Having a Silly Day on Trail

This morning we woke up fairly early. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t windy out anymore. Instead, the weather was basically perfect. We packed up camp and then got moving for the day. It was another long day of exposed hiking through the desert. With almost no climbing in sight.

Early on in the morning, we passed the 69 mile remaining marker. I love that someone took the time to make a 69 mile marker. It’s also so hard to believe how few miles are remaining of the CDT. These four months have simultaneous been some of the longest of my life, and also went by so quickly.

Passing the SOBO 69 mile marker!

Around the same time we were walking through a wide open field with very few markers. We got off track a couple of times, but it wasn’t too hard to get back on. There were some CDT markers and posts in the distance, but not as many as there had been before. Some sections of the CDT are just better marked than others.

The wide open trail with Sparkle and James up ahead.

We walked for a few hours in the morning and then took our first break at the next available water source. The area surrounding the water tank was incredibly muddy and nasty. It was inside of some kind of a cow enclosure as well. There was only one cow there who seemed to be injured. Sparkle was having a hard time listening to the cow moo and felt really bad for him. He was walking a little funny for sure.

Even though this place was pretty gross we hung out there for a while and took a break. While we were there, another hiker named Cookie walked past us. He didn’t need water so he just kept going to the next source. We knew that there was another source in about seven or so miles where we planned to take our next break.

An animal skull on a trail post, with James in the background.

We had to climb over some barbed wire not long after leaving this water source. There was no other way around that we could see. But it was really hard to climb up and over because of the give in the barbed wire. If James hadn’t been there, who’s so incredibly tall, I probably would’ve had to crawl under. But he was easily able to climb over and then give us a hand from the other side.

Sparkle climbing up over some barbed wire.

We continued walking for another couple of hours until we came to that next water source. Which was a metal bar box type locker that had jugs of water in it. Tim, who does the CDT shuttle from the border, also fills these water caches. Which is incredibly essential for hikers. Cookie was there when we got there and we joined him.

It’s so weird finishing the CDT wearing altras, when I’ve been wearing topos for the whole triple crown. But they were my only option.

Everybody filled up on water while we sat there. All of us were feeling super silly and giddy for some reason. So we just kept laughing and being ridiculous. Then I got the genius idea to lay all my gear out to dry. The condensation was pretty bad last night, so my tent was wet and my sleeping bag was a little damp too. I decided that this was the perfect moment to take every single thing I owned out of my backpack and lay it on the ground. Then of course, James and Sparkle had to do the same. I think Cookie must’ve thought that we were crazy while we were all saying weird stuff and cackling, laughing. Meanwhile, we were taking all of our stuff out of our bags.

Everything dried out super fast and I was so glad that I did that. Then I got my backpack packed and sat to eat some snack before we head on. Sparkle had the hardest time re-packing her back and it was absolutely hilarious. I could just not stop laughing. This went on for basically the whole rest of the day. We were just being ridiculous and laughing like giddy children all day.

When we left that break spot we still had a ways to go for the day, but everyone was feeling pretty good. We treated that as our lunch break and then continued on for the rest of the day. One thing that was keeping us motivated all day long was the possibility of being able to hitch a ride into the town of Hachita this evening. When we woke up this morning, I didn’t realize that we were going to be hitting that today.

Sparkle and James up ahead of me.

Hachita is the last possible town or resupply on the trail. It’s not really a town, it’s really just a store. But we were hopeful that we could stop there to get something to celebrate at the border. My triple crown is coming to an end and of course I didn’t plan anything for celebration.

We were walking as the sun set fairly early. Then we still had another hour or so to go to get to the road where you could hitch into Hachita. I was not thinking that we were going to get in though. Hitchhiking in the dark is so difficult. Especially how close we are to the Mexican border. I’m sure that that wouldn’t help us. I also just can’t imagine that these roads get a lot of traffic. The border is only open during certain hours of the day, so it’s not like anyone is even going to be driving by from down there.

A pokey plant cut Sparkle!

It was around 7 or 7:30pm when we finally got to the road. We sat there for a little while and waited to see if cars went by. One of us had service so wr even tried calling the store. But the girl said she was the only person working so she couldn’t drive down to pick us up. There’s comments on the FarOut that say that they will sometimes come and pick you up from the road. But in this instance, they weren’t able to do that. We were there for a while and then decided to just keep moving. That was a little disappointing for sure.

Right as the sun began to set in the desert.

Fortunately, we have an opportunity tomorrow to potentially hitch into Hachita from a different road. So the game isn’t completely over. We will just have to see what happens. Once we gave up on getting a ride into town, we walked a little ways further to get to the next water cache. There was another locker with water jugs stored within it. And we decided to set up our tent nearby. There was a fence line and some trees with some good wind protection. Plus, it’s always nice to sleep by water and have the option to fill up once more in the morning if we want to.

At one point the sunset got so nice and pink.

The absolute best time of day! Just before we got to the road.

This is got to be nicest and most flat camp site that we stopped at in a long time. I had the easiest time pitching my tent and then got in for the night. I made some yummy dinner and then did my nightly routine before heading to bed. We could still practically hear the road from where we were, which was a little disappointing. I wish it would’ve worked out to go into town tonight to get some goodies. We’re still spoiled rotten these days.