Start: Ghost Ranch Alternate 0.3
Stop: Ghost Ranch Alternate 10.9
Today’s Miles: 10.6
Total CDT miles: 547
I apparently set up on a slight slope, so I was constantly sliding all night. Pebbles did the same thing. Oh well. I slept well otherwise.
The 10+ miles to Ghost Ranch was quick and included climbing over and under 3 barbed wire fences before bushwhacking across a huge hill filled with loose rocks! Fun times! (Insert eye roll here.) The road we were on turned to a smaller jeep track dirt road, and then after getting up and over some small rolling hills covered in desert shrubs, I hit the main highway.
I crossed it, then had to scale my first fence. I went over the top because there was some metal on the bottom and I could easily stand on it and swing my legs over, always awkward with a pack on.. it really does upset your center of gravity. Thankfully there was no one there to witness it!
From there, the trail skirted around an old outdoor museum or petting zoo of some sort.. random walkways and old exhibits, now run down and overgrown, all of the signs removed from the buildings and displays. It was actually kind of sad to see. I bet back in the day, this is somewhere parents would bring their kids while out on vacation.
Anyway. Once I passed all of the “used to be” exhibits, I had to take my pack off and crawl under the next barbed wire fence. I then climbed up out of this tiny valley that looks so dry, like it had never actually held any water in its lifetime.. only to climb under another fence at the top of the hill. It was getting hot, and I was getting annoyed. Why tell us to go this way when clearly they don’t actually want us to go this way? Ugh.
I bushwhacked across the top of the huge hill, then down a steep rock scree and sand side to finally find actual trail and walk across a bridge, before finally getting on the Ghost Ranch Resort property. I was so very happy to start seeing people on horseback, being led down horse trails, buildings in the distance.. semi civilization! The whole time I was thinking, “please don’t let our box be there.”
I found Pebbles and Squirt at the main building.. our box hadn’t arrived and may not even be here tomorrow! Oh no! Zero tomorrow it is! And if it’s not here by then, we will just have to figure out a new plan. We decided to book a dorm room for 2 nights, which has 2 twin beds, but no private bathroom. The shared bathroom is just down the walkway though, so not far at all. It included 5 meals, too. All you can eat. And it was almost time for lunch!
We quickly checked out our new room and dropped our packs, then walked over to the dining hall. They had a huge buffet of hot food and then a salad bar in the main dining room along with drinks and deserts. When I say I ate my weight in food, I so mean it. I devoured everything available! And even crushed a massive salad that had all the fixings and awesome ranch to top it off with. I’m in love with this place!
We did laundry and hung out, waited around for dinner time. We met another hiker, Dogmar, who is an older woman hiking a different trail that connects to this one. She’s incredible and very funny, in a dry kind of way. We ended sharing a table for dinner with her, chatting the whole time. She’s a massage therapist and full of helpful information.
We called it an early night, now lying in our twin beds with extremely full bellies. All of our chores are done.. all we have to do tomorrow is hope our box comes, and eat three meals! Sounds like a win to me!