Category: Long Distance Trails

Start: 14.2

Stop: 0

Today’s Miles: 14.2

Total CDT miles: 82.6

We ended up leaving camp around 6:30 this morning, one of our earliest mornings yet-but today was supposed to get HOT. Getting as many miles in before it gets miserable is always a good idea. 

We made fast miles of the morning, and by the time the sun was fully blazing around 11am, we were on the hunt for some shade. We finally found a little gully with bushes on top that we ducked into, hoping for more shade than we got. 

We propped up our umbrellas, but the wind was relentless. I ended up holding mine over my legs while I ate. It didn’t go so well. And, for the record, while I’m complaining-I’m so sick of PB&Js. 

Anyway-while we sat in our slightly shaded alcove, we watched some of the day’s northbound hikers go by. They’d stop and chit chat for a second, and then carry on, their first day of hiking the CDT- excitement all over their faces. 

I packed up kind of quick, since my legs were still getting too much sun and remained on absolute fire. Pebble’s nice sunscreen had decided to no longer block these devil rays and I was trying my best to not make the rashy welts worse. 

Pebbles caught up to me at the last water cache (he stayed to stretch and whatnot once I started walking after lunch). He pointed out some trees off trail a little bit, so we went in hunt of their shade, in hopes of waiting out the heat of the day. We only had 2 more miles to the border, and our shuttle won’t come until tomorrow at 9:30am.. we had TONS of time to kill.

The trees had very low hanging branches. We started under one, then the sun shifted in the sky and we were roasting, so we moved to another.. when it happened again, I got fed up and told Pebbles I was going to the border and praying the pavilion we’ve heard about meant guaranteed shade. 

I made it there sometime just after 2pm. And thank God almighty, the little “pavilion” had some real shade! I snapped some pictures of the monument and the pavilion, pulled out my ground sheet and plopped down in the cool shade. The wind was only getting stronger as I laid out, feet bare, happy to be hidden from the sun. 

Pebbles showed up within 30 minutes or so. It wasn’t very long of the two of us hanging out in the shade that we realized how bored we were about to be for the next 18+ hours. Holy hell. Zero cell service. A small square of shade. No more water. The only entertainment for quite a while was waving at the very few trucks that passed by on the other side of the border!

Here at the Crazy Cook Monument and CDT “southernmost point,” the border between the USA and Mexico is a short, barbed wire fence, with a broken gate right at the monument. At one point, bored, I was able to step over easily into Mexico. I sort of love that this is how it is here, a fence but not one that felt unwelcoming to either side. The Mexican side of the border looked like a huge agricultural ranch-lots of greenery and water irrigation systems running. Hell, I considered running through one of their sprinklers because it’s so flippin hot over here.

The entire time we waited for the sun to set, not one car came down the USA side of the border. I walked up to where the road turns to see the stone marking “Crazy Cook,” and still- not a soul on our side-every single driver that went by on the Mexico side politely waved back to me when they passed, one tractor trailer even tooted his horn. 

The Crazy Cook stone said something along the lines of Crazy Cook killed a guy named Frank with an axe in cold blooded murder.. wild. I should have looked up more about this-but alas-no service.

We ate our dinner, in the blowing wind, and for some mild entertainment, Pebbles agreed to let me play my audiobook out loud. It’s Freida McFadden’s “The Crash,” and while the main characters of her books almost always make me want to yank out my hair-this one was doing its job of making the time pass. At least Pebbles was on the same page I was when we’d roll our eyes and do an, “oh my god, she can’t be serious.” 

We decided there would be no possible way to set our tents up in this crazy wind. So, we’re cowboy camping under the pavilion. If I get up to go pee, I’m have to put my pack on my sleeping pad so it doesn’t blow away. Bless it. Counting down the hours! One sleep, and then around 9:30am the shuttle will be here to drop off new hikers and to take us back to Lordsburg. I think we both want to stay at the EconoLodge tomorrow night, we’ll see if that changes between now and getting there. We have to pick up our food from there regardless. And since we’re there, a shower and laundry would be heavenly after this crazy wind has done nothing but blown dirt in my face. Ha.

Ok, sorry this one comes off like one long gripe. I bet my mood will change completely after a shower! Goodnight, y’all. 

