Uncategorized – The Unpolished Princess

CDT Day 71: July 15, 2025

I ended up sleeping in until 9:30am!! It was the best sleep, once I finally fell asleep. I think sometimes heartache does that for you, lets you drift into that deep sleep to try and heal your broken heart. I was only awake seconds before I remembered that Max was gone, and my melancholy kicked in.

I showered, brushed my teeth, ate my left over pizza from last night, then dressed and packed up my stuff. I decided I would go to the new motel, see if they’d let me check or hold my pack for me while I went to do my chores for the day.

I rode the free bus to the Quality Inn, a 30 minute situation by bus instead of only 6 minutes by car. They didn’t have a room ready yet, so the lady held my pack in her office and let me go ahead and buy quarters from her for laundry when I got back. Then, I walked to the Mexican restaurant about a mile and a half away. Instead of updating my blog, I looked through pictures of Max and Molly while waiting on my enchiladas to come out. Man that goofy boy was the best.

I really enjoyed my meal, eating every bite, including all of the free chips I could manage, too. After paying, I walked over to the gear shop in town, and made Butch earn his keep in the shoe department. We went through every pair and every brand just like I did over in Grand Lake. This place had more brands to choose from.. the problem being they didn’t have my size in the Topos I’ve worn earlier-that are comfortable just not very durable.. they didn’t have my size in the men’s either. After 30+ minutes of trying on everything under the sun, I ended up getting a pair made by a French company that were very comfortable. The only problem: I wouldn’t be able to get a second pair.

I got the one pair and fingers crossed they last a long time! I wore them as I did the rest of my chores: resupplying at the Safeway grocery store, going to the post office to send ahead a box to a place in Wyoming, going to Walmart to pick up more bug lotion. The shoes seem great so far.

I got back to the Quality Inn around 4pm. The lady checking me in had an issue with my reservation, claiming booking.com didn’t pay them-which I showed her the payment on my credit card app. There was back and forth and she said it would be refunded, but she had to charge my card for now regardless. Knowing this isn’t right, I let her anyway just so I can get into my room. I’ll have to dispute the extra charge with booking or with my credit card tomorrow. Hopefully it’ll work itself out by then.

I sprawled out in the bed and watched SVU while snacking on cheese and crackers and drinking some wine. At dinner time, I hung out with Pika, Wolf, Firefly, and Redline outside under some trees on the property while they ate dinner. I had already demolished the crackers and cheese by then and wasn’t hungry anymore. Later, we swam in the pool and hung out in the hot tub, talking, swapping stories, and laughing. Being around them really helped shove my sadness aside. I’m forever grateful to them for their friendship and welcomed distraction. They’ve just accepted me into their friend group, being around them all feels so natural. Hopefully I can hike with them more this next stretch before I catch Pebbles, if I ever do.

A little about them.. I know Pika and Wolf from the PCT. Pika is as cool and outdoorsy as they come: worked trail maintenance positions all over for the government, has an endless knowledge of plants, animals, and insects. They most recently lived in Arizona but have ties to Northern California and Chicago. They are also very artistic (I know this from IG stalking them over the last 2 years lol).

Wolf has her own Physical Therapy practice in one of the Carolina’s.. in Asheville maybe? And she just gives off this outgoing and big energy-her laugh (and her giddy howls) are the most contagious sound I’ve ever heard-if you don’t laugh when she’s laughing-I’m pretty sure you’re a sociopath.

Firefly is a paramedic/firefighter from Massachusetts. Funny enough, his mom lives in Georgia, so he’s been to Atlanta a lot. He’s funny and I bet we’d have a lot in common with the healthcare stuff.

And then there’s Redline-also very funny and tells good stories. He lives in Idaho and does something in construction I think. He got his trail name because he stuck to the redline on Farout and missed the Gila in New Mexico.. and had zero water for a long stretch-very sketchy situation and it was only because this is his first long trail so he was unfamiliar with the different routing options. Poor dude! Him telling the story will have you crying laughing though!

Now, I’m back sprawled in bed and debating on if I want to be up super early and pay $5 for the once a day bus back out to Muddy Pass tomorrow, or if I want to sleep in and hitch it. Hmmmm.. I think we all know which way this will go! Goodnight yall.

CDT Day 17: May 22, 2025

Start: Lower Scorpion Campground

Stop: Gila Alternate mile 60.1

Today’s Miles: 18.4

Total CDT miles: 210.3

I think I hit the majority of all the different feelings today. Pure awe, excitement, happiness, pure misery and pain, and several others in between.

The night sky was so unbelievably beautiful last night. Once I finally fell asleep, I slept hard. I woke up to both Special K and Pebbles being mostly packed and starting to walk out of camp. It was 6:25. Lord have mercy.

