The gang all slept in. Accept for Nutella and Bat6. They were up early preparing breakfast for ten thru-hikers. Nutella and Bat6 started Sobo and flipped at the border. Then Bat6 pulled a tendon and was done hiking. Rather than leaving the trail, they became Trail Angels. Heading Northbound, they rented a 4WD Jeep and started driving the backroads looking for thru-hikers. We were fortunate to be in the right place, at the right time and see this lovely couple again.
Breakfast Burritos with fruit, coffee and juice was on the menu. The fire was blazing as it was pretty dang cold in the morning. But on the bright side, we have not had any rain since we left Grants. Praise the Lord! Everyone was huddled around the fire, eating and filling up with needed calories. We finished every last burrito and even took fruit juices for the trail. Thank you Bat6 and Nutella! What a great and rememberable time we had at Davila Ranch.
Jen and I hit the trail just before 11am. One of our later starts but it was well worth it. We all bided farewell with hopes of seeing each other down trail. The past few days have been mostly forest service roads. But not asphalt. Just nicely graded with trees and duff. We were able to do close to 3mph, which helped, with our late start.
Around noon, we stopped for lunch. Yes, we do eat a lot. Talking with the other hikers, they are putting down 4000-5000 calories a day. I’m not sure what in the world they are carrying in their packs that equates to that many calories? A stash of honey buns, a stick of butter with a tons of nuts and cheese. That’s all I can imagine. I’m probably closer to 2500-3000 calories, if even that.
As we were sitting having lunch, Bumble Berry passed us. She asked if we knew we were sitting next to a cow? What? Sure enough, about 50’ from us was a black cow sunny herself. She was laying down behind some trees and I never saw her. But what we did see was a doe being chased by a buck. It is the rut so he was frisky and she was having nothing to do with his antics. It was a game of cat and mouse and I think the mouse won.
Our climb was Chavez Peak which was a nice gradual uphill. It was over four miles and topped out at 9500’. I believe this is the last time we will be close to 10,000’ the rest of the trail. I’m fine with that. All downhill to the monument from here out. Dreamer!
It was a leisurely hike today but my feet are so terribly sore. A couple of months ago for my birthday, Hogged Up and Fearless gave me a patch that reads “Everything Hurts Hiking Club.” All three of us have this patch but today, I was totally embracing it. Or maybe I’m just feeling it more!
We ended up stopping at the Valley Tio Campground and decided, we are done for the day. It was just past five, and both Jen and I were spent. With the night last night, the late start this morning, the lack of quality sleep, I think we just needed to get back to our usual schedule. We found a nice picnic table and some flat spots to pitch out tents.
We searched the campground and found no water spigots, no running water, no stream or spring. Our neighbors had a pretty big RV and we figured that they had water. End up that they had been supplying hikers with water all week and were running short. But the did have a cooler of melted ice water. That’ll work! So we filled up our bottles, chatted for awhile and returned to our site for dinner. It was a day but we are on target to get to water in seventeen miles. Standby feet, you will be working tomorrow.
“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”
Romans 5:3-5 NLT