Start: 25.3 

Stop: 14.2 

Today’s Miles: 11.1

Total CDT miles: 68.4

Yall. Today was rough for me. I slept ok, and we got on trail by 7am. All seemed well, just a short 11 miles to the next water cache to knock out, on a dirt road the majority of the way. Welp. That all sounds great when you have shade-but alas, we did not, for the most part. 

It wasn’t that windy as we walked, and it got hot, fast. I kept my umbrella up the majority of the day, but my legs still got roasted, even with Pebble’s good sun screen on. The welts popped up and I felt like I was on fire. It was pretty miserable. 

I spotted another snake, tan like the sand-which made him extra creepy. Since my power bank has been charged, I was able to snap his picture! Pebbles walked right by him, I guess he was pretty well camouflaged. That’s what worries me, how well they blend in to their surroundings.. maybe not scared of this guy, but the rattlesnakes blend in too, and that’s terrifying!

We did find an ok enough tree with some shade for lunch, but as we sat there eating, the sun started to take over right before our eyes. I had my jacket covering my legs, which then just turned into an inferno, causing me to sweat more. Talk about ways to make someone irritable. Not to mention, Pebble’s tendonitis started flaring, too. I know he’s worried about it taking him off trail, so he’s going to start wearing his compression sleeves to see if that will help. Aren’t we just doing great?

We decided to push on when we realized the shade was a lost hope, and ended up making it to the water cache by 3pm. We filled up some water and then parked ourselves in the shade of tree in the wash of an old river-on rocks. Not the most comfortable, seat wise, but that was the only shade to be found, so, sacrifices had to be made. My legs are AWFUL. Blaring red and welts all over. They burn and itch and I wish I could soak them in an oatmeal bath. Instead I’m sitting in a wash where water used to be and is no where to be seen. Not even a hint of a bath coming my way any time soon. 

After about an hour and a half, Russel walked up! He’s a section hiker completing all of New Mexico. He’s very knowledgeable about the area and grew up in NM, but moved to the east coast as an adult. We chatted him up, talked about the sections coming up, and threw in some running chit chat, too. I was quite happy to have him and Pebbles talking so I could chime in every now and then, while sitting in my discomfort.. he was a welcomed distraction. 

Not long after Russel got there, another hiker showed up. He didn’t stay very long, maybe 30 minutes. He chatted, got water, ate a snack, and carried on. Then, a couple from Australia showed up. They are goals. They appear to be in their 60s and super fit, and they were fun to chat with too. They stayed for dinner (we all ate together, hiding in the shade of the tree), and then they carried on hiking.  

Russel, Pebbles, and I set up our tents, and I excused myself by 6:30. My legs BURN. I’ve taken some Benadryl and I’m praying it knocks me out. Comatose, please. There isn’t any wind blowing and the heat is stifling. Ugh. Hoping tomorrow is better. We get to the border tomorrow!

Start: 38.3

Stop: 25.3 

Today’s Miles: 13

Total CDT miles: 57.3

Ugh, we got up at 6:10 and left by 6:40 this morning. It was a struggle to get out of my cocoon, but it had to happen. There was zero water between where we camped and where we were going to camp tonight, so we had to tote all of our water for the day with us. Heavy.. and much better to get most of the miles in during the cool mornings, before the sun starts to blaze. 

Last night I woke up to a guy asking Pebbles for ibuprofen. Apparently he had horrible blisters and was obviously feeling pretty awful, if he had to resort to walking around to tents in the dark to ask strangers for pain killers. I watched him limp away from our tents and he looked like he was practically dragging his left leg, the poor guy looked pitiful. 

Seeing this, I was suddenly very thankful of our plan to hike slow and low mileage at the beginning. And, truthfully, thankful that we’re hiking southbound, because if we were hiking north, there would be nothing stopping us from stupidly pushing farther.. we have a shuttle to catch on a specific date-getting there sooner wouldn’t help us any. 

It was cool and breezy this morning, something I’m also grateful for. Good walking, mostly on a dirt road.. flat for a while then up and down and around the base of the mountains nearby, again, an off-roading jeep or ATV paradise. It was real neat to see the mountains that were so far in the distance get so close throughout the morning. And the views seem to get better as we go. 