I quickly packed and started walking to where they went: Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. I left camp at 6:45. Pretty quick, especially for me! Not even half way down the road to the dwellings, Special K was walking back towards me. Odd.

“They don’t open until 9am,” she calls over to me. Hmm. So glad I rushed then. She hiked out, I continued walking and saw Pebbles sitting on a bench outside the gift shop/dwellings entrance.

We both quickly agreed that we’d wait for the cliff dwellings to open, because we’ve never been here before and who knows if we’ll ever make it back. The trail isn’t going anywhere and we’re here now. So, I sat down next to him and we hung out until they opened. Just before the rangers started rolling in, along with other guests coming too, I saw 2 javelinas behind the building. Pretty cool!

I went into the gift shop when it opened and looked around.. and got my “national monument” stamp to send home. Then, we followed the trail to the cliff dwellings once the ranger opened it up. It was really cool to see how the people native to this land lived-how they created their homes into the rocky cliffs. We got to walk through the simple rooms and imagine what it would be like to live up there, with views for miles and safety within the rocks.

We got back to the visitors center and gift shop before 10am, used the bathroom, filled up water, and said our goodbyes to the sweet ranger standing out front. By 10am, it was already so hot-with the high getting up to 91 degrees! We had to walk down the main road, join the High Route, which meant climbing up and across hot, exposed grasslands (the grasses were dried out and brown), only to start making our way down into the canyon to rejoin the Gila Alternate Low Route.

The trail that connects the high route with the low route is called “Little Bear Canyon” and it was beautiful. It’s a slot canyon with the huge canyon walls jutting up all around, casting shade.. thank the good lord! The creek running down the middle was low enough that our feet never got wet. Before we knew it, it was spitting us out at the Gila River and the trail for the low route along the river itself.

We spotting some flat spots to eat our lunch and hide in the shade. My feet were SORE already from carrying so much food, eating lunch meant getting to lighten the load. However, when we finished and I picked my pack up to get ready to go, I pulled a muscle in my back that immediately brought tears to my eyes. I had my pack on my back, afraid to move or breathe for fear of that pain shooting through my back again.

After a couple minutes of feeling paralyzed, I decided to start walking, as there’s really not anything else to do. If I needed help of some sort, I’d still have to hike out of this canyon. So, I followed behind Pebbles, my back throbbing and snagging with every breath. The views were so stunning, but I couldn’t truly enjoy it with my pain and fear constantly rearing its head.

We must have crossed back and forth over the river more than 60 times! It was different from yesterday though-these views were dramatic. Yesterday was beautiful and serene, these were out of this world! The canyon walls looked to be a thousand feet high, and we’re passing practically right on it. They rose up out of the water like magic. There were still meadows and forests and lush greenery, but it felt much more condensed-less wide open space, if that makes sense.

As the afternoon wore on, my back pain and my feet pain were competing. I was so physically exhausted, I started to stumble more. I even took a tumble into the water, for my first fall on trail. Hey-I made it 17 days without falling-that’s gotta be some kind of record!

We were hiking towards a specific area to camp, and nothing was looking too great on the way there. The trail was a mess, and the river crossings only seemed to get more difficult in my exhaustion and pain. At some point, very close to where we thought we were headed to camp, I spot a trail of switchbacks heading up and away from the river. There was a small forest of trees on this high outlook, and I decided that was going to be it for me.

Pebbles and I toted our water up the switchbacks, and only after getting up there and deciding where to camp did we realize that this isn’t the place we were aiming for. Whatever. I was committed. Pebbles recommended we cowboy camp again, and honestly, it’s perfect, because I don’t think I could bend to put up my tent. My back is hurting THAT BAD. I’m pretty concerned.

So, we’re lying here, under a perfect night sky. I’ve already seen 2 shooting stars and maybe a StarLink satellite. It’s so astounding how truly gorgeous nature is. I know I’m hurting, but I still feel so lucky to be able to witness everything I’ve gotten to see today. These stars. The cliff dwellings, the sheer size of these canyon walls. The river. Just. Wow.

Anyway. Prayers for an ok back in the morning. Time to let these ibuprofen kick in and get some sleep, if I can! Goodnight yall.

CDT Day 14: May 19, 2025

Start: Silver City

Stop: Gila Alternate mile 5.4

Today’s Miles: 13.2

Total CDT miles: 153.4

Man oh man, my bed at the Palace Hotel was definitely fit for a queen. I slept so good, even if I did toss and turn a good bit. I think maybe I’m not getting into a deep enough sleep, but I’ve been having this issue for awhile.

I was up and getting ready by 6:45. We left our packs at the hotel and then walked to a Mexican food truck that serves breakfast burritos. Yall, I FINALLY got my damn burrito. And it was quite good! Chorizo, bacon, potatoes, eggs, sour cream, and cheese. Yum. Pebbles got the same, and we ate them across the street at the bus stop.

