The storm of the century fizzled out! And that is a big hallelujah and praise to God Almighty. There was a bit of rain last night and some off and on showers but nothing like this torrential downpour that was forecasted.

Fearless and I had a short day today. The plan is to hike into South Fork, dry out our gear and carryon. So no big rush this morning. We made coffee and actually drank it before we left. I relaxed in my tent and Jen swung from her hammock. The rain pidder pattered on my tent and I had a small amount of water that seeped in at the bottom of my tent. Poor construction on my part, but nothing a little terry cloth couldn’t absorb.

We packed up and prior to leaving Fearless mentioned a train trestle we could cross. That sounds a bit scary but let’s see what this is all about. The tracks have been our mode of trail since yesterday. A much better option than walking the highway. So we headed southerly and within a short distance, there it was. An old dilapidated trestle. Oh my! This is much more than I had signed up for.

Train Trestles are used to maneuver trains over rivers, marshes, uneven terrain by way of steel bridges. The issue is this train trestle is not maintained and has many soft and decaying pieces of wood that we are to skirt across. And it’s about 20-30’ above the Rio Grande River which is flowing pretty darn quickly. Hmm, now I get to decide should I go or should I turn around and walk back to Canada?

I, with a lot of trepidation took one foot forward and started walking across this steel bridge. It took nearly two minutes to get from one end to the other and as Jen said, she could hear my heart beating. That’s not a good thing! Somehow, someway, with God’s grace, I made it. Then Fearless, an appropriate name for her, followed afterwards.

That was our morning wake up call. After that, we were on solid ground and followed the train tracks all the way to South Fork. The rain sprinkled off and on, but no downpours and I think I deployed my umbrella for a mile or two. But most the day, we were dancing between the raindrops.

The closer we got to South Fork, the more homes we saw. But what we didn’t expect was a Rail Buggy. There were two of them, and they were attached to the rails as people peddled down the track. What a hoot! Once again, why didn’t we do this?

As we entered town, Lauren from South Fork stopped and asked us if we needed a ride. I had told Fearless that I wouldn’t hitch, but if someone offered a ride, I’d take it. We had less than a mile to the hotel so, sure we’d love a ride! And before we knew it, we were dropped off at our very nice hotel for the night, Wolf Creek Lodge.

Jen and I headed to the room, changed and went straight for the Redwood Hot Tub and Sauna. This is glamping, that’s all there is to it. But we earned it and Fearless definitely did her part. What a great reward for hiking in the rain, across train trestles and road walking. All in a days work! Maybe our little alternate wasn’t so bad after all.

Jen and I talked about how we got here today. Never in our wildest imagination did we plan to take this path. But God did. The importance of being able to accept His will and His ways is trust.

“God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.” Ephesians‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