she said she would board her for us until she was done or we finished trail. After looking at the maps and GPS we found a route that would take us to the highway to get us to Albuquerque so off we went. We walked about 18 miles down a dirt jeep road before finally getting a hitch with some geode hunters. That night Nanu was picked up then we spent the night in Bernalillo before hitching into Grants. New Mexico has been our hardest state to get a hitch. We posted outside of a church for over an hour before finally getting a ride from a SUPER nice family. The family originally was going to give us a ride to the 40 but then asked if it was okay if they took us all the way to Grants. Grants was about an hour away! We accepted the ride and enjoyed the company of other slightly crazy people who enjoyed seizing the day. Before dropping us off in Grants they even offered to take us all the way to CA! Although it was hard to turn down we are too close to finishing to quit now. Once we got to Grants we ate some gross McDonalds before posting up at the camp ground. We are now in Grants waiting for the trail angels to drop off our package before hitting the trail in the morning. I'm ready to be finished with the trail and back at home but until then I will continue to embrace the brutality and hike as fast as I can.

Road walk leaving Pagosa Springs

No more snow on the road. : )