A new adventure

Having followed the reports of other hikers already on the trail I knew that I wasn’t going to start in Colorado because of the snow conditions but that I needed to change my plans. I was rather looking further north since New Mexico was never really on my agenda. Reading the reports from the previous years I believed that it was going to be too hot and water would always be a worry. But there is always only so much you can plan ahead. Visiting Peggy in Santa Fe together with Kris meant I got to discover New Mexico for a week. Driving through the surrounding landscapes I was in awe. And knew that this is where I wanted to hike through. The weather this year being extremely unusual, with snow even as far south as Pie Town but especially in the surrounding mountains meant it was even in questions if I could start in New Mexico without encountering snow. But it also meant that I didn’t have to worry that water wasn’t going to be sufficient. I decided I would start in Grants. Far enough south so that it would take me some time to reach to Colorado, where hopefully by then the snow conditions would have improved. But also not so far south that it would take too much off my time getting north. So a few days after I made my decision I was heading to Grants. 

Trail magic #1: Michele 

Trying to find out how best to get to Grants I posted the question in the Facebook group. I learned which bus to take. But also got a message from Michele who offered to meet me in Albuquerque and give me a ride to Grants. And that is how I met a trail angel before I even started on the trail. I met Michele the next day again when she gave me a ride to the visitor center of Grants, which she had shown me on the way into Grants. Together we watched a movie about the surrounding area which showed all the many different landscapes such as rock formations, volcanos, mountains, forests. When Michele said that she was fascinated to see her home like this I was happy to know that it was not only her helping me, but that by us meeting she also got to appreciate again what is her home.

Finally the next day Michele offered me to drop me at the trailhead of the CDT, which meant I didn’t have to walk the 5km along the road out of town and could start right away with my first day of hiking in the trail.

Day 1: And so it begins 

I’m doing it! After weeks and month of talking about it I’m finally here! As I’m walking I’m feeling between euphoric and just plain crazy. The first day seems relatively easy; feet are fine, backpack is heavy but mangeable and I seem to make good progress. I feel fantastic and think that I can actually really do this! At the same time the question is always there: can I really? This is absolutely crazy! So it is back to one step at the time… It’s only the first day! 

Day 2: Water?

Not knowing my strength and capacity I’m telling myself that I need to find my own speed and listen to my body. I don’t want to set myself daily targets of how far I need or want to walk. I can’t totally ignore it because I know how far it is to the next resupply stop. But I want to take it easy in the beginning as my body is getting used to this and only walk as far as it feels right. Only that I soon realise that not the progress I make every day is important but how far it is to the next water source. Due to the longer winter this year and the recent snow and rain the water sources are much better than the previous years but often I still only manage to find some shallow leftover pools or murky cow ponds. I’m still in the mountains and so far I’m lucky but what will the situation be once I get to the mesa? So I start calculating and targeting the water sources. And learn for the first time in my life the real importance of water! 

Trail magic #2: Water caches

Someone had stored two ice coolers full of water bottles along the trail. Anyone can help themselves to as much water as they want. For free. And the empty bottles can then even be left there in a waste bag. And since the coolers were nearly full it seems that this trail angel is refilling regularly. Unfortunately there is no name or way to thank this person. But such incredible kindness, not only to buy that many bottles of water but then to also drive up there to store them in ice coolers and take away the empty bottles…for nothing, not even a thank you. 

The same happened again further along the trail in an even more desolate and therefore much more critical section. If water had not been stored there by some kind people it would have been tight with the limited amount of water I had at the time to make it to the next source. It’s such an incredible feeling reaching there in the heat of the day with just a little of water left and knowing that some people made the effort in their own time and using their own resources to store water in such a remote place for passing hikers! Trail magic!!! 

