CDT DAY 1: May 6, 2025

Start: 82.6

Stop: 78.6

Today’s Miles: 4

Total CDT miles: 4

Helllooooooo everybody!

Long time, no update.. but.. Guess what? I started the Continental Divide Trail today!! I know I’ve been horrible at updating this, but, life has been a whirlwind.. so, I guess I’m picking up right here!

I ran the Boston Marathon on April 21st, for the Cam Neely Foundation-in honor of my friend Nancy, who we lost to pancreatic cancer in 2019. I was able to raise over $17,000 for the foundation, and I can honestly say, there is nothing I’ve done that has ever felt as rewarding as raising that much money and then crossing the finish line on Boylston Street, all while feeling Nancy’s love, and the love of all of my family and friends during every step. 

From Boston, mom and I went to London, and on April 27th, I ran that marathon, too! Wild ride, for sure, and I’m praying all of that marathon training is going to help with this hike. I was only back stateside for 3 days before leaving today to fly to Tucson, Arizona. I’m already missing family and friends so much, normally before these huge hikes I have time to catch up and say my farewells, but this one was so rushed, it’s kind of surreal that I’m even sitting here in a tent typing this. 

I was woken up by my mom this morning at 6 something, for her to hug and kiss me bye before she left for work. She has a key to my house and lives right down the street, and I’m so so happy she popped by to do that! Then, my aunt Kathy called at 7 on her way to work to tell me bye too! I’m not sure how I got so lucky. 

My uncle Keith picked me up at 7:30 and took me by my favorite biscuit place for breakfast and then on to the airport, to fly into Tucson, Arizona. I am so grateful to have gotten that time with him, to chit chat and catch up before having to dart off again. I really do wonder why I do this to myself sometimes. Like, I could be home with all the folks I love and not off exploring the world for long periods of time. How can your heart always want to be in two separate places?

Anywho, when I landed in Tucson, I found Marquis, AKA Pebbles, at baggage claim! He’s been planning this hike with me and keeping me somewhat organized during all my chaos prior to the hike. We plan to hike the CDT together, since we both hate snakes (mostly rattlesnakes in New Mexico, but pretty much all over), I’m scared of the grizzly bears in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana.. and he’s leery of the lightening storms on exposed ridge lines known to pop up in Colorado.. soooo, basically the whole trail! 

I think I found a lot of relief going into this one, knowing I wouldn’t be doing it alone and completely on my own. It’s exciting to have a friendship like ours and know that we’ll probably be just fine hiking day in and day out together, since we did it for a good half of the PCT. This hike will be anywhere from 2,700-3,100 miles, so slightly longer than the PCT.. but it’s a trail that has many alternates connecting to it, many with better views, so the mileage all depends on which way you decide to walk. It’ll be interesting to see the total!

The CDT goes from New Mexico at the Mexican border up through Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and ending in Glacier National Park in Montana at the Canadian border. Marquis and I plan to go northbound the entire way, except for the first 82 miles. There’s not much at the Mexican border, and it’s a 3 hour-one way trip from the city of Lordsburg, New Mexico. There’s a shuttle a service that takes 6 hikers from Lordsburg to the border every day to start their northbound hike. They pick you up at 6am and drop you off at 9:30am. 

The day we wanted to start was full, so we decided to hike from Lordsburg to the border and then take the shuttle back to Lordsburg at 9:30am since they’ll be there regardless dropping off hikers. We still had to pay for the shuttle ahead of time, as they also provide water caches at 5 different spots along that section of otherwise dry, desert land. So, it’s definitely worth every penny! 

Anyway, my phenomenal friend, Ashley, picked us up from the airport, gave us a mini tour of Tucson (REI and an awesome Mexican restaurant for lunch), and then drove us the 2+ hours to Lordsburg. She’s a saint for doing this for us, to keep us from getting there at midnight on a bus, especially since she JUST moved to Tucson 3 weeks ago!! She’s just now settling into her new home and routine, then I pop up needing a ride to the next state! Thankfully, the desert views are gorgeous and she seemed just as exited as we were for them. 

