{"id":315,"date":"2016-05-23T22:58:25","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T22:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/?p=315"},"modified":"2017-05-22T14:06:06","modified_gmt":"2017-05-22T14:06:06","slug":"done-with-roadwalking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/2016\/05\/23\/done-with-roadwalking\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday, May 23 Done With Roadwalking!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"may-23-13\"SUMMARY:\u00a0 <\/strong>Back to walking the very rutted Road 293 this morning.\u00a0 Fixit said, “I had no idea the CDT involved so much roadwalking.\u00a0 Not good!”\u00a0 But by 11:00 am we had reached Los Indios Spring, where we got lots of great water, and after that we were back on TRAIL.\u00a0 The only problem was the scenery.\u00a0 It was pretty–meadows and pine trees–but all the same.\u00a0 I felt like I was caught in a “film loop”–the kind some churches use as background for the words of the songs.\u00a0 But finally at 4:30 pm, the trail plunged over the edge of the mesa and began a 2,000 foot descent to a dramatic vallley below with canyons, rocky outcrops, and more.\u00a0 Beautiful!<\/p>\n

DETAILS:\u00a0 <\/strong>We packed up quickly at first light, eager to be done with the very rough &\u00a0rutted Road 293, and even more eager to reach the famous Los Indios Spring, to replenish our water.\u00a0 The reason the road was so hard to walk on was obvious–somebody drove a truck on it when it was raining and the road (being New Mexico) was one big mudhole.\u00a0 Now the mud has dried hard as a rock, and it was so messed up that a lot of the time we walked the sides rather than the road itself.\u00a0\u00a0Fixit said, “I had no idea the CDT involved so much roadwalking. Not good!”<\/p>\n

The scenery was what I call “top of the mesa”–fairly flat prairie with a few trees.\u00a0 The only critters we saw were birds–crows and chickadees.\u00a0 Our breakfast stop was brief–brrrr, it was cold, and we were rationing our water.\u00a0 But by 11:00 am we had reached the turnoff to the spring.\u00a0 And look!\u00a0 SIGNS, telling where to go!\u00a0 The spring itself is down in a steep, rocky canyon, so we did our usual routine–Fixit emptied his pack, took all our water bottles and went\u00a0down\u00a0to\u00a0the water. \u00a0 When he got back, he said he had to fix the spring pipe a bit (he is not Fixit for nothing), but he had lots of water.\u00a0 We both immediately drank a whole liter of\u00a0\u00a0“bug juice” (Emergen-C plus electrolytes) made from COLD spring water.\u00a0 So good!<\/p>\n

On the way back to the CDT, we met some hikers headed for the Spring–HoB (stands for Hike or Bike),\u00a0Flying Squirrel, and Early Girl.\u00a0 We have not seen any other CDT hikers for so long that it was pretty exciting to see them.<\/p>\n

Since the Spring is at the end of the road, now we were off the ruts and back on TRAIL.\u00a0 But the scenery, though very pleasant, stayed the same.\u00a0 Basically you walk through a pretty,\u00a0\u00a0grassy meadow surrounded by pinon pines, then into the pines for a little bit, then back into another meadow.\u00a0 Over and over again.\u00a0 No views, just the constant repetition.\u00a0 I felt like I was caught in a “video loop” like some churches use when they are projecting songs\u00a0onto a big screen and want to have a pretty but unvarying background to the words.\u00a0\u00a0 The only thing that did change (which I enjoyed very much) was the light.\u00a0 Depending on the time of day,\u00a0it was\u00a0really varied.\u00a0 I hiked along looking at it and thinking about “how would I draw\/paint this?”<\/p>\n

Finally we started getting a few breaks in the trees, and could catch glimpses of a whole ‘nother world down below and around\u00a0the mesa we were on–a world of dramatic mountains and deep canyons.\u00a0 Then at 4:30 pm, we came to the EDGE.\u00a0 Literally.\u00a0 The trail plunged over the edge of a precipice and headed steeply down almost 2,000 feet to the valley far below.\u00a0 And what a valley!\u00a0 “Awesome” does not even begin to describe it.\u00a0 Immense rock formations were standing here and there, all colored by late afternoon light and some shadowed by clouds.\u00a0 It was classic New Mexico.\u00a0 Even Fixit was impressed.\u00a0 “Wow!” he said.\u00a0 “This sure looks ‘western’!”\u00a0\u00a0 We took our time heading down, partly to soak up the view and partly because the trail was so steep and rocky.\u00a0 Halfway down we stopped and ate dinner at a spot where we could see the whole valley.\u00a0 Wow.<\/p>\n

Once we were finally really down to the bottom, we found it was very windy, and finally at 7:00, when it was time to camp, we had to hunt around for some trees, in order to hunker down out of the wind.\u00a0 We found a good spot, but the cows liked it too, so we both had to spend some time clearing out a lot of old dry cow pies before setting up camp.\u00a0 Now we are very comfortable, and listening to the wind roaring in the branches.\u00a0 Tomorrow we get to walk across this awesome valley!<\/p>\n\n\t\t