It's starting to get real

On 5/24 I did 14.7 miles to Ghost Ranch. On 5/25 I did 7.2 miles to a cow pasture. On 5/26 I did 30.4 to a pine covered saddle. On 5/27 I did 28.8 to a Mesa. On 5/28 I did 26.7 to Chama, NM

Listen to "The Dog Days Are Over" by Florence + The Machines. It's a good song to move fast to and reminds me of changing seasons.

After leaving the Chama River I walked to Ghost Ranch for a resupply. Ghost Ranch is an outpost in Northern New Mexico where people can visit the ranch and do day hikes, ride horses and see chimney rock. It's also famous for being the summer house of Georgia O'Keeffe and while at Ghost Ranch you can see a lot of the landscapes that inspired her work.  At Ghost Ranch I picked up a resupply which included some of my snow gear including snowshoes, micro spikes, an ax and heavier clothing as the upcoming mountains between GR and the state whose name I won't mention were covered in snow. Unfortunately the first 35 miles out of GR were still in the desert and it felt silly to be fully loaded with snow gear while still walking through box canyons and sandstone monuments, but you never know what this trail is going to throw at you.

After leaving the last of the desert we climbed in elevation and bounced between 9 and 11 thousand feet and after the first day I was constantly on snow. I was walking through groves of aspen and depending on the elevation they had either just started to bloom or were still in their dormant winter stages. The snow pack was about 2 feet, and on the South faces it was melting quickly, so much so there were many streams not listed on the Topos and they were raging. A lot of the streams were also running under the snow making it slightly sketchy crossing all of the snow bridges. While walking this section I ran into several herds of elk, a few mule deer and even happened to walk up on a prong horn sheep (we were both equally surprised).

I left Ghost Ranch with a sizable crew. We all spent the night in the same cow field the first night out and got up together. The next day I had to dig a cat hole and the crew got in front of me. I started to catch up with them, and saw them cross a ridge-line only a quarter mile in front of me. When I crossed the ridge-line I saw no trace of them and pushed even harder to catch up. I crossed a road later in the day and some loggers told me the group was in front of me by an hour! I was surprised I had not caught them and pulled a 30 mile day trying to find them to no avail. The next day I got up at 4 in the morning to try and catch them before they broke camp, but again I never ran into them. At this time I had no idea if they were in front of or behind me. I spent the rest of this section by myself crossing the snowy mountains. At times it was eerie to be alone with nothing but the wind but it was also very peaceful in the snow, (except for the snow storm, that wasn't a tranquil experience). I wrote notes in the snow for the group incise they were behind me to let them know where I was, and figured I would see them in town if they were in front of me.

The group ended up catching up with me in Chama. I beat them by about a half a day. They also did not know if I was ahead or behind them and left notes for me with rocks. It wasn’t until they saw my notes and foot prints that they knew I was ahead but since I pulled such large miles looking for them they couldn't catch up. We still aren't sure how I got ahead of the group but I decided after this minor snafu I was going to get a satellite messager (I am literally the only one on trail without a Garmin inreach, who knew people cared about their safety so much).

After crossing many mountains and valleys I finally crossed into Colorado! It was an awesome feeling to be done with my first state and to enter the mountains that made me want to do this thru hike in the first place). With New Mexico complete I now need to focus on how I'm going to tackle the challenges ahead! 

Thunder Fluff. Samson-the-bear, Joe Dirt, Quetzal, Wazza

Don't tell me not to bring snow shoes through the desert. 

Wazza leaving Ghost Ranch

The Sage Brush was thick. There are actually 3 hikers in this picture (not kidding)

The guys trying to write me a note since they thought I was behind them (obviously I did not take this photo).

River was moving fast from all of the snow melt. At least there was a fallen log to cross.

Fred is pretty cold and tired of post holing

Feeling beat after being on snow and pushing large miles but the surroundings are beautiful.

Not a bad view going into Chama, NM

It's not supposed to rain in the desert

On 5/8 I did 22.3 miles to Snow Lake. On 5/9 I did 26.3 to a logging road. On 5/10 I did 23 miles to Hwy 12. On 5/11 I did 26.2 to Davilla Outpost. On 5/12 I did 13.8 to Pie Town. On 5/13 I did 20.1 and slept along Catron County Rd. On 5/14 I did 29.1 miles and slept on-top of the El Malpais Narrows. On 5/15 I did 30.7 miles to Zumi Canyon Road. On 5/16 I did 7.3 miles into Grant's, NM.

Listen to "1957" by Milo Greene. I listen to this song on almost all my road trips, and I feel like I'm on a road trip with all of this road walking.

After climbing out of the Gila, (and crossing it for a total of 265 times(that's not an exaggeration (are you allowed to put parenthesis inside parenthesis)?)). I jumped onto a jeep road near Snow Lake. Up to this point it wasn't uncommon to be on a jeep road for a few miles before getting back onto a trail. Little did I know that over the next 177 miles I would spend 146 miles on jeep trails and dirt roads and when I wasn't on a jeep trail I was in a lava field (actually the lava field was awesome but it's a better story if it sounds like it sucked). The dirt roads have their advantages since it's hard to get lost or turned around; on the straightaways you can see for miles and miles; and it's a good opportunity to catch up on all of my audio books. I also went over three 9,000 foot mountains on the roads which is good that I am getting a little bit of elevation in before I hit the next state whose name I won't mention.