A few minutes after demolishing our burritos, the bus came. The driver didn’t even charge us! Then again, he didn’t charge anyone else, either. Sweet! Thirty five minutes later, we were let out at Walmart. We had an hour, exactly, to get our resupply for the next 3 days, plus 4 days of food to mail ahead to Pie Town, and all of the other odds and ends we needed.

When I say we were down to the last second, I was running out of the store and Pebbles was asking the driver to wait for me when I came barreling out with my 3 grocery bags of things. The cashier had zero sense of urgency, and she was struggling with the scanner, lol! I had already resigned myself to needing to Uber back when I saw how long it was taking her to get the barcode of my ramen noodles just right. Haha, bless her though, because she did pack my bags perfectly.

Anywho-no harm no foul-because I made it! It was the same driver, too. Not sure why I find that interesting, but I do. He was super nice and dropped us back off where we originally got on. We went back to the hotel, packed our stuff and organized everything to ship out-then checked out and walked over to the post office.

A box of small things to send home: my inflatable pillow, my travel eye mask, and a couple other small things that I can’t recall right now. The other stuff, food and extra toothpaste, was shoved into a medium priority box and shipped to Pie Town. We won’t be there for 12 more days (after today), but we’ll resupply at Doc Campbell’s in a few days. Apparently they do have a good resupply, just “pricey,” however, I doubt it’ll cost more to just buy food there than it would to pay $20 to ship it from the post office today. If it is, oh well-we’re supporting local businesses!

We started walking to the gear shop in town, and thankfully, all of this so far has been a part of the trail, or at least, part of an alternate.. “Little Walnut Alternate.” I ended up getting new shoes from the gear store-Topos-since my Altras are literally already falling apart and my blisters are only seemingly getting worse. These Topos felt really comfortable in the store, a better fit overall compared to the Altras. Fingers crossed tight that they stay great!

The guy at the store was wonderful, he gave me a tiny tube of super glue and some Velcro so I can make my gaiters stick to my new shoes. (I’m about to do that right now). We left the store and continued on Little Walnut, all the way to the Gila National Forest picnic sight. We had lunch, stretched, froze in the shade and wind and started sweating in the sunshine.. ohhhhh the perks of no humidity!

We had 7.5 miles at least to go, so we hiked out of the picnic area around 2:30pm. The trail hit the official Gila Alternate Trail (pronounced like Heelah) which basically was the continuation of the dirt road we were already on. It meandered through the forest, a few trucks went by us, the wind blew. It was really nice. And then the trail turned onto a forest service road. Whoever made this thing, clearly loved riding his ATV up and down and all around.. because this road/trail was a steep mess. Very loose sandy rocks, big ruts, steep inclines and even steeper declines.

Once we made it to the spot we hoped our first “naturally running” water on trail would be.. our hopes were smashed as the riverbed was bone dry. The even sadder part: there was great camping right there, too! We checked our app, and according to the recent comments there would either be water in half a mile or a full mile away. Onwards we walked.

At the half mile mark, I decided to go down the bank and check-so many comments said “dry” while others right after would say “plenty of water here.” And there was good camping, too. There was a large pool of water, covered in algae of course. First “natural” water on trail, but definitely not flowing water! I was able to scoop 2 liters into my CNOC bag, even though it was nasty with lots of floaters in it.. and creepily 2 little swimmers. Thankfully, the filter works pure magic, because none of the gross stuff made it into my water bottles!

We set up our tents and had dinner.. potatoes, woo. While we were chatting, we heard some crashing about down near the water. I went to investigate: cows! I think they’re the same cows we scared earlier on trail.. they must have ran up this way. They sure are big ole skittish girls. That’s ok, though.. I was a big ole skittish girl when I first heard their crashing about!

The sun is going to set behind the mountain, so it looks like we’ll be missing a cool sunset. It’s a little chilly and moths are absolutely all over my tent. I hope I don’t have to get out again tonight. My blisters are still rough, but the new shoes definitely seemed to not make them worse, maybe even helped some too, although I was limping some that last mile of hiking (also the reason I was determined to find water sooner rather than later-I didn’t want to walk any farther!).

My thighs are also still chaffed, so I’m loaded up on new Destin diaper rash cream. Currently, it’s stinging, but maybe it’ll help here soon! I think that’s all I can come up with tonight. Tomorrow will be a bit over 16 miles if all goes as planned. And I think we’ll reach the Gila River at some point tomorrow, too! I’m excited and also nervous for the 8 trillion times we’ll have to cross the water.. maybe I’ll try to count it. Hmmmm..

Ok, that’s it for real! Good night!