Start: 653
Stop: 0.3 Ghost Ranch Alternate
Today’s Miles: 22
Total CDT miles: 536.4
Everything I owned was damp when I woke up! My quilt, my pack, everything. I guess pretty meadows aren’t all rainbows after all. I kinda forgot about morning dew since everything up until today has been so dry. I packed all my wet stuff away, and Pebbles and I walked out of camp together. I was in front, because he was going to pee once I got a little bit ahead of him.. and not 10 steps into the trail.. I fell.. hard.
My right ankle rolled, I heard a pop, my left foot tried to catch me before I fell, but hit a rock sideways, and down I went! My right ankle hurt so bad, I was terrified I had broken it. Pebbles heard my fall but had already started peeing, so he couldn’t quite run over to help me stand-we both had to laugh at that.
He did come help me up a minute later, tears in my eyes, but both of us laughing some at the ridiculousness of it all.. me falling, him peeing, just ridiculous. I limped for several steps until I realized I could put pressure on my ankle and it not scream in pain at me. It was tender, but it was definitely not broken. So, off we went, Pebbles slowing down considerably just in case.
The trail turned from meadows and deep woods back into desert like terrain with dry brushy grasses and cacti everywhere. Towards the end of the day we were surrounded by mesas towering over us and all the oranges and tans in the rocks. They were pretty, but I was already missing the meadows, grass, and greenery.
We crossed over the Rio Chama, a huge river with a nice bridge across it. Once we turned right on the road, we were off the CDT and on the Ghost Ranch Alternate. Ghost Ranch is the resort like place we’re going to spend the night at and we had resupply boxes sent there. We only went up a little bit on the road, to a semi slanted spot to camp for the night right off the side of the road. And, after all my complaining this morning about damp stuff from cowboy camping, I’m doing the same thing tonight. Setting up a tent, while quick, isn’t as quick as not setting it up at all.. ha.
The river is right below us, and the sunset is absolutely magical. I will say, the desert sunsets are so wildly incredible. Tomorrow, we’ll make it to Ghost Ranch, see if our boxes are there-and if not-we may zero there the next day. I’m kind of excited for it, and hope that happens. They do family style buffet meals 3 times a day and the meals are included in your stay. Bring on the all you can eat!
I think that’s everything for today! Goodnight yall!
❤️❤️❤️ fingers crossed.