Unfortunately, while I was hiking a freak storm system came in. Normally NM doesn't get any rain this time of year but for the past 6 days I have gotten rained on, hailed on and covered in snow. It's not like I've never been rained on before, but because it's so cold in the desert at night, all of the rain turns to ice, and coats my tent making it an ice cave. Not only does the rain freeze but all of the moisture in the air settles on my gear and once the temperature drops it also becomes a frozen brick. The first night it iced over on me, I had to pee on my tent poles just to break them apart in the morning. I'm spending about an hour each day crisping my gear out in the sun. While the rain and ice makes the morning a little hectic and unpleasant, it has also made the hike difficult because all of the dirt roads become extremely long mud pits. I think it would be easier to ski across the trail at this point rather than slog through miles and miles of mud that sticks to your shoes like concrete. 

So the trail hasn't really been in the wilderness and the weather is kind of sucking but the landscape and geological features have been amazing. Getting views of mesas has been awesome and travelling through a section called the Narrows and Malpais has been fascinating. Malpais is Spanish for badlands which is what the Spanish called the lava fields since they were unable to take their horses and wagons across the land and were forced to go around the massive flows. The Native Americans and now hikers use cairns to guide themselves across the indiscernible lava flows. The night before I crossed Malpais I climbed up a large Mesa called the narrows which overlooked the lava fields. It was nice to get off the road and sleep in the trees plus it made for an amazing sunset and sunrise. 

In this latest section of trail I have run into a lot of trail Angel's and hostels which I did not expect on the CDT. Along one of the road walks in the desert a guy built an outpost out of corrugated steel and setup a kitchen, shower and toilet, it was basic but everything a hiker could need. He stocked the kitchen with bacon, eggs and beans and hikers could fix themselves whatever they wanted over propane burners, and as an added bonus he also had a kegerator so.... it was a very welcome surprise and a cheerful night. I also stayed at a hiker/biker hostel in Pie town called Nita's Toaster House. Pie town is famous for... you guessed it... pie. It's also a stop for cyclist who ride the divide, which is the cycling equivalent of the CDT. Pie town has 3 different places to get pie. Coincidentally, it also only has three buildings in it. So if you don’t like pie there isn't going to be a lot for you in town, fortunately I love pie.

Group of hikers crisping out at the first available spot

Dry Gear = Happy Hiker

Thunder Fluff hiking on a jeep road

Fred hiking through a burn area

Just a keg in the desert and a happy bear 

Trail and Storm clouds heading into Pie Town

Entrance to the Toaster House

Hiker Trash in Pie Town

Overlooking Malpais

El Malpais Narrows viewed from the lava fields. (I slept ontop of the Mesa the night before).

Fred Checking out the lava fields, reminiscing of old times

The most holy shrines along my journey. A water wind mill

A view from the Road.

Buen Camino!

Wait, I thought you were hiking the CDT? Why is this post about Spain (Hint: Read my first Post).

Check out “Tanz Mit Uns” by My Dad vs. Yours . Its a great instrumental song perfect for hiking across countries and well the name of the band says it all.

I am not going to do an entire separate blog for the Camino de Santiago hike/journey/pilgrimage, but did want to do a recap. In the end we did 530km across Spain (I love using kilometers instead of miles because it makes it look like you covered so much more ground). We started in León, Spain and hiked apart of the French Way. The names of the trails can get a little confusing to people who are not familiar with the Camino de Santiago as there are dozens of trails that have different starting points and names. The Camino is a pilgrimage that ends in Santiago de Compostela and technically is supposed to start from your door step. There are a network of trails that radiate across Spain and Portugal that end in Santiago and are all part of the Camino. The start of these trails vary from official starts in Spain, Portugal & France but people have been known to hike all they way from Eastern Europe and beyond to Santiago.

We did not know how long it was going to take us to hike from León to Santiago. My dad has never done any sort of long distance hiking, is 72 years old and just had knee surgery 3 months before the start of the trail so we were super conservative when planning the trip. Turns out that was not a problem….We ended up actually getting to Santiago way ahead of our plans. I actually had to tell him several times a day to slow down, and had to check him occasionally to make sure he wasn’t wearing a runners bib. We had an extra week in Spain after getting to Santiago so we walked out to the coast to Finisterre and then to Muxía and then walked back to Santiago to make a 7 day “lollipop” trail.

