Uncategorized – The Unpolished Princess

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!

CDT Day 3: May 8, 2025

Start: 65.2

Stop: 49.6

Today’s Miles: 15.6

Total CDT miles: 33

I tossed and turned a ton during the night. I feel like I always do when I’m backpacking, because I’m such a side sleeper, but dang it’s frustrating.. one arm would go numb, then the other one.. flip to one side, then to my back-knowing good and well I can’t sleep on my back-so ten minutes later I’m flipping again. Ha. Sorry Pebbles.

I did wake to another gorgeous sunrise, but I was too tired to snap any pictures. We left camp around 7:30am and it was a mostly flat morning. Flat, shrubs and prickly bushes and cacti everywhere. When we got to our first water source, I realized I still had plenty-so we skipped it and carried on to the next. Before we got there, we found a tree with some pretty good shade and took a break. I started listening to my audiobook, Red Sky Mourning, and laid out on my tent’s ground sheet. I’m pretty sure I nodded off, it was a lovely way to spend the morning.

We hiked to the first water cache of the 5 that the CDT shuttle people put out. We decided to eat our lunch there, and damn, it was HOT. There was no shade, besides the tiny square of the metal box the water is in, so we rigged our umbrellas to shade us while we ate but it didn’t last for long. It only seemed to get hotter as we sat there and there was no shade to be seen for miles around, so we packed up, filled up our water, and got to hiking.

By the grace of God, we crossed a tree offering just enough shade to let us hide under it for a few hours during the peak heat of the day. We napped off and on, slightly moving out of the sun as it crossed the sky.. after 4pm, we started hiking again. It was still so hot, but now it was also starting to get hilly as well. We climbed up and over saddles with views of desert landscape on either side. And the views really were quite gorgeous, even if we were worn out from the heat.

The first water source we came to that we were counting on was pretty dang nasty, so we kept walking. The second water source didn’t exist-so we had no choice but to keep walking. We pushed to a very nice water tank with a spigot and surround by trees and shade. A pretty sweet little oasis. We’re technically not allowed to camp here, so we walked off a good ways into the surrounding desert shrubs and found some semi flat and mostly cow poop free places to set up our tents. We’re not “in” the oasis, but it’s visible. Hopefully it’s considered far enough away if anyone were to come out here.

I set up my tent and ate my dinner, Marquis ate his when we were filling up water in the shade of the “oasis” but I was too pooped to open my pack to get food out and then repack it to find a spot to camp. I’m absolutely worn out! I think I have either sun poisoning or a new allergic reaction to my sunscreen. I’ve got welts all over my legs, and they itch and burn something serious. Thankfully, Marquis has some hydrocortisone cream he shared with me. I’m praying that calms it down. I might need to look into a different sunscreen brand again. This sun is no joke.

I also have some chafe spots along my hips where my hip belt and the band of my shorts meet. That’s pretty painful. And to add insult to injury, my right heel now also has a blister, right in the same place as the one on my left foot. It has to be the extra weight I guess. Or breaking in new shoes. Yikes. I’m a little anxious for what tomorrow will bring. Hot and chaffed and burnt on day 3? My body is going to revolt here soon!

I will end on a good note though. This sunset is a stunner. The sky is all orange until it meets the dark navy of night, but there’s a gorgeous black silhouette of the mountains surrounding us. It really is spectacular. Plus, there’s coyotes yipping and howling somewhere nearby and the moon is so bright on the other side of the sky. I think this might be worth all of the ailments I’m currently battling. I think I’ll sleep hard tonight, if I can get my legs to chill out on the burning.

See ya tomorrow! Goodnight!