Bummer of a mixup. When I wandered off to my camping spot 50 yards away we all agreed to be ready to go at 6:00am. I nestled into my sleeping bag and as I lay dozing I realized I should turn off my phone to avoid battery drain and preserve what little charge I had for tomorrow. This means no alarm, so I set one for 5:15am on my watch. As typical, I slept very well for 5 hours, 8:30pm until 1:30am, then began my dozing cycle. I fell asleep again sometime near 4:00am. When next I awoke it was 5:37am and my watch was not making a sound. I looked up to where Lighthouse was sleeping and saw no lights. I looked over to where D’Anne was and saw no lights. Had they left? We’re they all oversleeping?
Assuming they had left I quickly packed up. When I stood up I saw a headlamp below on the trail flashing. Someone hiking thru I thought. Just before I shouldered my pack and headed to the trail I heard someone scream my name and the light below was flashing? We’re they down below this whole time waiting for me? I scurried the 150 yards down the slope and found D’Anne waiting. Mike and Lighthouse had gone ahead. It was 5:57am. Why was everybody up and gone early? D’Anne had been waiting nearly half an hour for me. Why had she come down to the trail so early?
Remember the satellite text I sent her yesterday at the close of the day saying “Be right over”? She didn’t get it until early this morning while she was packing and thought I was ready to go so she slipped out early expecting to find me. From down below she saw my headlamp come on and then waited until I came trundling down 25 minutes later. I know I hate waiting 5 minutes for someone at the top of a chairlift while skiing. She stood 25 minutes in the dark waiting and I didn’t know she was.
Anyway, we took off like a shot to try and make up time lost and gain on Lighthouse. We covered 10 miles in the first three and a half hours. Mind you the terrain is mind numbing flat so speed is easier to obtain. We found Lighthouse and stopped to have a snack with him. Mine was breakfast as I hadn’t eaten yet. All morning the trail was difficult to follow as it passed through gates, under and over barbwire fences, through washes that wiped its existence clean and through knee high dead grasses. We spent a lot of time using Guthook to navigate. Finally, the trail became more distinct. I stopped to use the bushes, zip off the legs of my pants and take some preventative ibuprofen while D’Anne, music playing in her headphones set a music driven pace I didn’t maintain. After an hour or so I found her hiding from the sun getting a bite. I stopped and had something too, then continued on while she visited the bushes. There were six miles to go to the 5th water cache, our destination for the night, but in two miles there was a large tank with good water. I didn’t need any but thought I would stop, inspect the works and maybe get a liter. Kind of like stopping at a roadside attraction.
The steel tank was about 7 feet tall and 15’ in diameter, completely full with a ladder up the outside. At the top of the ladder was a float valve like in a toilet. Push the float down and new water comes from the well. All that water and a filthy body inspired me to wash myself. D’Anne was just catching up as I was exploring the water works. She was motoring past when I said she was missing one of the “Points of Interest” on the trail. She yelled back over the roar of the wind that she was headed for the water cache 4 miles away.
I filled my dry bag with water and gave myself a glorious spit bath, top to bottom only skipping my feet because I didn’t want to take off my shoes in the dusty cattle area in which the tank sat. In five minutes I was clean!! Sparkling, deliciously - clean. Smell good from the soap - clean.
With the wind still howling, I happily walked the next four miles to the 5th water cache. It felt so amazing to have 4 days of dirt and grime glued to my skin by sunscreen removed. Probably how a snake feels when it sheds its old outer skin.
About half a mile from the cache the trail runs right along a barbwire fence. As I descended a small slope I saw a man in front of me and announced my arrival before I scared the bejezzus out of him with my approach. He introduced himself as “Hob”. He was a talker, but the kind you really enjoy talking with as he actually listens to what you have to say, too. I slowed down to walk the last half mile to the cache to get to know this 70 year old. A quick synopsis: He taught fourth grade, his wife French, in Connecticut. When he finishes the CDT this year he will be a triple-triple crowner. He first hiked the PCT in 1976. He has done the Arizona trail. He has biked across America three times, across Australia twice, done 16 Caminos in Europe including England to Rome, Switzerland to Santiago and others. And, he has done them all with his wife, except three due to family issues. By now you might be picturing a thin, svelt, ego driven athlete. Morph your mental picture into a 50 pound overweight teddy bear of a grandpa. I bet his fourth graders adored him as much as his sparkling eyes told me how much he loved them.
We made it to the water cache all the while being buffeted by 60 mph winds. We stood talking for another 20 minutes, comparing lives. We exchanged phone numbers and debated whether to try to find a place to camp out of the wind or hike the remaining 6.4 miles to town.
By 2:20pm I had made up my mind to carefully walk the last 6.4 miles to the Motel 6, bringing my day’s total to 27.5 miles, way too much this early into a 5 month hike. But the winds were atrocious and I felt really good. As John Muir would say, I “sauntered” the 6.4 listening to every joint and muscle for sounds of overuse. Other than the bottom of my feet and a tense muscle in my back all was good. Visions of a bed and a hot shower flooded my brain during the last half mile.
I got to the Motel 6 at 5:00pm, checked into my room, filled the tub with cold water and soaked my feet for 15 minutes. Then I plugged in all my devices and got them charging. Next, I filled the tub with hot water and washed all my clothes and hung them to dry on the provided coat hangers. I spread all my gear out for inspection and cleaning, then identified all the cactus and desert plants I had taken pictures of for Robby and called him via FaceTime. We spent half an hour identifying all the plants and talking about their properties before I talked to Jackie and Jeff about the new kid popping out on Monday and what’s new with their house. Sally and I talked on the phone for a bit, I wrote for a few minutes and I was asleep.
Is this a typical desert shot or what?
Most of today looked like this. Super flat and dry.
More livestock watering tires. These are now planters.
Guthook says there is a gate here. Nope. Luckily, the bottom wire has no barbs. Army crawl under.
The water tank where I bathed.
Float valve in the water tank.
This is Hob.
One of many cactus pictures I took for Robby
Lordsburg off in the distance.
The decorated entrance to the CDT at Lordsburg.
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