Continental Divide Trail: Day 2 – 22 miles (39 miles from Mexico)

Posted on April 18, 2015 by sheraaaa

Whew. They say the tag line for the CDT is “Embrace the Brutality” but I think today the brutality embraced me.

I have been literally unable to sleep the past week. I must be getting some sort of rest because I am able to function, but man, it was a looooooong sleepless night of looking at the stars and trying to convince sleep to pay me a visit. I’m hoping something changes soon because I need all my energy for this trail.

I started getting ready about an hour before sunrise, making coffee and packing up, and hiked the first bit while drinking from my french press mug. I’m glad for the extra weight so far!

The first half of the day was a cross country section, marked by posts with CDT markers on them. The trail traverses just below a mountain range, and when I lost the posts I didn’t mind as I just had to keep the range to my left. Well, I did a fair amount of bushwacking while navigating up and down and around all the drainages, cactus, and pokey things. Ouch. My legs got scratched up good!

I worked my way cross country for the first 10 miles until reaching the second water cache the CDTC maintains. The day was HOT and I took a break in a pocket sized shadow of the cache box. I’m tired. That cross country section took a lot out of me.

The sun was brutal, but a pretty steady wind made it bearable. The next four miles continued the cross country, but was easier to nagivate. I was feeling slow with the sun beating down and tried to use my sun umbrella for a bit, but to no avail. The wind was just too stong.

Finally the trail became an old road bed, easy cruising, and I made my way north. I didn’t intend to hike more than 18 mile days, but I decided I could hike more. So far I’ve been hiking about an hour and a half, then take a 30-60 minute break, and hike, break, hike, break, on and on until I’m DONE. Today I aimed to reach a water source so I could camp with water. It was a cow tank with a piped spring that turned on about 7pm, so I was able to fill from the pipe instead of the dung-infested dirt tank.

I wanted to camp near by, and with the increasing clouds I decided to set up my tarp. Uggg, broke one of my stakes trying to pound it into the rocky ground, so decided to use rocks as anchors, but the wind was so strong nothing would stay. Uggggggggg. I found a spot with a windbreak behind the tank to cowboy camp, but then I envisioned getting trappled by cows in the middle of the night, so limped on a bit farther down the trail and tucked myself in between two sage bushes. I won’t set up my tarp tonight, but keep it close in case I need to wrap myself like a burrito if it does rain.

I’m terribly tired, my legs are scratched up and I’ve got a few blisters, but getting to camp, making my mac & cheese and tending to my wounds perks up my mood. There’s nothing like a full stomach and self-care to make the world right again.

It’s another day in the desert tomorrow. I hope I can sleep.

Continental Divide Trail: Day 1 -17ish Miles

Posted on April 17, 2015 by sheraaaa

Day 1 – 17ish miles

I’m on the CDT!

What a relief to finally be on trail and find my body remembers what this is all about. The walking, the sun, the water, the maps, I love it all!

After another sub-par night of sleep, I woke to my alarm at 5:30am…just enough time to pack up, hit the continental breakfast at the Econolodge in Lordsburg, and meet Teresa, Val, and Juan who would be shuttling us to the border.

Getting to the start of the CDT is not an easy task. While there are traditionally three spots folks can start the trail on the Mexican border, two are not ideal, either passing through private property, or containing looooong road walks. The Crazy Cook monument is the spot most people start, and it is in the middle of freaking no where.

The Continental Divide Trail Coalition offers shuttle service to the border, and since I’m their trail ambassador this year, I was able to catch a ride down the day before the official shuttle service started. So did Bearclaw, Dirtmonger, and True with her dog Billy. For $120 the CDTC will take hikers the 3 hour drive over nasty rutted dirt roads to Crazy Cook, and will also maintain 5 water caches for hikers along the 84 trail miles to Lordsburg. A real deal considering others offering rides charge more and don’t cache water for you.

We loaded up the vehicles and were off! FINALLY.