Moments on trail (MoT) #1: Drive don’t hike

On the second day I was just stopping at the turn off to Mt. Taylor, which I chose not to ascend but to stay on the main trail, to talk to another hiker about the climb to the top he was just preparing himself for, when I golf cart type of car passed us with quite some speed apparently on the way to the top or somewhere thereof with some people in the back totally wrapped up in warm blankets looking all fancy. We both looked at each other, heavy backpacks and all, and had to laugh: „Duh…that’s how ya do it!!“, as we continued our hike at what then seemed to be at snails speed…

Day 3: Ouch, ouch, ouch…

Reality hits. After the first two days went fairly well my body is now in full protest. Luckily only my feet and hip bones. My shoes are fantastic and I manage well every day but my feet just don’t seem used to the heavy weight they are supposed to carry, long distances nevertheless, so I got blisters on the soles of my feet. By midday I’m in full blister admin mode. But how do you tape that? Whatever I try it all comes off after a short time walking. So I guess they will need to learn the hard way. It’s much easier for my middle toes, which seem to have grown twins, as I can easily wrap them in tape. But it is hopefully just a matter of time until the whole of my feet have toughend up. 

My hipbones suffer because if I tighten the hip belt of my backpack really really tight then I almost don’t feel the weight of my crazy heavy backpack. Which is awesome for my back and shoulders as so far they are in no pain at all. Not even my hips even though all the weight goes there. I really love my backpack for that! Unfortunately my hipbones don’t seem to agree. But then how is it that they seem to be the only part of my body of that isn’t covered in a layer of fat for some cushioning? I assume it will be several more days of agony until they hopefully relent to the fact that this is a longer endeavour and that they better quickly become friends with the hip belt. Hopefully. 

But since it it just my feet and the hipbones for now I can’t complain. I guess they complain because of the unusual heavy weight they suddenly need to carry. In my head I constantly hear ‚woman, you better get on a diet!‘. But that would mean eating all the food in my backpack to take some weight off. One diet that would be…So… I expected worse! But so far I’m still able to continue the hike with full enthusiasm. Let’s hope my feet and hips adapt quickly. 

Day 4: Water conflict

I don’t drink enough water! I made it to the mesa and the water situation is worse then expected. Most water sources are some dirty cow ponds. But I need to drink water. Only I’m never sure if the next water source is reliable. So I keep wanting to preserve my water. Luckily the weather is not too hot so that I’m hardly sweating. It’s actually really cold at night and since I got to the mesa it is constantly changing between warm but windy and seconds of rain and with that really cold winds. Twice it even hailed. But not enough to fill the water sources! So my new tactic is to make it to next water source to check if there is water and if good enough to even filter, then empty one bottle to drink my share and then refill. Although after the last cow pond I feel like that filtering isn’t doing it anymore. I now cook all the water in addition. And it’s even supposed to get worse further north. Oh well…

Trail magic #3: Forest Service

Since yesterday the trail is following a forest road. Today I got passed by a car from the forest service. They stopped and warned me of a shower and potential hail towards where I was heading. When I asked them about the condition of the next water source they offered me some of their water. Fresh cool, CLEAN water from a flask. Moments like these…! 

MoT #2: In a hurry? 

Walking through the Mesa on my forth day, so somewhere right in the middle of this section, I had been walking already for some hours when I suddenly got passed by another hiker who was walking very fast in what almost seemed like a slow jog. We just greeted each other and when I meantioned that he looked like he was in a hurry he told me that he wanted to make it to town fast so that he could pass through quickly without having to spend much money. I’m not sure what that meant…but was he going to basically run the remaining 90 km or so to town???? What an encounter in the middle of nowhere…

Day 5-7: Chasing the distance 

On day 5 I reached the cliff and descended from the higher to the lower Mesa. It’s a drop of several hundred meters and I could immediately tell. It was much hotter. Especially during the day. And it meant the water sources became fewer and less reliable. So now it definitely became all about making it to the next water source on time. It meant walking longer distances with less water. To cover the remaining distances I walked 30 km every day. But not only the distance had been testing me. The last days really pushed every other possible challenge at me to show me what I would face on this adventure: my blisters on the soles of my feet just grew every day and made walking quite painful at times. Every time I would stop it would take me a couple of minutes of feeling like I was walking on coals before it became somewhat bearable. Walking more than less in that case probably didn’t help my feet to adapt and towards the end they would even tingle all through the night in an effort to recover. I walked through a windy rain shower and a blazing sand storm, up and down very steep rocky cliffs that made for extremely slow progress and my water filter failed. Wonderful! 