The trail was an amazing experience mixed with ever changing landscapes, an extremely rich history of both the trail and the country and a cast of solid human beings we were fortunate to run into. We walked wine country, small villages, large cities, cow pastures, mountain towns and were able to touch the Atlantic from the “other side”. People have been walking to Santiago since the 11th century. While the destination of the early pilgrims is the same as today we are fortunate to have used a system of lodging and food they never had. We would stay every night in hostels specially designated for pilgrims called albergues. We had to carry a card that was stamped by each albergue so they could see you were a walking pilgrim and not someone trying to take advantage of cheap accommodations. The towns along the way would have special pilgrim menus which were low cost and high calorie and more importantly they would serve food at 7pm which is super early in Spain. When we would grab a bite to eat at 7, the restaurant would be empty except for other pilgrims and a lot of the time it was just my dad and I eating in the restaurant alone.

We met people from all different nationalities and if you were eating a group dinner there could be 4 languages flying across the table. I did my best to translate as much Spanish and German as I could and was proud that I can still tell bad jokes in those languages. Most of the time if I met someone on the trail I could speak a little of their language or they could speak a little English. Whether its an American hiking the PCT or a Hungarian hiking the Camino the topics of conversations between hikers are always the same: how many miles are you going to do today; when is this rain going to stop; how far to the next town; is it time for a beer?

Walking into town to find a beer

Climbing up the trail to cross into Galacia

Took a detour today to check out some additional small villages

I think we are on trail?

Stuck behind a parade of cattle on the trail

Light house at Finnisterre, km 0.00

CDT Q&A

I’m going to be trying something new out this time around and suggest a song at the beginning of my blog posts, that hopefully you will listen to while reading. I am not sure if I am better at telling jokes or suggesting music, so be warned and don’t judge too hard.

Check out “Things Happen” by the Dawes. This is probably one of the happiest/sad songs I know which is how I feel about closing out my time in DC and starting a new journey.

What is the Continental Divide Trail?

-Its kind of a trail, and its kind of an idea of a trail. The actual Continental Divide is 3,100 miles long and my goal is to try and stay as close to the physical continental divide as possible (kind of). It is a lot more loose than the AT where you are seen as a cheater if you don’t pass by every white blaze and the PCT where you mostly follow the same path unless there is a really cool feature off trail. The CDT technically has 3 starting spots, even though most people start at only one, and has 2 ending spots depending on whether you can actually get into Canada. Parts of the trail are going to be well marked especially in Colorado where it will follow parts of the Colorado Trail, but a lot of it is a choose your own adventure hike, which I am not used to. Its going to take some time to get use to the fact that I can do whatever I want. My only real goal is to connect my footsteps. I have no idea how many miles I will actually hike, some hikers can do it in as little as 2,400 miles if they follow the path of least resistance and some do it closer to 3,100 miles.

Why are you hiking another trail?

-Good question. I don’t know why. It just felt right. I hiked the AT and PCT back to back and didn’t have the same insightful experience on the PCT that I had on the AT since I had really not lived much of a life in-between the trails. With 3 years since my last thru-hike and a lot of life lived, I feel like I have a lot to reflect on and it was time to move on from DC and I should take advantage of a gap in my responsibilities.

I heard you are doing more than the CDT this year, what does your time off look like?

-I’m heading out to do a section of the Camino de Santiago with my dad for three weeks in Spain. I am then flying back to Cincy to pick up my gear and heading out to the CDT. If I happen to beat the snow I am going to knock out a section on the PCT in the High Sierras and check out all of the golden aspen, assuming I survive all of this, I am then going on a rock climbing trip to wind down my wanderlust. I blame Diana, who I have known since my days at the Mountaineering Club in Cincinnati, for this plan as most of it was orchestrated while drinking beers together.

So you left a dream job to be a homeless bum?

-Yeah, I never claimed to be smart. I worked at Port City for about 2.5 years and had so much fun with some of the most solid human beings I have ever met. We made world class beer because it was a world class team. It was a motley crew who were extremely dedicated to their craft and knew how to have a good time doing it. Leaving them and DC was not an easy decision. In the end I want to end up closer to the mountains which DC is not exactly near and live in a place where getting home in an hour isn’t considered quick. I did not realize how many friends I had in DC until I had to say goodbye to all of them. The city is full of solid people who I got to climb, hike, do yoga with and of course sip a few brews with, I am already looking forward to visiting with everyone when I finish.

You’re going to be a triple-crowner if you finish the CDT right?

-I guess, I kind of hate that word. I might be reading to much into it, but when I hear it or it is brought up it seems that people are suggesting that the title is the reason for the journey and I kind of despise that. To me, all it means is I don’t have a lot of responsibility, I don’t mind being dirty and I really like pooping outside.

How did you prepare for this trail?

-Well I ate a lot of chips and beer my last few months in DC to gain weight so that was really awesome. I lose a lot of weight when I hike and I actually got too in-shape before my departure so I tried to pack some pounds back on (I realize this sounds absurd). I did a lot more research for this trail than the other ones and I think it necessitates it. I don’t want to do so much research that nothing is a surprise and I know what to expect around every corner, but I also don’t want to get myself into situations that a little bit of planning could have kept me out of. I only read blogs of hikers that I have hiked with and want to give a shout out to Honey Buns, Knock and Cheesebeard who gave me a lot of solid advice about the trail.

What about the Grizzly bears?

-Wait, there are going to be Grizzlies on this trail? Hmmmm, this wasn’t thought out very well.