thru-hiker – She-ra Hikes

Oh town, your seductive fast food, showers, and excesses…while we thru-hikers dream of you, it’s always a relief to return to the trail. I decided to take a nero today (a nero is hiking just a few miles into or out of town…as opposed to a zero where no trail miles are hiked), and man did my feet need it. Everytime I looked at them I would discover new blisters. No lie! My feet have some catching up to do, or I have some slowing down to do so they can catch up. You need to keep those two appendages happy…the hike depends on it.

I think the pink toe nail polish matches the bushwacking scratches well

So I lounged in the hotel room all day, chatting with Kirk, friends and family, visiting Instagram and Facebook regularly, and catching a few movies on cable TV…something I don’t even watch at home! Wow, vacation rocks!

The first few days of my hike I refrained from turning the data on for my phone, but now I’m going to use it when I want…and today that means I’m streaming my Alt-J station on Pandora! I still can’t get over how much technology changes the trail experience, and again, It’s pretty cool.

I listened to Trail Side Radio on my walk out of town… Ratatouille again featured part of the interview he did with me last month in Bend…and I got to share the air with my good friend Allgood. Check out his podcast, he’ll hit the trail soon and will be broadcasting from the PCT. I’m looking forward to listening to his adventures as I hike north. It is kind of trippy to be featured on another podcast…

I’m barely outside of Lordsburg…my four miles took me about three miles down the highway (blah to walking on the side of a highway) and into one of the last big wide open spaces I’ll be hiking through in a while. Again I’m camped in cow range land behind a bush. I actually feel quite decadent out here. I packed out some cheddar and sour cream ruffles, the tunes are playing, and my feet are feeling good after all that rest.

Cowboy camping behind a bush, with chips!

I don’t know how many miles I’m going to do tomorrow, or the day after for that matter. All I know is I’m going to walk. Life is good.

The great wide open

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.