Lordsburg to Silver City.

Days 4 to 7.

Miles 85 to 161.

After Lordsburg, the Continental Divide Trail gradually climbs up and out of the desert of the Bootheel and into the Burro Mountains. The vegetation transitions from cacti and shrubs to juniper and pines. The section ends with a 14-mile paved road walk into Silver City, a CDT “Gateway Community” and the host of CDT Days – a multi-day annual trail festival.

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Day 4

First thing this morning, I walked 6 miles from my campsite into Lordsburg. I grabbed breakfast, complete with hot coffee, at McDonald’s. There, I ran into 5 other thru-hikers whom I hadn’t met yet. They all started on Thursday and Friday of last week.

While I was at McDonald’s, I charged my power bank. For some reason, the only outlet in the McDonald’s dining area was on the ceiling. No matter, I stood up on the bench on my tiptoes and plugged in my bank.

Next stop was the grocery store. I walked into town with a lot of food left in my bag – about half of what I started with. I packed an end-of-thru-hike amount of food, but I only have beginning-of-thru-hike hunger. I purchased just a few additional items to top off my food bag, along with a sports drink and some fruit.

My final stop in Lordsburg was the library. There, I got on the WiFi to upload my first blog post. I also filled up my water.

And boy oh boy did I fill up my water. 6.5 liters to be exact. That’s because the trail leaving Lordsburg is a long, gradual climb with very little shade and no reliable water sources for a long way.

The first possible water source is a cattle water trough 15 miles away. But I didn’t want to rely on this trough, as there’d been recent reports of it drying out some days. Just in case, I packed enough water to get me to the next reliable source – 28 miles away!

The CDT leaving Lordsburg isn’t exactly a scenic hiking trail. If I were to write step-by-step directions for leaving Lordsburg traveling northbound they’d go something like this:

1. Walk 2.2 miles on the shoulder of highway.
2. Turn right. Continue 0.3 miles on another highway.
3. Duck under barbed wire fence to the right of the highway.
4. Continue for 10 miles across the baren desert toward the distant mountains (there may or may not be a trail).

The hike on the highways and across the desert was hot. The high temperature was in the mid 80s today. I made use of my sun umbrella and took plenty of breaks. It was definitely a unique experience. How often does one get to walk through a flat, barren landscape for hours carrying 14 pounds of water?  And without another soul around.

Eventually, I got onto a dirt road and ascended into the hills. As I walked up the road, I came up behind a bull walking in the same direction as me. As he walked, he mooed continuously for no apparent reason. Was he happy? Frustrated? Lonely? Just bored?  I cut through the brush on the side of the road to pass him, giving him a wide berth.

Shortly after, I saw a wooden windmill tower in the distance sticking up above some trees. This marked the 15-mile water source. I approached the windmill and the trough came into sight. After shooing off a few cows, I peered into the trough, eager to see what was inside.

Excitingly, under a layer of dead floating bugs, there was clear water! I topped off a bottle, walked a short distance away, and sat on a rock to treat my water. In the distance, someone yelled “Yee-Hoo!”. I guess another hiker was approaching and was excited to see the windmill. I hollered “Yee-Hoo” in reply to the unseen hiker.

I treat my water with AquaMira – a 2-part chemical treatment. To use Aquamira, one measures and mixes the two chemical parts in a little cup, then waits 5 minutes for the chemicals to react before adding them to the water.

I mixed my two parts in the cup and started my 5-minute timer. Then I heard “Yee-Hoo!” again. I peered down the road. But instead of a hiker, I saw the bull I’d passed earlier walking towards me. This is how I learned that cattle make noises other than “Moo”. And I’d venture to guess that “Yee-Hoo” in cattle means “get lost human, that’s my water source!”

Hurriedly, I grabbed up all my things in my arms and power-walked away from the bull, carefully holding up my little cup of AquaMira so it wouldn’t spill. For a few minutes, we stayed locked in this low-speed pursuit.

But before long, the bull turned away from me and towards the water. Phew! I was about to sit down on the side of the trail to finish treating my water, when I heard “rattle rattle rattle”.

Right where I’d planned to sit, there was a huge rattlesnake. I just couldn’t catch a break today!

I jumped back and then walked a safe distance away. Plopping down in the middle of the trail, I finally added my AquaMira to my water – and on time! In less than 5 minutes I’d been chased off by two different animals. The message was clear. Time to get out of this place.

I walked another couple of miles in the late afternoon. It was very pretty up high and I enjoyed walking a lot more now that it wasn’t so hot. I found my prettiest campsite of the CDT so far. It was on top of a little hill a short distance off the trail, overlooking Lordsburg. I’m looking at the same town lights as last night, but from a different and faraway hill.

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Day 5

I started hiking around 8 am today – my latest start yet, not counting day one. To start my day, I continued climbing up into the mountains. Specifically, the Burro Mountains.

As I climbed, the vegetation gradually shifted from mesquite and cacti to junipers and pinyon pines. By the top of my climb, I started seeing ponderosa pines. I almost feel as if I’m back in Colorado!

