Oh how glorious a zero day is! Especially when all the chores were done yesterday! The only downfall being in a place like this, a resort type deal with scheduled meal times: scheduled meal times. I had to get up and go to breakfast at 7:30 or miss breakfast all together. Strangely, I was awake before then anyway, even though I could have easily stayed in bed a few more hours.
The day was spent relaxing around meal times, checking out all of the cool things the resort has: a library, where I did some continuing education stuff for my CCRN certification that’s up for renewal soon, a gift shop, where I bought sodas and post cards, a cafe with some baked goods, where I sat and wrote out the post cards.. a massive field with horses at the other end.. and a couple museums, one dedicated to Georgia O’Keeffe, the famous painter that lived out here once upon a time.
It rained off and on, leaving a dampness to the air, but making the desert oranges pop.. the resort is situated around huge mesas with spires and pinnacles. It’s truly beautiful. We explored the resort and also met other hikers.. GG, ScoobySnax and Sunroof, and Doc Holliday. I took a nap midday and then hung out with these folks, learning everyone’s story and eating dinner together. We were rewarded with an outstanding sunset, and went to bed listening to music playing from a wedding taking place somewhere on the property.
Short and sweet, sorry about that, but it’s not a bad way to spend a zero! I think I’ve eaten so much that my hip belt may need to be extended! Ha. Oh, I guess this it’s important: our box came today.. so, we’ll be hiking out tomorrow after breakfast. Not sure if I’m happy about that or not! Ha. Goodnight yall!
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!
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!