Ashley got us to the EconoLodge just after 6pm, where their staff graciously allowed us to leave our next resupply box. Then, we drove down about a mile to Veteran’s Park to snap some starting pictures and head on our way to the beginning of our CDT journey. We only went in about 4 miles on the trail, as the sun was starting to set. The views were gorgeous desert sand, with mountains all around in the distance and cacti of varying varieties all over. We also passed some cows at a trough that didn’t look too thrilled to see us. They were cute though!

Setting up my tent took a little longer than normal, and my pack isn’t packed just right yet-always a few growing pains at the beginning-remembering what works and what doesn’t, what goes where.. bla bla. I’ll get the hang of it again soon enough! 

It’s pretty chilly, somewhere in the 40s, and the moon is shining bright. My sleeping quilt is cozy as can be, so I’m thinking it’s time to turn in. Ps: I’m having some issues with my WordPress app-so, things may come very sporadically and very late. Sorry about that! 

Good night everyone. 

Egypt Days 10 & 11

We had a later morning than the previous-but we still had to be up and ready to leave the hotel, after eating breakfast, by 6:30am. Do y’all think any of us are morning people yet? Hint: we’re not! Lol


Right at 6:30, we met Ahmad, our tour owner and our guide for today and tomorrow. We loaded into our van and started the 4 hour journey to The Oasis, a home/gathering spot/restaurant out in the middle of the desert. It was a long 4 hours, but once we made it there, Ahmad introduced us to our host, Akmed. He owns the Oasis and will be our driver through the White and Black Desert. He is a Beduin and knows this area well.


We were served a nice lunch with salad, veggies, soup, rice and beef. The beef tasted like pork roast to me, but I seemed to be the only one in our group that enjoyed it. I really can eat just about anything. After eating lunch and getting together our overnight bags, the four of us, Ahmad and Akmed got into the Toyota Landcruiser and started our trip into the desert.


The first time Akmed went off the paved road into the sands of the desert, I was a little nervous. He was a great driver though, and it ended up being a blast. He’d fly through the straight aways and then slide and drift into the sands.. we were all laughing and holding on for dear life. The speedometer needle didn’t work, so I never knew exactly how fast we were going, but I definitely let out quite a few squeals!


Terri put her airplane pillow around her neck like a brace and we all cried with laughter while getting jostled around. We stopped in the Black Desert, which is black from lava rocks on top of the tan/orange sand. Apparently thousands of years ago a volcano erupted here. Even the rocks are ancient. We also stopped at Crystal mountain, a mountain made of gorgeous crystal like rocks.

We passed the sandstone formations carved in odd forms from the wind. We also saw the area where the ancient ocean flowed, long since dried up now. Apparently archeologists found fossils and whale bones out here! That’s pretty spectacular to think about. There were formations with names like Mushroom Rock, Chicken Rock, and Camel Rock, all for obvious reasons. All of them were neat to see up close! The scenery was like being on another planet all together.


We got to sandboard down a huge sloping sand dune.. Andrea and I did it twice! As fun as it was going down, it was a workout coming back up-but totally worth it. Terri went down the slightly shorter side, so she could slide right down to where the truck was parked-can we say genius? Lol


We then went to where we were going to be camping for the night. The White Desert is called that because of the white sandstone chalk covering parts of the orange/yellow sand. The contrasting colors make it absolutely stunning to see in person, I hate that my phone is incapable of really capturing its beauty. We watched the sunset in the most vivid pinks and oranges-with the most clouds I’ve seen in Egypt to date. It was truly special.


While we were walking around and snapping photos of the sunset, Akmed and his team set up our tents and started making us dinner! When we walked back to camp, there was a large Beduin tent and our 3 smaller tents to sleep in. There was a bonfire going and chicken being cooked on a grill over the open flames. It was a lovely site!