I took several breaks throughout the day to rest during the long climb. I also bumped into a handful of other thru-hikers whom I hadn’t met yet. I’m seeing a lot of thru-hikers because lots of people are speeding up or slowing down to reach Silver City just in time for trail days. It is a multi-day celebration of the Continental Divide Trail with talks, vendors, and parties.

Today was pretty uneventful, and I ended earlier than usual. Instead of hiking until sunset, I turned off the CDT in the late afternoon and took a side trail down to Burro Mountain Homestead.

Burro Mountain Homestead is an RV Park. They offer free camping and showers to CDT hikers. They also have a coin laundry and snacks for sale. It was my first shower and laundry of my trip and a nice break. I’ve had quite a few long days of hiking right at the beginning of my thru-hike. Though I’m feeling pretty good overall, I’m sure my body appreciates the rest. If you can call hiking 22 miles rest. Though it is my shortest day yet.

I socialized with the other two thru-hikers staying at the RV Park: Ultra and Oliver. I met them both for the first time today.

After chatting and accomplishing all my chores, I felt too lazy to pitch my tarp. Perhaps I should feel odd about cowboy camping in the middle of an RV Park. But I’d bet I’m not the first to do it and won’t be the last either. I just hope the RV park’s overly curious resident deer keep their distance while I’m sleeping.

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Day 6

Today, I awoke at the RV Park, packed up, and started up the dirt road to get back to the CDT. It’s funny how the trail wasn’t steep on the way down, but is now very steep on the way up. Perhaps it is because my pack is loaded up with several liters of water.

The hiking today was mostly through juniper and pinion pine forests. I recently learned that this specific juniper species is called alligator juniper. That’s because its bark looks like alligator skin. However, the junipers and other trees don’t look very healthy. Many are dead or dying, and most have a lot of blue-green lichens growing on them.

I saw my first natural (non-man-made) water source of the trail today. It was a tiny dribble of water on some rocks that could barely be called a spring. I skipped filling up there, since I’d grabbed enough water from the RV Park to make it 20 miles to a cow trough.

I reached the cow trough quite early in the day, and arrived at my planned campsite early as well. Sadly, it turned out to be a pretty poor campsite. It was a dirt parking lot on a dirt road, right before a gate. Unfortunately, everything beyond the gate was private land which I can’t/shouldn’t camp on. Furthermore, shortly past the gate, the CDT joins a paved highway. The CDT is on the highway for about 14 miles all the way into Silver City.

I decided that I wasn’t comfortable starting the road walk so late in the day. I didn’t want to be stuck walking the road in the dark or looking for sketchy illegal camping on private land beside the paved road. So I plopped down in the bushes next to the parking lot, feeling antsy.

As I sat, an SUV with a camping trailer pulled into the lot. A man got out and started setting up chairs, a table, and a cooler. I watched the man from where I sat in the bushes, eating my cold couscous dinner. Could this man be setting up trail magic? Or was he just someone out camping? Eventually, I decided to go over and introduce myself either way.

It turned out that the man, named Ron, was a double triple crowner. If that weren’t enough he also hiked pretty much every other thru-hike in the US including the Hayduke, a desert and canyon trail through Arizona and Utah that I’ve recently become fascinated by after doing a very small part of it last October. Furthermore, Ron traveled through Asia, Russia, and the Middle East, and even saw the inside of Magic Johnson’s house by posing as an electrician’s assistant. Ron was out here to do some trail magic. He offered me soda and a smorgasbord of sweet and salty snacks.

I sat and chatted with Ron as it grew dark, enjoying Ron’s stories about the CDT from 20 years ago. Two other thru-hikers stopped by the trail magic during this time, neither of whom I’d met previously.

Eventually, it got dark and I headed off to bed. Tomorrow, I’ll wake early and tackle the long road walk into Silver City.

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Day 7

For the first time, I was cold overnight. The chilly early morning temperatures made it challenging to get out of my quilt. Consequently, I didn’t get quite as early of a start as I’d planned for my long road walk.

As the sun rose, I turned onto the paved road and began walking on the shoulder. This would be my life for the next 4 hours.

The road walk was long and not terribly scenic, but in a way I enjoyed it. I considered hitching this part of the trail, but ultimately decided to walk it. Oddly, I think this is part of the experience that I want from the CDT, though I’m not really sure why. I stayed entertained by talking on the phone and counting down the miles to Silver City using the highway signage.

Around 11 am, I caught my first glimpse of Silver City. I turned off the highway and walked down into town. First stop? Coffee. I ran out of Mio energy two days ago and have desperately missed my daily caffeine fix.

After that, I swung by the grocery store to grab some food for lunch and for my next stretch of trail. My next resupply stop will be Doc Campbell’s Post on the Gila River Alternate route. It will only take a couple of days to get there, so I only need to grab a few things.

Next, I walked over to the free camping for the Trail Days festival. The free camping area was excellent. It was located in a fenced-in garden area. There was also a solar shower, toilets, charging, a kitchen, and a hiker box! Everything a thru-hiker could need.

In the evening, there was a meet-up and taco dinner at a local brewery for Trail Days. After that, I headed back to my tarp in the free camping area. Tomorrow, I’ll attend a few more Trail Days events.

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