April 28 - May1 Lordsburg to Silver City ~ 60 miles

Well, it's been a trip!  What a trip!  The first leg was a great introduction of things to come and a filter for those who would not be continuing on.  There have already been people to drop out or even to get sent home because of lack of preparedness and almost dying TWICE for getting lost and dehydrated.  So far I am still doing well.  The second leg was not exceptionally long.  It was a planned 2.25 days, but I ended up hitching into Silver City on the second day due to some serious foot pain in my arch.  The right foot arch was shooting pains up my leg and I was limping pretty terribly.  So here it is:

Day 5: Burly and I got up in the room we split in Lordsburg, him to rest his knee and me to rest my foot.  It was 5:45am when our feet hit the road and we had a good strong pace heading out on the 3 mile road walk our of Lordsburg.  Our goal was to do 26 miles to catch up with our friends who had decided not to stay the night, but headed out the day before.  We moved from road into some cross country (no trails).  Scrub, brush, and cow dung were the main sights to be seen for miles with mountains in the distance.  That's where we were aiming.

(Dried up water source)

(Hottttttt)

Burly has a longer stride and faster pace than me, so it wasn't long before the distance between us increased and I stopped for a break a few hours into the day.  That resulted in me having my first really mosltly solo day.  It is liberating to hike along as many will attest to.  You break when you want, go to the bathroom when you want, and make your own milage schedule.  I wasn't too sure that I would be able to catch everyone, so I decided to get to a water source and leave it at that.  I got to a windmill called Engineer's Windmill and was very ready for a long break.  The sun and heat were taking their tole, and my foot was not giving me a break from the pain.  I couldn't see how to get to the water, so I sat a bit defeated.  After a few deep breaths I took a look at my Guthook App (a great App that has the CDT route and GPS capabilities with waypoints and water source locations), and saw that there was another better windmill about not too far away, so I decided to try to make it there for my extended break.  I couldn't even make it the hour before needing to take a 30 minute break to rest my foot.  It was getting pretty bad and cripplingly painful.

(Pretty trail with trees and shade)

(Someone left water for hikers!)

(Beef jerky and grumpy at Engineer's Windmill)

I found a nice shady spot and took my shoes off and elevated my feet.  It occured to me the night before that my Pink Super Feet insoles might be exacerbating my foot issue, so I spent my break separating the hard plastic from the foam, putting the foam part back into the shoe.  It felt SO MUCH BETTER!  I was so happy I was practically giddy!  On I trudged and finally saw the Co-op Windmill.  I was about to head down to it, a bit off trail, but thought there might be a better access point a bit up the trail around a curve.  Just as I turned the curve I saw the backs of a group of hikers walking away.  My friend!!!  I gave ayell and they turned around and cheered!  It was one of the happiest moments on trail.  I had caught up to them!  I couldn't believe it!  Capitain, Burly, and Toast walked with me to the water and we all celebrated the cold well water.  They had just finished a 2.5 hour siesta to get away from the afternoon heat.  That was enough time for me to catch them with my shorter breaks.

We were aiming for Goat Camp Windmill for the night.  That would put Burly and me at 29 miles for the day!  Biggest mile day so far.  I did eventually make it, though last in the group with my hobble limp.  We all had dinner together and celebrated Toast's birthday that night with some chocolate and whiskey.  What a great day!

Day 6: It was a cold morning at 36F upon leaving at 7:50am, later in the morning than usual.  This was not the best idea as it ended up being a very hot, windless day.  The goal was 20 miles today and 7 tomorrow into Silver City, which includes a 13 miles highway walk.....Not too appealing.  Burly and I decided pretty quickly that we would hitch in to avoid further damage to his knee and my foot.  There is a very uptight environment in the thru-hiker community about hiking every single mile and step for it to count, but in the end it is what you want it to be.  It is a hike, a walk, and it is only yours to define and decide upon.  I wasn't worried about hitching.

(Shade!)

(Pretty view)

I had a hard time from the start.  I was limping right away and even though the terrain was beautiful, we went up into some small mountains, through some forests, on real trail, I just wanted to get to town. I did enjoy some amazing views and the smell of toasting pine needles.  I made the bad decision to play Band of Horses as I was dwelling on past relationships, which is a TERRIBLE idea while you feel like you're limping pathetically miles behind your friends.  Don't do that.

I did run into a day hiker named Peter who was very impressed with our hike and was heading up the mountain that I was coming down from to see some towers.  I had seen some old buildings there and a great view of the area.  He went on his way and I got to a fork in the trail.  There was a note left for me from my friends telling me they went to the right, away from the main CDT route.  On I went and soon found a direct dirt road walk that would take me to the main road I needed to get to to get to the highway.  I was in a seriously miserably painful state by then and ended up stopping a truck and catching a ride with 2 copper miners to the highway.  I hitched with the day hiker, Peter, into Silver City, where I contacted Nick Prince, a friend of friends from Chicago.  He had a whole apartment set up for me!  Wow!  What an amazing treat!

