4/24 I did 19.6 miles and camped along Commodore Road. 4/25 I did 19.9 miles and camped near a cow pond. 4/26 I did 20.1 miles just north of HWY 113. 4/27 I did 22.4 miles to just outside Lordsburg.
Check out "Shake Me Down" by Cage the Elephants. The best way to prepare for the trail is to start it.
Well I'm back in action. I started the CDT at the Crazy Cook Monument at the Mexican border. The logistics of getting here are a little different than the AT or PCT where on both trails I was fortunate enough to be driven to the start by family or friends. This time I took a flight to El Paso, TX and then a greyhound to Lordsburg, NM; from Lordsburg I took a 3 hour off-road shuttle to the border since the road is very washed out. At the border I took the mandatory clean shaven starting picture with the monument and with a ton of luck I'll take the same picture a little bit more haggard in Canada.
It's good to be back on the trail. I was filled with so many emotions on my first days on trail. I was actually pretty anxious my first two days out here. The desert is not an environment I feel 100 percent confident in and its a very unforgiving place. The desert plains and mountains are awe inspiring and the sunrises and sunsets produce some of the most vivid colors I have ever seen, but at the same time it's an arid and harsh environment that is not really suitable for human life. In fact in the first 2 days of hiking 3 CDT hikers had to be emergency rescued because of heat stroke and heat exhaustion and I had to walk one hiker to a cow pond because he was stumbling on the trail and these are all experienced hikers....
The start of the CDT has required me to get into my hiking groove quickly. I get up at 5a and try to be out of camp by 545a just when there is enough light to get moving. I'll hike until 1030a and find shade, I start again between 3-4p and make up the rest of the days miles. I carry a ton of water with me, try to eat a lot of salty foods and hike with an umbrella (I kind of look like inspector gadget walking down the trail).
The trail is interesting. Sometimes it follows arroyo's, jeep trails, cow trails and very frequently it likes to just disappear and you just take a bearing and head straight. I have a GPS with the trail on it so I am always (mostly) in the general area that I should be in. I certainly don’t want to be starting at my GPS the entire hike so if I get off trail now and again then I was just taking a more scenic route.
As normal I don’t really prepare physically for the trail and let it shake me down over the first few hundred miles. I would prefer not be walking as high mileage off the start but all my movement is dictated by water and since it is spread out I have to pull higher miles. While hiking through the heat I have come up my my desert mantra: Move your body fast while keeping your mind still. I'm so excited to be back and have already met a small cast of characters.
Here we go!
Fred joining in the photoshoot
Hiding from the Sun with Fluffy, Heat Wave, Serenity and Hungry Cat
Hiking into the sunset with Joe Dirt and Fluffy
Somebody is a little grumpy
Typical landscape
Pine Stick is 70 and hikes straight through the day... I dont understand how he does it.