Since the first day I have been hiking with someone. In the beginning I was hiking with Magic Mike, Lighthouse and Dallas. Magic Mike got a day ahead after Lordsburg, Lighthouse a day behind. Since then I have been hiking with Dallas. Daily we run into someone, Grit, Aaron, Bird, Kingo, Peppermint, Lee, Sue or any number of other people. But each night I’d camp within talking distance of Dallas. Today that changed.
She wanted a double zero in Grants. I was happy with just a zero. So, at 5:30am this morning I was up, showered, breakfasted and out the door by 6:10am. I had 6.5 miles of road walking to get to the trailhead outside of town. That early on a Tuesday there was no traffic, just an occasional car or two going by and I made it to the trailhead by about 8:30am. Along the way the road passed through the same landscape and vegetation I have grown accustomed to, short brown grasses punctuated by junipers. No trees of any size.
The trail climbed for the first two miles, gaining about 1000’. Then it meandered across a plateau towards the foot of Mt. Taylor, about 8 miles distant. In those 8 miles it gained another 1200 feet. The vegetation changed from junipers and grass to pine and birch trees as it gained altitude.
The only water source for the day was a spring at mile 16 about 1/4 mile down in a wooded ravine. This means I carried three liters of water (6.6 pounds) out of Grants. As it turned out, I did not need that much. It was a cold morning and a cool afternoon with chilling winds. By the time I got to the spring I still had a liter and a half. I filled up and carried the three liters another 4 or 5 miles, to mile 445 where I set up camp for the night.
I was sluggish today. Was it from a lack of sleep two nights ago? Was it packing three liters of water and five days of food? I’m not sure of the cause, but I know the result. I fell asleep by 6:45pm and slept well all night.
One other thing of note. I did not see another soul today. Not a single person. I left town way before everyone else and this put me in front of them. I half expected the Tonys, Lee and Sue to pass me after I camped, but I didn’t see them. I can’t remember the last time I went a day without seeing another person.
Not a road! Real trail!!
Zoom in and you will see Grants down below.
Mt. Taylor on the distant horizon. The trail across the plateau.
The sign to the spring. You can see the water in the ravine below.
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