(Salmon salad at The Toad!)

I went to his work and he drove me to the brewery The Toad where he said some other hikers were.  I got an amazing salmon and strawberry salad and an Amber Ale and just hung out there for a few hours.  BigFoot and Hot Springs joined me for a drink and we caught up on the rough break-in period that is the first 2 weeks of trail.  Some of my group ended up hitching in too, which I was pleased about, and we all settled in to the apartment.  It was like a hippie 60's apartment complex with a courtyard, outdoor kitchen, fire barrel, and even a hammok.  Malarky and I snagged the king sized water bed and others found spots both inside an outside the building.

May 1-3 Silver City - Double Zero

Day 7: What a chill day.  I spent a lot of it by myself enjoying my book, icing my foot, and general maintenance.  Everyone went for burritos in the morning and running their own errands on bikes that Nick leant them.  I minded my business mostly.  I eventually joined Hot Springs for some town duties including going to the awesome natural foods co-op.  Then I hung out with Nick at his work spot and got to know his friend Marisa, who is also awesome.  I got a tour of the town and got to know Nick a bit better.  He lived at Eco, the house I was living in in Chicago, years ago with some of my friends who are still there.  We had fun connecting the dots of history and updating some stories of people he used to hang out with.  

(Nick and I in Silver City. He gifted me the Pashmina scarf)

There was a dance party that night at The Toad, but I ended up crashing early at 9:30pm, which is late for a hiker, so no dance party for me.  I had collected a few more hikers too, Pacer and Threshhold.

(Sanjay is friends with my cousin Geritt! Small world!)

(Hiker trash at the bar)

Day 8: My group headed out today in the morning.  It looked like Lala wanted to stay another day to rest her blister ridden feet, but she is hiking with her boyfriend Day Man and I think is pushing herself to keep up more than her body wants to.  The population of the apartment shrank a lot after that.  It was quieter.  2 more hikers, Porsche and J.W. joined us for the last night.  I spent most of the day with Pacer.  It was nice to have the opportunity to hang out with someone who was more introverted.  Any introvert will admit to the relief of finding another introvert to spend time with.

(Threshhold and I icing our feet)

(Hemp milk chai!!)

There was bike race happening that whole weekend and today was the day they would be doing city circuits.  So we wnjoyed all the festivities, live music, food stands, fresh lemonade, lots of people and music.  We also enjoyed a local cafe that had hemp milk chai lattes!  I was happy!  I bought a pair of crocs as my in town and in camp shoes since my makeshift insole shoes were not doing it for me.  I also invested in a pair of bigger and sturdier Merrell shoes for Colorado, so they should be shipped over to Chama soon.  That will be nice as my feet have grown a bit already.  They need more toe room!

(Bike race!)

(Burrito drive and walk through. Also where to find new arrival CDT hikers)

(Little kids race)

(Live music, local band)

(Local sellers)

Tomorrow I head out.  We'll see how my arch fares.  I hope I'm not leaving too soon.  It is still really sore, but I did get some gel insoles, which BigFoot reccomended since he was having the same issue I was having and these insoles helped.  Overall, the 2 rest days were very necessary.  My blisters healed and are doing great, my sore muscles are feeling better, and my sunburned skin is getting some TLC.

April 24-28 Southern Terminus to Lordsburg - 84 mi

What a surprising first leg! This is a long post! I'm going to try to get better about separating the days more. I was pretty exhausted this leg. 

First off, I landed in El Paso and couch surfed with a lovely host. We cooked dinner together and bonded over our love of healthy lifestyles. The next morning, Brandon (Cousin T or simply Toast) came to pick me up and we used a body fat measure to see where we would start. I was at 23% and he was at 8%. He's super fit. Once our fellow hiker Charlie (Burly) landed we picked him up at the airport and headed toward Lordsburg.

(Me teaching Burly yoga in the Econo Lodge parking lot)

We spent a couple nights there with Johnny (Big Foot) and Andy (Malarky). It was great fun as we got to know each other and thoroughly explored the grocery store and local restaurants.

It was finally time to leave on the 24th! The shuttle left Lordsburg at 6:30am, after a quick breakfast at the Econo Lodge, and we took a very leisurely, but bumpy, 3 hour ride to the Southern Terminus at the Crazy Cook Monutment. The 10 hikers (Toast, Malarky, Burly, Big Foot, Fun Size, Jes, Delightful, Banana Pants, me) filled the shuttle. We shared snacks and mostly stayed quiet as we realized that this was really happening!