Pebbles found a place he wanted to stop for his breakfast and stretch. I kept moving. Not that much farther up trail, I found a wash with a tree shading a flat spot, so I popped my shoes off and laid down to rest, too. I even did some stretching of my own, since my hamstrings feel tight. When Pebbles caught up to me, he told me about a new option: we could get to the road 5 miles ahead and hitch hike into the small town of Hachita! We were planning to camp near that road and water cache already, and with it not even being lunchtime yet, we were clearly going to be sitting out in the sun for HOURS. Plus, in Hachita, I could charge up my battery bank and pray it starts working right!

Yall. The way I got those shoes on and started hiking! He also read that the mini mart store has burritos sometimes.. hell, the chance to charge my block was enough to put pep in my step, the potential for food that wasn’t an uncrustable had me flippin thrilled! We cruised that 5 miles.

Less than two miles from the road, we spotted our first snake, and by we-I mean I. Pebbles cruised right by it and stopped when he heard my scream and abrupt stop. I know I’m dramatic, and I knew this guy was a “good” snake-but man oh man do I hate them. I got Pebbles to come back and take pictures since my phone was off, but just seeing it had me in full chills when I was in direct sunlight and sweating my face off. 

Pebbles quickly got ahead of me (as always) and I saw him talking to a guy sitting beside the trail under his umbrella. I thought maybe this was the ibuprofen guy from last night, because as I caught up I heard Pebbles saying something about “I hope you feel better.” And then telling him about our plan to hitch into Hachita. The guy told Pebbles he’d probably see us there. As we got farther past him, my nosey self asked about him, and come to find out it was a different guy all together. This guy told Pebbles that he can only walk about 10 minutes or so before he has to sit back down, because he keeps throwing up. That did not sound good, and I got a little worried about him. But he said he’d probably come back to the road and see us in town, so I didn’t go back to him. 

Less than a mile later we were at the road. We met a another hiker there, Dan. We told him about our plan to hitch to Hachita and to come back in the evening and camp here. Dan didn’t want to go into town, and planned to stay and camp here, too.. so we said we’d see him later and then almost as an afterthought, I told him about the other hiker. He and Dan started at the same time from the same shuttle.. he seemed concerned, too. 

We tried calling the market in Hachita from the road but service was spotty. Every time the call would go through, they either wouldn’t answer or couldn’t hear me. Eventually got a hitch to town by a border patrol agent. She was awesome, soft spoken, and drove like a bat out of hell.. fun fun! It’s pretty cool that she’d be willing to stop to check on us and then drive us 14 miles on top of that. These small towns have the nicest of people, that or very bored border patrol agents.  

She dropped us off at the mini market and we got some food.. soda and hot pockets for me, plus chips and dip-and a jimmy deans breakfast sausage bowl for Pebbles. We were hoping for real burritos but the little place that made them closed down-as was much of this town. Only the Mart was open, and they were out of microwaveable burritos. 

They let us go to the community center and shower and charge our stuff. There was even some shampoo and conditioner left in the shower! What a win! I’m still getting used to not having a towel again, and even though drying off with a smelly and very dirty shirt almost negates the point of the shower-I still was happy to do it. 

Just after 5pm, we were packed up and about to leave when the hiker from 3 hours earlier walked up! He seemed better, so that was good. He was also able to hitch in with border patrol! We chatted a minute, told him we were glad he was ok, and headed to the main road to try to hitch back to the trail. 

A total of ONE car passed us, and then he pulled into his driveway not very far from us at all. After waiting and hoping for close to 2 hours, I gave up and started messaging people listed as trail angels in our FarOut app. Eventually, we got a ride back to trail by the guy that owns the mart. Jeff was super nice and a lot of fun. Rattled off tons of info about the area. I loved it. 

Back at trail, we talked with Dan. He told that after he set up his tent, he went to see if the other hiker was where I told him we saw him, just to check, and he was still sitting there, looking rough.. he sat with him awhile and eventually talked him into going into town. He had to help him back and help him hitch in.. he said he was glad I told him because he didn’t think he would have made it back on his own. I’m glad I did too, but now I’m having some guilt over leaving him alone there in the first place. I should have asked more questions sooner and gone back after I heard about the throwing up. 

Anyway-I’m glad he’s safe and sleeping inside the community center tonight, hopefully hydrating. We told Dan goodnight and went off to make camp far enough away to not bother him. We filtered  some water and ate dinner as the sun set. 

I really do love the sunsets here. Goodnight yall.