We rolled up to the border about 10am, and yes, the road is nasty. We all took obligatory photos, turned around, and set off!

The first few miles were cross country, but posts with big CDT symbols made it easy to navigate the great wide open. I had a perma-grin on my face the whole day. I’m on the CDT!!

Soon the trail started following a dirt road and I hiked a bit with Bearclaw & Dirtmonger…taking lunch with them in a dirt wash. Oh life! Dirt and trail food and sweat!

We all played leap-frog with eachother the rest of the afternoon, in and out of deeply cut washes. The sandy-rocky footbed was pleasent and flowers of the brightest yellow and deepest purple carpeted the desert in places.

We’ve heard the desert is greener than it has been in a while due to a wet winter. Score!

I caught up to Bearclaw & Dirtmonger once again at the first cache, and found Rambler, who had decided to hike south from Lordsburg.

Filling up on a few liters of water, I set off for an evening stroll. I had carried more water than i needed from the border, and have much too much food, but hey! Other than that the first day went amazingly.

A bit before dusk I cleared out some rocks for a place to sleep; I’ll cowboy camp (sleep out in the open without a shelter) since the sky is fairly clear. I have my shelter handy in case it does decide to rain tonight, but i want to be out in the open, I want to watch the stars twinkle into existance as the sun sets (right now!) and soak in my first day on the CDT.

Almost on the Continental Divide Trail

Posted on April 12, 2015 by sheraaaa

What a whirlwind few days! Since arriving in Silver City on Friday afternoon it has been a smorgasbord few days of connecting with hikers I’ve known on past thru hikes, meeting new hikers that will be on the trail this year, and soaking in the goodness of Silver City, NM.

Upon arriving at our destination on Friday afternoon, we immediately headed to the Little Toad Brewery where they were not only holding a happy hour celebration for us, but unveiling a special beer just for the CDT, the Divide Trail Ale! Yum.

Hikers united over good beer, a killer raffle, and a kick-ass band playing everything from Tom Petty to Heart and everything in between.

A pie from Pie Town was part of the raffle...and devoured in seconds

We danced, ate pie, and lived to tell the tale.

Saturday was a full day of vendor booths, where I sold a grip of hikertrash swag, and connecting with the community who came out in full force to see what this thru-hiking crowd was all about. And I have to say, this is one of the most welcoming communities I’ve ever hiked through (ok, I haven’t hiked through yet…that will be in a week or two, but you know what I mean.) Kids and teens and families and retirees came out to see what we were all about, and as they marveled at the weird but interesting hikers that had descended on their town, and we marveled at the eclectic, artistic, and truly beautiful community we found.

I had a chance to reconnect with multiple folks: Erica, one of my trail crew from a season building trails in Colorado 8 years ago was now working at the Little Toad; Bams, a thru-hiker I met on the PCT in 2006 was now a brewer at the Little Toad; and Restless, another 2006 PCT thru-hiker who is also hiking the CDT this year and who had already hiked into Silver City from the border of Mexico. Mint!!!! One of the things I love most about hiking over the years is running into trail friends in the most unexpected (in this case expected) times. I hadn’t seen any of these folks since we spent time on the trail together years ago. And we can pick up where we left off. Nice.

Ericotter and I built trails together 8 years ago.

Bams & Restless

Today we had a mellow start of breakfast, putzing around, and then a short hike with some folks from Silver City. It was wonderful to connect with everyone and tell stories from our numerous hikes. Snorkle, Bearclaw, and I regaled the local hikers with our experiences, and we got to enjoy a real connection to the area. Very nice.

The most excellent day was ended with a massive bbq at Carol & Richard’s dome paradise, some wonderful trail angels; the Warrior Hikers and more came together and we ate ribs and watched the sun set over the New Mexico desert. This is what it is all about.

I set up my new SMD Deschutes Cuben Fiber shelter for my first night under the tarp, and will sleep long and dark and dream of the trail which is close enough to touch.