We all sat around chatting until dinner was served, chicken, veggies, salad and soup. I’m not one for picking food off of bones-it’s something I struggle with-I literally get nauseous with it at times, but I think I managed my piece of chicken well. I loved the flavor and all of the other food too. When I was getting peer pressured into eating another piece of chicken, I almost lost it. I did my best to keep it together and remain polite-but I just don’t like eating off the bone. It’s wasteful to continue to give it to me. Ha.


Anyway. We sat around our fire and a couple from Australia came over to join us. Akmed made us tea to sip while soaking in the beauty of the desert at night. The stars were all out, the tea was fantastic, the experience was unforgettable.


Mom didn’t last too much longer after tea, she went and got in our tent and fell fast asleep quick. Terri was a little ways behind mom. Andrea and I laid on our backs watching the stars for another hour maybe, and then decided to follow suit. The tents are 2 person tents with screens to see out from. There wasn’t much airflow inside, but I was glad I could still see the stars from my bed.


Mom and I slept through sunrise. Ooops. I did get up at 5am to go pee, and was dumbfounded for a good 10 minutes out there alone, watching the sky in all of its starry glory. Pretty incredible stuff. We all ate breakfast together before making the drive back to the Oasis. There we gathered our luggage and transferred to the van, with lunch packed for us. We said our goodbyes to Akmed and started that long 4 hours back to Cairo.


Along the way- IT STARTED RAINING!! We got to see rain in the desert! How neat is that?! We napped, we listened to our phones-music and audiobooks-and eventually we made it to our hotel for the night. Thankfully, this hotel is connected to the airport-so we just have to walk down a hallway to connect to our airport terminal in the morning. Wahoo!


We said our goodbyes to Ahmad, checked in, stored away our stuff in our new rooms-and then decided to go eat right away, before any of us showered and got comfortable, because without a doubt, after a shower we knew we wouldn’t be getting dressed again and leaving those rooms until it was time to leave for our flight!


We ate burgers and fajitas at the restaurant by the gorgeous pool. It had stopped sprinkling, but the skies were still cloudy-the perfect excuse to go shower and fall asleep early. The food was fantastic, Andrea and I had some red wine (also great) and Connie and Terri had a beer! I guess they needed that after our off roading and 4×4 sand dude and camping experience!


Now, I’m showered, clean, and cozied up in my bed. I’m sure the second I sit this phone down I’ll be asleep. We head to our beach resort in Sharm El Sheikh tomorrow and I for one CANNOT WAIT. Sleeping in, all inclusive foods, pools and the Red Sea. Yes please! I think it’s time for some downtime! Goodnight

Egypt Day 9

Today was another extremely early morning. Our flight left Luxor at 5:30am. We landed by 6:30 and then had the lovely pleasure of waiting for our luggage for over an hour and a half. We were all a bit cranky.


That was, of course, until we walked out the doors of the airport and was immediately greeted by Sherif and Ali, our guide and our driver we had when we were in Cairo before! It was smiles and hugs all around, then off to the van to pack us in and take us to the Muhammad Ali Mosque. He was a very important man for Egypt. He’s considered one of the most famous Muslim leaders, and was known for advocating for religious freedom and other humanitarian causes. This was a big deal at the time, and now all religions are practiced in egypt, with Christians and Muslims living as neighbors without any issues.


Sherif took us all around and inside this beautiful place, explaining the architecture and the rituals/customs. It’s pretty fascinating.. and the detail! My goodness! I think the three major religions of the world are all closely related, and they all seem to have huge gorgeous places to worship-and they deck those mosques, churches, and synagogues out with all the inlaid marble, ivory, and carved wood and stone. This mosque was just beautiful. It also has the tomb of Mohammad Ali in the corner, which isn’t traditionally done.


