SUMMARY:  I was finally able to reach our daughter on our phone–not easy–the cell phone signal was very weak, even here in town.  She said she did not want a bunch of company, and that there were no plans for a funeral, because her husband was the kind of guy who hated being the “center of attention” and he would have been very unhappy about a funeral focused on him.  She just wanted to be with her kids.  “You guys keep on with your hike”, she said.  “I will be OK.”  So today after breakfast, Fixit lived up to his name by fixing the toilet in our room while I went and did the laundry in another country–well, that’s what it felt like.  Nobody at the laundromat was speaking English–it was all local tribal folks.  Then we headed back to the CDT, and it was UP into the mountains!  No more desert!  It was clear, crisp air, huge trees, wildflowers, creeks and snow!  Tonight we are camped at just over 10,000 feet, and it is COLD!

DETAILS:  The first thing that hit us this morning was “We’re HUNGRY!”  The Del Prado restaurant doesn’t open till 8:00, so we went across the street to McD’s and got something to start with.  Then I took the cell phone and tried to call our daughter Joy–at first I could not get a signal, but finally found that if I went outside I could get service.  Joy is doing as OK as can be expected under such grievous circumstances.  She was able to be with her husband when he died–it was very sudden and very fast–less than 5 minutes.  Apparently the cancer broke into a major blood vessel and before anything could be done, he was gone.  Joy says no funeral & fuss are planned–that Craig, her husband, hated to be the center of attention, ever, and the last thing he would want would be a funeral.  “So Mom, don’t drop your hike and come all the way out here,” she said.  “I’d rather just be with the kids and have things quiet.  I’ll be OK, don’t worry about us.”  I shed some tears after hanging up the phone.  This is really hard.

Fixit had eaten a big breakfast at McD’s, while I only had oatmeal, so at 8:00 I went and had some pancakes with the other hikers while Fixit lay down to rest.  We are both really tired, but I was worried about calorie deficit, so I figured those pancakes were important.  Then I collected all our very dirty laundry and walked off down the street….into another country.  Well, that’s what it felt like.  Everybody else at the laundromat was Native American, and were talking to each other in their own language.  When I tried to talk to them, it turned out few of them knew English!  Basically it was a lot of grandmas doing the laundry and minding the grandchildren.

Meanwhile Fixit was busy living up to his trail name.  He decided to fix the toilet in our motel room, but to do that he needed to walk a ways down the street to a hardware store.  Since his “do the laundry” clothes are pretty skimpy, he went to the hiker box at the motel and score!   A pair of pants that fit!  Off he went, and by the time I got back, everything was fixed, to the great delight of Mrs. Yang, who owns the motel.  Fixit said she had about the biggest smile he’d ever seen when he showed her what he’d done!   By the time I got back from doing laundry, we technically had only 15 minutes before we had to check out, but Mrs. Yang said not to worry.   By 11:30, we had shouldered our packs and headed out. Dark clouds were gathered overhead, and it was a little bit chilly.

As we headed out of town, we first stopped at the grocery store, which had a nice big sign saying “Welcome, CDT Hikers!”   Since we hadn’t sent a resupply box to Cuba, I bought enough food for 3 1/2 days, enough to get us to Ghost Ranch.  As I was standing in the checkout, it started to RAIN.  Oh great!  The checkout lady commented, “Oh yeah…around here it’ll rain for 10 minutes and then the sun comes out.  Don’t worry.”  I carried all the food outside and we loaded our packs while scrunched up under the overhang.  On went the raingear, and we headed to McD’s for lunch.  Sure enough, while we were in McD’s, the rain stopped, and it was just cloudy.

A walk along the highway took us to Los Pinos Road, which headed up into the mountains.  From this point on, we will be seriously headed UP into the mountains of Colorado.  But then we came to a very confusing intersection, a sort of Y in the road, and we could not figure out which way to go.  We were just getting out Guthook, when along came Flying Squirrel and Early Bird, so all together, we puzzled over maps and Guthook, till we decided where to go, and whew, it turned out to be correct!

For some time after that, as the road climbed higher and higher, we had the fun of walking with the two girls.  Fixit and Early Bird charged on ahead (Fixit is feeling good now; no more slow and tired) while I did my best to keep up, walking with Squirrel.  She told me about her adventures (mostly in New England) in trail crewing, wilderness adventure programs, etc.  What a great life she has had, and really trying to make the world a better place!

The road climbed steadily, and left the desert behind!  We were back into tall green forests, with creeks and grass and wildflowers and crisp, clean mountain air.  We felt like we were home again, in the Sierras!  Finally we reached the end of the road–Fixit and I stopped for a Snickers break, while the 2 girls headed on up the mountain and were soon out of sight.  We followed them shortly after, and found that the trail basically follows a creek, up a mountain canyon.  No more worries about water!  When we finally stopped to eat some supper, The Beast caught up with us.  (Note: he’s actually very nice, not beastly at all!).  We all agreed that we plan to camp up at the top, where there is some flat ground.

Soon we were encountering some snow, but it was not a problem other than the snowmelt running down the trail.  The only problem really was fallen trees–quite a few to climb over.

At the top, wow!   We were at over 10,000 elevation, and it looked like a golf course!  Seriously!  There were large green meadows, with groupings of trees and patches of snow.  It was still cloudy, bitter cold and windy, so we hunted about for not just a flat spot to camp, but a protected spot.  The Beast was camped nearby–we could not see him, but he later told us that he could hear us calling to each other as we split up to hunt for a campsite.  We set up our tent and bundled up for what we expect will be a very cold night–but it is SO GOOD to be back in the mountains and out of the desert!