But I made it and what made it all worth it was the absolutely stunning landscape. Especially in the lower mesa I would pass through so many different rock formations, ridges desert landscapes hardly anyone else ever passes through. Because of the recent rains this year the desert was unusually green and in bloom. Even walking was still too fast because it was changing from one amazing view to the next so quickly it was difficult to soak it all in. But for that reason exactly I would have enjoyed hiking through it with more time to really immerse myself in the beauty of it all. Instead my head was occupied with kilometers, how many I had hiked already, how many more I needed to go, how much time I had for it, if I could make it, how much further if the next water source was not reliable, etc. 

That pressure also was increased through meeting the other hikers. All of them were thru hikers aiming to complete the whole trail from Mexico to Canada. Most of them quite experienced with many of them having done the AT and/or PCT already. First thing I noticed about them was that all of them had much smaller and what appeared to be lighter backpacks. With everything being ultralight most of them carried only a small tent or tarp that could be set up with their trekking poles, a foldable thinn foam mattress and a sleeping bag. They usually only had one set of clothes which they wore and a down and rain jacket. Some would carry a stove but many didn’t even cook and instead just ate soaked food. As much as I admired them for the light weight and their though nature, so far I enjoyed the comfort of my tent and changing into dry, warm clothes at the end of the day too much. Also I love being able to cook once I set up camp and not only ready made or freezer dried food that only needed hot water but even including fresh fruit and vegetables. Which of course all adds up to the weight. And not only that, since I walk much slower it takes me much longer to get from A to B, which of course means I need more days equals more food. For this section of 160kms I needed 7 days. And that was by pushing it the last couple of days. Most of the hikers I met would do it in less than five days!! So, of course their agenda is a different one. They need to keep moving to findish the whole trail on time. But it was just incredible to see with how little and how fast they would hike.

It took me a while not to compare myself with them and stick to my own gut as to how I wanted this hike to be. And that is to enjoy myself. To feel that I have time. That I can rest and soak in the nature around me at any time. To cozy up in my tent after having cooked something creative with the little I have at night. To be flexible to decide where I want to go next. So I will not make this adventure about the distance I hike but about the experiences along the way. 

Day 7: Arriving in Cuba 

Having pushed myself these last days to make it through without running out of water I was really looking forward to arriving in Cuba for some days of rest. My feet certainly were screaming for it!!! As soon as I got closer to town I called the motels as I wanted to make sure that it didn’t walk into town and everything was booked. I got lucky and one still had a room. Even more so the owner offered to pick me up at the road. And how grateful am I for that. Because it would have otherwise been a 5 km walk along the road. And nothing is more painful than walking on tarmac with tired feet full of blisters. As I arrived at the motel the first thing I treated myself to was a long hot blissful shower! And then I got lucky again as on that night a biker gang stayed at the hotel as well. So I was not only offered a cold beer but one of them gave me a ride on his awesome bike to one of the restaurants to pick up some food – that he paid for – just so I didn’t need to walk any further. Now if that isn’t like arriving in style…

Conclusion after first section: 

1. I can do it! But it’s still crazy!!
2. It’s all about water.
3. I can push myself to walk a great distance…but I don’t want to.
4. My hip bones kind of accepted the hip belt but still refuse to like it. 
5. My feet suffered the most. After two days of rest they finally don’t hurt anymore when I walk but some of the blisters still look mean. Hopefully the next section doesn’t make them grow again. And that eventually my feet will just toughen up.
6. I couldn’t have planned for any of this! But managed to do alright with all my gear! So…yes, I can do this! 

Next section to come!