New Mexico Really is the land of Enchantment — Adventures With Samson-The-Bear

On 5/17 I took a zero in Grants. On 5/18 I did 25.9 miles over Mt. Taylor. On 5/19 I did 29.8 miles and slept in some pine trees. On 5/20 I did 31.4 to a snowy Mesa. On 5/21 I did 21.1 miles into Cuba, NM. On 5/22 I did 15.5 in the San Pedro Wilderness. On 5/23 I did 23.9 miles to the Chama River.

Listen to "Wilderness" by Explosions in the Sky. It's a great song to hike to as you move from one extreme to another.

I took a zero in Grant's, NM. I wasn't planning on taking a break, but I was able to split a motel room 4 ways so the price was right and my body probably needed it. I was able to finally clean all of my gear from all the mud and rain and worked out more of the logistics for the next state (whose name I wont mention) and unsurprisingly I found a brewery.

After leaving Grant's we went over Mt. Taylor at 11,301 feet. Mt. Taylor is one of the four sacred mountains in the Navajo culture and creates one of the four corners of their traditional land. It was a blustery summit and we jumped in a fox hole once we reached the summit to shield us from the wind. On the south side of the mountain there was a small snow field about a mile long we had to navigate down. It was our first taste of snow and was a constant post holing adventure, which really gave us a sense for what lays ahead.

After climbing down Taylor we walked across a Mesa for about a day. I started to pull larger miles through the flat top terrain. I couldn't see much over the mesa since I was surrounded by a thick forest of ponderosa trees and just enjoyed the easy terrain. In the morning we walked off the mesa into an open expanse where I could see for miles. The vista was filled with volcanic plugs, arroyos, cliffs and sweeping sandstone monuments. It was an awesome view and over the next half day we walked though the geological playground. Everyone was super happy and taking a bunch of pictures as we walked by all of the sites, unfortunately as we were enjoying ourselves a massive storm system rolled in. It started with intense hail and switched over to a heavy sleet storm, by the afternoon we were slogging through a wet snow storm with 30 mph wind. There was no time to eat we just had to keep moving to stay warm.

We made it up another mesa and scouted a spot to set up our tents. I had to wake up several times through the night to knock all of the snow off my tent to keep it from collapsing. By morning the snow had stopped and the entire desert was covered in snow. It was an epic morning that was almost worth the struggles the night before. We enjoyed the peacefulness of the snow laden desert and observed all of the features from the day before covered in a white blanket As we made our way to Cuba, NM all of the morning joy turned into a slog as all of the snow quickly melted when the sun rose, turning the desert into a mud pit. The climbs up and over the rock formations became a slippery and slow process; by the time we got to the road walk into Cuba we were super thrilled to be on solid ground.

I stopped over in Cuba, NM to resupply, shower do laundry and once again clean all my gear. I pushed out the next day towards the San Pedro Mountains. On my way up the mountains I saw bits of snow patches on the ground but as I made my way up to the 10,000' ridge I was walking on over 2 feet of snow. Navigation wasn’t too difficult as I could follow foot prints in front of me but I was constantly checking my GPS to make sure the blind wasn't leading the blind. I wanted to set up camp early that night because it was going to be on snow and I wanted the extra time to get it right. I saw a flat area on the topo about a half mile ahead and made my way for it. There was a small stream I had to cross about 30 yards in front of me. As I was scouting the best way go cross it I stepped towards the stream and instantly fell through to my chest into a river. The water was up to my waist and I was able to brace against the snow to keep myself from going anywhere. I was able to unbuckle my pack and chucked it so far I could have completed in the Scottish Olympics. Wazza was behind me but knew not to come any closer to me or he might be in the same situation. I used my poles that were still in my hands to distribute my weight as I managed to pull myself out without breaking any more snow. Being very wet at elevation certainly wasn't ideal but since I wasn’t hypothermia, I decided to keep hiking for another few miles to get my body temperature up before making camp. We found another flat spot and setup on the snow. I was in my sleeping bag right away that night and fell asleep before I had eaten all of my dinner.

The next day we quickly descended down the San Pedros back to the desert floor along a sage brush corridor. By the end of the day I had entered the Chama River wilderness and was sleeping warmly along the river. The days never end the way they start on the CDT.