Total Mileage: 206.5
It took me 5,400 miles but I finally hit the ” Hiker wall.” I think carrying the 35 mpd through Colorado and the San Juans did it. Also, what comes from over 5000 miles of hiking. The cortisone shots I had injected into each knee have worn off so I’m feeling both torn menisci. I’ve lost both pinky toe nails, stubbed another toe last week, so I’ll lose that nail soon enough. An in-grown toenail in my left big toe too deep to dig out. Arthritis in my other toe, which reminds me every day like clockwork when I hit 30 miles. Burning in my left hip, pain in my right shoulder and 25 pounds lost. I’m so thin I’d make a Victoria Secret model jealous. My legs, darker than a pocket, my ass, whiter than a ghost. I’ve eaten enough Ramen noodles to go to the moon and back 14 times and enough peanut butter to cover the Great Wall of China. It’s been a month since I’ve done proper laundry, instead rinsing and cleaning my clothes in the few showers I’ve been able to take. I’ve only slept 17 nights in a bed since the start. When I arrived in Chama, NM after only 20.7 miles for the day I was knackered. Grabbed a room above a dive bar, picked up my resupply box and died.
I woke up at some point and received a text from “Styx” who had only a few days to finish her CDT and get the triple crown! She was heading north from Grants, NM to Chama (a section she had to skip earlier due to fire closures) and seeing her would be the morale boost I needed. A storm was coming in that would be unavoidable, I just hoped when I ran into her it wouldn’t be downpouring. After the local greasy spoon forgot my pancake, I got a late start back to the trail, and by 9 pm heavy rain started. My tent leaked a bit through the night, and it was cold, so not too much sleep. Maybe 4 hours instead of my normal 5. It took me a while to get going. By 10 am there was heavy rain, wind, and cold. It was too much to push through. My hands were frozen, I was completely drenched, and the wind was blowing the rain right into my face. I peeled off the trail and decided to wait it out. After an hour or so I got back to the trail and it came down even harder. I went back in the woods for the next 5 hours. It was at this time that Styx probably passed me. When you have only a couple of days to finish a long trail nothing will stop you, and nothing did. Styx completed the CDT and her Triple Crown on 9/23. Congratulations 🎉
The next day, pissed about 15.5 miles the previous day and missing Styx, I arrived at a couple’s camp site just before noon. Kevin and Bev, sweet people! While I dried my stuff in the sun, Bev made me an Elk burger and Kevin gave me chocolate. Leaving there I was back on track, knocking out mid to high 30’s for the remainder of the week, until reaching Cuba, NM. Getting a motel room, eating more convenient store junk food and getting out of town the next morning. Tarantula mating season is in full effect now. Cowboy camping will be on hold for now.
