I like an early start. Puts the whole day ahead of you. It allows time to maneuver if something unexpected happens. The mornings are cold and crisp. You can get a lot done before the heat of the day. But, this morning a coffee shop of unspeakable cuteness and amazing pastries opened at 7:00am just three blocks from the hostel. How could I resist a last great treat before hitting the trail.
Magic Mike, Dallas and I were at their door at 6:50. They opened at 7:00, right on time. I had a cup of mint tea with a piece of coffee cake with chocolate chunks on top hidden underneath a crisp topping. Unreal!!
We were back in the hostel by 7:25 and on the road by 7:30 am. Literally on the road, as we had to navigate across Silver City’s streets to get to our start of the trail.
Of all the mornings to get a late start, this one was perfect. It was cloudy the entire day, with winds blowing nearly the whole day. It was perfect walking weather. Any other day the sun is baking us by 10:00am. Not today. It was comfortable hiking all morning and afternoon. Did we plan this? Nope. Just our lust for one more pastries kept us late and we lucked out.
The CDT is unfinished, so there are many options as to the route you can take. This morning we chose the Walnut Crk route as it was 7 miles instead of 12, but had us walking road for those 7 miles
A comment about the CDT and roads. They call it a trail, but to date, more than half of what we have walked has been roads. Mostly dirt roads, but roads none the less. Here is an example. Coming into Silver City, the last 19 miles of “trail” was road, 13 of it paved highway. Leaving Silver City we walked 13.5 miles on roads, 5 of it paved. 32.5 miles of continuous road walking. There is a lot of road walking on the CDT.
As we walked up the road, we got into a discussion of our pasts, what it was like growing up. Magic Mike opened up about his experience as the youngest of five, his father leaving his mother when he was in the second grade, all his siblings gone and his mother and his struggle to make ends meet. In spite of his early struggles he is well off and very generous. The last night at the hostel he gave his private room to two girls that would have been turned away and he slept in a bunk in the bunk room. Super nice guy.
Saw our first rattlesnake of the trip. Right in the middle of the road. Not gonna move. We all gave him his space and walked around, although stopping to take a photo at our closest approach. It was kind of our snake day. We saw a king snake further in the day, and also about a three foot non-poisonous snake, a bull or a garter.
Everyday water is an issue. It isn’t a problem, just something you have to pay attention to. We had 12 miles this morning to our first water, an actual creek with flowing water. I am sticking to my liter per five mile plan, although in the mornings I don’t approach that consumption due to the cold temps so I short myself a bit in the mornings.
We were passing creeks or were along creeks after the initial 12 miles, so we didn’t need to carry water. I had a liter or less in my pack all day and did find water along the trail, right up to where we camped. We parked ourselves at the base of a 1000’ climb in a flat area in the trees, tall pines and shorter alligator junipers. The wind was blowing very hard, predicted gusts to 60 mph, through the tree tops causing them to sway in large circular arcs. Down on the forest floor there was air movement, but it was not windy. However, the commotion up above was delightful.
I didn’t write in my journal that night. I had downloaded the movie CODA to my phone and I laid curled up in my sleeping bag in my tent watching it, taking a day off from blogging and enjoying the background wind noise overhead as the temperature dropped. Enjoyed the movie very much. Finished it by 9:00pm and was asleep within ten minutes.
Tranquilbuzz coffee shop, great atmosphere.
Magic Mike orders at the window as Dallas chews a mouthful of muffin.
Dallas and Magic Mike walk through Silver City on their way out of town.
The paved roads give way to dirt. Magic Mike and Dallas.
Magic Mike fills our water bottles from an actual flowing stream, our first on the CDT.
My first rattlesnake on the CDT. He wasn’t giving up his position in the center of the road so we walked around.
Some beautiful New Mexico country side.
Magic Mike signs a trail register which appears to be randomly placed along the trail.
Magic Mike eyes the flowing water in the creek bottom. We cross hundreds of these a day and they are always dry, but not this one! Fill those bottles.
Tents pitched for the night.
What's in that triangular zipper pouch hanging from the left side of Dallas' pack?
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