It was another cold lazy morning, meaning we didn’t emerge until there was sunlight light on our tents. I guess we’ve been lucky because some parts of this deep canyon don’t get sun until late in the morning. Our first mile and a half went straight up and out of the canyon and my legs wanted to have at it, so I let them fly and we topped out the 1,000′ climb at a steady 3mph pace. I was feeling strong and fabulous The rest of the miles back to the car were mellow, and of course they seemed longer than we wanted them to be. After a quick lunch break where I enjoyed another of my tuna pack ..read more

From the tent I yell: “What if we just hike to the river?” I could hear Allgood’s mind working from his tent 20 yards away. We had been discussing loops and river sections all to add up to 15ish miles of hiking tomorrow. Why 15? Well, cause we said that’s what we would hike out here. The reality? We could do what we want. The map showed so many trails and so many options for a four-day hike that it was almost overwhelming. From the spot we camped last night we probably had 10 options for routes to hike back to the car in another two days. I was thinking about Allgood’s fishing rod in the s ..read more

The rushing water played DJ for sunrise, and that first long ray of sun was an event. I had been up before sunrise, both Allgood and I went about our mornings from the warm cocoons of our tents. It was too frosty out to fully emerge; we would start hiking in the sun. It was also safer. We probably crossed the river 30 times yesterday afternoon, and would at least 60 more times today. That water was recently snow, and with the deep cold shade of the canyon, hypothermia wasn’t off the table without the sun. I would have been in trouble later on when I slipped and went into the river face fi ..read more

I had a plan. All this driving would be worth it. The Continental Divide Trail Coalition holds their kickoff weekend in Silver City, New Mexico every year, and 2024 marked their 10 year anniversary as a trail gateway community. That means: PARTY! You may remember I’ve attended the CDT Kickoff before…I believe this is my fourth, and since I was in the neighborhood for the eclipse, I decided to add it to my spring adventure list. I had a few days of unscheduled time (swoon) before the festivities would begin, and I wanted to hike. Just north of Silver City, the CDT splits into the Black Rang ..read more

2,500 miles later, I was ready to walk. Sitting in the car for that long brings its own aches and pains, and I was ready for an ache of a different kind. The ache that comes from climbing, sun, or big miles. Well, it won’t be miles on this trip… it’s hard to get in miles within this National Park, mainly because there is no water. My friend Cindy and I had planned this trip to follow an eclipse chasing mission, and had successfully crossed the state of Texas once to catch a break in the clouds for totality on April 8 near Dallas, and crossed it again to visit the far reaches of this park. B ..read more

Rain for that last few hours of my tent time. Rain means it’s warmer at least… Things get wet, mainly because I’m careless and it doesn’t matter. I’ll be warm and dry tonight, soaking in a hot tub and eating pizza. Yes, I do have a post hike routine, and it most definitely involves a pepperoni and mushroom pizza. It’s hard to hike the last day and not be completely consumed with thoughts of not walking. I could have walked more miles yesterday to give me a short day to the car, but with my goal to head to Cold Springs Winery, which opens at noon, I wanted to give myself something to do this ..read more

Things got icy overnight. I could tell because I wasn’t sleeping. My fault… I woke up having to pee, as usually happens at least once a night out here, and I blearily look at my phone and see it’s 3 something. I get back in the tent, cocoon myself up once again, and don’t get back to sleep. I decided I might as well get up and have some coffee and start writing. These days my writing and coffee process can take upwards of three hours. I’ll write, lay back down for a while, have another cup of coffee, nap, write, eat some oatmeal, etc. It’s a really luxurious and drawn-out process at 4am in m ..read more

I woke up to more snow and partially frozen water bottles and thought of my down booties, at home. Ok, maybe I would have swapped out some layers if given a chance. I didn’t want to move until the sun was actually out, and it was for a few minutes. I could feel that today might actually warm up some, the the clouds seemed much more benign. I walk a quick five miles to Clover Creek and a reliable water source. I move quickly though and my excitement at a natural water source dimmed when i saw the 200 cows wading in the creek. I should have gotten water upstream. Up into the wind for lunch ..read more

Oh hello again, wind. There were no windblocks up on the rim. The wind started and stopped throughout the night, and about 2am came back with a vengeance. Today was to be a purely road day, but it wouldn’t be an easy one on the feet. The mud had hardened part way – then cattle, elk, mule deer, and pronghorn walked through the clay-like mud, churned it up into a jumbled mess right before it solidified into hard ridges. Did I tell you I saw a herd of elk yesterday? They were majestic! And large herds of pronghorn too. This morning, a group ran around and around in the hills off to the right ..read more

Rain? Snow? Something fell from the sky in the middle of the night, but the pattering on the tent didn’t last long. I slept long and deep, and in the morning when the light started illuminating the rimrock across the way, I knew the forecasted storm day could as easily be a non-storm day, or one of many types of days. The weather out in the desert does its own thing, but at least dramatic skies were a guarantee. The trail entered the Wilderness and wasn’t a trail so much as a haphazard user trail with old footprints. At the footings for a once-there footbridge, I turned my sights up: it wa ..read more