After seeing the inside, we got to see the panorama views of Cairo from the outside. This city is absolutely MASSIVE.. I believe Sherif said over 33 million people live in this area.. Cairo and Giza and I believe one other suburb of the city. It’s easy to see why it would look and feel a bit chaotic-there’s a lot of people living their daily lives, then you add tourists from all over the world too. It’s a busy place! The big domes of the mosque are covered in alabaster, so it’s also known as the alabaster mosque. The long spindle things, called minarets, that jut up into the sky are the highest of any mosque in Egypt, at 275 feet tall.


We left the mosque and headed to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. Y’all. Sherif is a brilliant man for bringing us to this museum last. IT. HAD. AIR. CONDITIONING!! Like-that south atlanta good air conditioning! It was awesome for that fact alone-and then you add in all the cool artifacts and treasures in there-WHEW. And then: the MUMMIES! Y’all. I was having the time of my life nerding out in there!

We saw carpets handwoven for ceremonies and weddings, intricate wooden boxes engraved with gold to hold the Quran, traditional dress of the Nubian and the Beduin people, and so many statues, jewelry, and trinkets. It’s so well preserved and the displays were magnificent. I was in awe at every head turn.


There were lots of school children there, too. The little girls in their hijabs were the absolute cutest, running up to Andrea and I asking for pictures of us and with us. Sherif got them giggling at one point, and then he must have said something like, “ok, that’s enough now,” in Arabic-because they all smiled and nodded, then left us alone for a bit. The group of tween boys were staring pretty hard, and he startled them and got them into a fit of giggles and red cheeks, too. He wouldn’t tell us what he said, but those boys seemed a little embarrassed. Ha, it was super sweet.


From the top, we went down the stairs into the rooms where they keep the Royal mummies. There were 20 of them, including Queen Hatshepsut and Queen Tiye, and 18 Kings, like Ramses II, Tutmoses III, and so many more. They still had hair and teeth, fingers and toes. One looked like he had a Charlie horse in his calf or foot-because it was wrenched sideways. Ramses II had an arm lifted, it’s so crazy. These people lived and ruled THOUSANDS of years ago.. and here they lie-for the most part intact. Absolutely insane.


I truly loved the mummies. Mom got the heebeegeebees around them, but she enjoyed looking at their sarcophaguses.. which were obviously stunning. These ancient Egyptians knew a thing or two about sustaining beauty, that’s for sure.


After the museum, Sherif took us to the markets. We were beyond grateful to have him with us. He helped corral us through the busy (and really freaking hot) streets of Cairo. I told him I wanted to find a local artist that paints to buy a painting from.. he of course knew a guy. He took us strait through the insanity right to a little shop.. Farid is the artist and he pulled out painting after painting-no two the same, all clearly made by him.


I found the one I loved, a beautiful camel in the desert with a Beduin man riding on top. Beduins are the people of the desert, apparently not just in Egypt-but any people of any desert. I need to fact check this.. anyway-I adored it. Andrea found her one, too. We happily paid the sweet man and then I got a picture of us together 🙂 it’s one of my favorite things to do! Get a piece of art hand created on my travels. I have a wall that will be slap full before I know it!


Anyway-we carried on, found some souvenirs to take home with us, and when we looked completely zonked-Sherif took us to lunch. We didn’t even realize how hungry we were until we sat down at the restaurant. The restaurant is called Abu Tarek Koshary-which is a type of pasta dish made specifically here. It was served with a little show of preparation. It was awesome-and absolutely delicious! I took our leftovers back to the hotel with us!


We checked into our hotel, another gorgeous one with city views. We showered and laid down to relax after that early morning and a jam packed day. Mom fell asleep pretty early, I ordered room service and watched tv. I was tired but not able to sleep yet. That’s fine.. I’m sure I’ll pass out here soon either way. I’m too tired to go anywhere, that’s for sure. Tomorrow we leave at 6:30am to head to the black and white deserts with the tour guide I booked this trip through. It’ll be our first time meeting him in person, so that’ll be nice.. he’s planned us a great trip so far. Goodnight.