Stupid. Really Stupid. Don’t forget stuff in your hotel room after a zero day. I wrote myself reminders. I scoured the room. I even had an extra 10 minutes because D’Anne wasn’t ready to go at 6:00am. I cameled up (drinking as much water as you can hold so you don’t have to carry as much) drinking 5 glasses of water. But, did I think to look in the refrigerator? I walked by it 10 times, but didn’t remember I had my lunch for the day in it plus a pound of cheese to consume during the next four days. So, with pack on my back I took one last glimpse in the room, felt satisfied I had everything and closed the door. I met D’Anne outside her room and we started down the street. 100 yards later I remembered my sack of food in the fridge. Too late. Hope the maid enjoys the Ritz Crackers, pound of cheddar cheese, fruit snacks, four energy bars and bag of mixed nuts, about 5000 calories. Oh well, I have enough to get me thru as I always carry a little extra.
I was “camped” in the Motel 6 on the south side of town. This morning we hiked thru town, under the railroad tracks and out NM Hwy 70, a distance of three miles. We got into a discussion of politics, racism, critical race theory-the whole nine yards. Although we see the world VERY differently, we did discover we shared some common concerns, just not the solutions.
To leave hwy 70 at the correct spot you really need the Guthook app (now called FarOut) to locate the correct spot. There is no gate thru the game fence that borders all major highways, so we had to take our packs off, set them over the fence and then crawl under. Using FarOut to guide us, like Spock with a Tricorder, we hiked across miles of open scrub desert, occasionally seeing CDT signs to guide us and following use trails created by other hikers. We were in the midst of a discussion, I was in the lead and I was following a well worn path. My concentration on the path waned until I suddenly realized the path I was following was all hoof prints, not hiker prints. Remember this is open range so there are cattle. We both pulled out our phones to check FarOut. Oops. I had drifted to the left of the route by about a quarter mile. It was a nice tread to follow, if you are an antelope, but not the right one to do the CDT.
During the nearly eight miles of slightly rising ground we saw four Havolinas and a herd of nearly 60 antelope, plus a few jack rabbits. I took Mt phone off airplane mode and checked to see if I had signal. I immediately received a text from Andy asking if I had forgot to turn on my PLB tracker. Uh-oh. I had turned it on, but it was not working. I fiddled with it, but it kept saying it couldn’t see any satellites. I guess I am off line for a while. Sorry.
The trail gradually got more slope to it as we started to climb into the hills. We were looking for our only water source of the day at mile 15, Engineers Windmill.
Engineers Windmill is an inaccessible water tank that feeds a cattle trough. When we arrived there was a cow drinking from the trough. We stopped in the shade to wait for the cow to leave. There we met a man sitting in the shade of the trees named Metric Ton. He was a little off in my estimation and talked a mile a minute. The water trough was a mass of bees such that I could not approach it. I got out my pot and Metric Ton volunteered to scoop water for me, all the while repeatedly telling us he was a guide and wasn’t afraid of bees. He dipped three liters for me while standing in a cloud of bees. D’Anne filled her bottles as well. I was the whimp of the group.
With four liters of water on board (an addition 9 lbs) the trail led up hill for 4 miles, gaining about 1000’. It was the heat of the day and I was feeling those extra nine pounds plus the morning’s 15 miles, but 2 hrs later we crested the ridge with a view back down to the desert floor and Lordsburg. A mile down the other side we found the shady camping area described by an entry in FarOut. We set up our tents on six inch thick forest duff, so much duff you had to scape it off to find soil below that would hold the tent stakes.
I lazed in my tent for an hour, called Andy (I had two bars of service) to ask if he could research why my inReach PLB quit working, cooked dinner and generally watched the time pass in a haze of semi-exhaustion.
The temperature swings in the desert are crazy. It was 32° when I left the hotel this morning. It was 79° as we climbed the final ridge. Supposed to drop to 39° again tonight.
Surprisingly, all body parts are still humming along and the hiking is wonderful. I love the desert. You get great views, dry air which translates to never feeling sweaty no matter how much you are sweating and cool nights. Life is good!
Lordsburg Main Street faces the train tracks, but there is no train station anymore so the town looks nearly abandoned.
Hiking across the desert.
Pretty barren area. Lordsburg way in the distance.
A cautionary find. How much water do I have?
Heading into the hills.
Metric Ton filling my water bottles for me from the cattle trough while in a cloud of bees.
Up in the mountains, Lordsburg below.
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