Then we got there!

(Malarky, me, Burly, Toast, Banana Pants, Delightful, Bug Foot, Fun Size, Jess)

Day 1: We were pretty good about getting pictures and getting out on trail. It started with sort of a trail leading to trail markers that were scattered around theoretically leading us to where we needed to go.

We did about 15 miles, getting to the first water cache, a metal box where the CDT coalition stores 2 gallons of water per person, and continued on. The highlight was introducing my calf to a cactus and then removing the spines from my skin. Yum. The other highlight was feeling VERY hungry for my dinner. A mountain House Beef Chili Mac. Yum! It was a fine day overall, and I was exhausted by the end and set up my ground tarp, Therma Rest, and sleeping bag and cowboy camped (no shelter). We all camped together except for Banana Pants who has done this trail before and has a LONG stride, so he was somewhere ahead. Here are some pics:

(Toast on top of the Southern Terminus Monument)

Snack break! (Jess, Delightful, Fun Size, Toast, Big Foot)

(Spring in the desert)

Burly and a cool tree

Fun Size and hiking a river bed

Water Cache box!

Rockin' my Duluth Lumbar pack in camp

Cowboy camping

Day 2: The next morning was a bright and early start.

 We did 20 miles. I had not done too many 20 mile days in my time. My feet took a beating and I pushed a bit too hard.

Our goal was to get to the 2nd water catch box and get 10 miles closer to the next one. By the time I got to the cache I was thoroughly dehydrated. Woops! Still figuring out my limits. We set up a tarp and took a loooong break. Lots of electrolytes were drank and food was consumed. This was a rough day for me and made me realize how I have not been living the active lifestyle I wanted for myself. I made it though and was very proud of myself. I cowboy camped again this time with Malarky, Burly, and Toast. The groups were beginning to separate. Here are pictures:

(Thistle)

Finding shade with Malarky and Burly

Elevating the feet!

Day 3: 24 mile day. Went better than the previous day. It rained, a cold rain. A very cold, windy, rain! 

We knocked some serious mileage out because of it, but ended up getting too cold for safety. 

Luckily the sun came out just as we were making the decision to pop over the the nearest town for something warm. After putting on my MooseJaw puffy jacket, gifted to me by my private cooking client, Marisa (THANK YOU!!!), we road walked to the next cache and continued on to the 4th cache where we camped. This time I set up my tent. I did not trust the clouds. We also got into camp early, which allowed me my first opportunity to journal and tend to my sad feet. I slept so well! More pictures:

Cactus blossoms

Hiking with Malarky, Toast, and Burly

Very non aggressive rattlesnake. Too cold to care.

Early to camp!

Toast, Burly, Malarky just hanging out.

Day 4: This was another 20 mile day. We hiked from cache 4 to cache 5 and it was a lovely day. 

(Headed to pyramid peak)

The miles were smooth and the mini mountains were really nice to hike through. It was 36 F that morning! Cold day and the condensation settled on all of us. Not a sleeping bag was dry. I was actually woken up by drops of water falling from the ceiling of my tent. We all laid out stuff out to dry without actually getting the sun to shine on it. It was as if the clouds were chasing the rising sun. We ended up packing up wet and hiking on for a couple hours before taking rest and drying out our stuff. 

My right foot was not doing well. The arch was shooting pain and I was a limping hobble person. These 20 miles were harder for me than the 24 the previous day. At one point a HUGE cactus needle jammed itself deep into the big toe joint on that sad right foot. Pulling it out was a hollering event. I added a couple of blisters to my feet this day too. To say I Embraced the Brutality would be accurate. This day tested me. 

(Strange things out here)

(Cow)

(Windmill supplies water. Didn't need it today!)

When Toast and I caught up to Burly and Malarky at the cache, there was Apple, the trail angel! I almost cried with joy! I did tell Apple that I loved him. We ate chips, Ding Dongs, and ice cold Gatorade. Talk about a morale booster!

We slept at the cache that night. I set up the tent again and was happy I did. It was seriously windy and I did not sleep much. Everything got covered in a fine layer of dust. More pictures:

Burly makes a comfy chair at camp!

Sunset and Malarky's tent

Day 5: Nero into Lordsburg. It was an easy 7 miles from the cache into town. 

Toast and I cross countried a bit and walked over some large rolling hills until we got to town. We found Malarky and Burly in a room with some of Malarky's friends from the PCT. Burly and I and maybe Toast are staying in Lordsburg tonight and headed out early tomorrow. This is a Nero, a nearly Zero. A Zero is a day (full 24hrs) spent in town. My poor right foot needs a good rest after the shower, resupply box pick up, and Epsom salt bath! Lovely day of rest. I'm excited to sleep in a bed!