Day 49: A boring day on the trail... why are you reading this?!

June 8: I woke up but lingered in camp late. Since deciding that I didn't want to get into Chama until Friday, I could take slow, easy days--and so I didn't leave camp until a relatively late 7:30 in the morning.

 

The day's hike was generally uneventful. The hazy and smoky horizons persisted, but they seemed to be below the elevation where I hiked so I didn't have to inhale the foul air. I passed one person on a mountain bike all day, so it was a bit lonely of a hiking day as well.

The trail did a little bit of up, and a little bit of down, but nothing particularly noteworthy.

I wound up pushing nearly 20 miles for the day. Even though I wasn't in any particular rush and took my time, there was a long stretch between water sources which meant I could either do a very short day or a 20-mile day, so I chose the 20-mile day. I filled up with water at the Hopewell Lake campground, at which point I could stop for the day. I chose not to stop at the campground since I assumed it required a payment and I preferred camping for free in the wild anyhow. Not to mention that it would be quieter camping by myself than in a busy campground. 

So after filling up with water and using the pit toilets, I pressed on another half-mile or so. I had wanted to throw out my trash at the campground as well, but the trash cans were locked up with a note saying to throw your trash in the dumpster, but I didn't see one anywhere. I suspect that the people who service the campgrounds were short-staffed and didn't want to empty the individual trashcans each day, but who knows for sure? In any case, I continued carrying my trash. For now, at least.

Elk on the trail!

Despite starting so late in the morning and hiking 20 miles, I still finished the day two full hours before sunset which gave me plenty of time to sew up the hole that had formed in the crotch of my pants. I'm not sure when or where the hole formed, but at some point I had noticed the quarter-sized hole, but I figured it could wait until I reached camp.

Shortly before sunset, a few mosquitoes came out to pester me. They weren't bad, but the fact that any mosquitoes were around at all was a new development. I had assumed that I'd start seeing them in Colorado, and there would be some days that would be absolutely horrible. This was just a small reminder of the challenges still ahead on the trail.....

And that was that. The end of a completely uneventful, boring day. Why are you still reading this post? I told you right in the title that it was a boring day on the trail! You have no one but yourself to blame for this waste of time. *nodding* =)

Lizard!

I took a short break in this shade tree.

One of these "flowers" is not like the rest.... But in all seriousness, I have no idea why there would be a golf ball out here. I certainly wasn't near any golf courses today!

Go, CDT!

Trash cans at the Hopewell Lake Campground were closed off. =(

Day 31: Pine!

The Arizona Trail followed this dirt road along
these powerlines for several miles.

May 13: During the night, the wind picked up into a ferocious tempo which was more of a nuisance than anything, but it did cause a killer wind chill for any of my body parts left outside of my sleeping bag! By morning, the wind had fallen to a slight breeze again.

I had a relatively quick 10-mile hike into Pine. Along the way, I ran into an older gentleman carrying what looked like an antique gun. He had a dog with him too, and we stopped to chat a bit before I remembered about my strange animal the day before.

"Hey, you're local!" I said. "Maybe you know what I saw!"

So I started to describe it. "At first I thought it looked liked a baby bear..."

He stopped me to focus on the size of the animal and after that was cleared up, I continued, "But then I saw it had a face like a raccoon--"

"A coatimundi! You saw a coatimundi! It had a really long tail, right?"

"Yes! Yes it did!" Awesome! And a little anti-climatic, too. I still didn't know what it was because I don't think the word coatimundi never crossed my ears before.

"I need to write that down--I'll never remember that name."

I pulled out my journal and he told me, "Don't ask me how to spell it because I don't know." I wrote in my journal how he seemed to say the word: cudamunde.

He went on to say that he likes to take his dogs for a walk through the woods most days, and in all his years of hiking, he's only seen coatimundis four times. They're probably as rare as the elusive gila monster if not more so. I, for one, have met quite a number of people who've reported spotting a gila monster on the trail. Not one person has told me they saw a coatimundi--not until I met this fellow and asked about it.

We finally parted ways and I continued onwards to Pine.

The trail crossed Highway 87 a couple of miles south of Pine, but I pushed on another half a mile or so to an official trailhead where I could walk at least part of the way into Pine on a road less busy than Highway 87.

My first stop was THAT Brewery. I happened to know that THAT Brewery also had cabins behind the restaurant that were available for renting overnight and even provided thru-hiker a special deal on them. I just hoped they weren't already full up! They weren't, though, and I had a room for the night.

I didn't stay there long, though. I had more chores to do.

I walked further into town to the post office--I had a couple of mail drops to pick up including my laptop and maps for the next 200 miles of trail. Then I stopped at the laundromat and cleaned my thoroughly stinky clothes. I didn't bother to dry them again--they'd air dry quick enough. Then I stopped at the small general store and acquired food for the next stretch of trail that would take me all the way to Flagstaff.

And only then did I head back to my cabin for the rest of the day, which I mostly spent online catching up with email and checking up on my websites. I did a bit of Google sleuthing on "cudamende" and learned that no such animal existed, but that there was a coatimundi (or a kudamendi depending on which website I found myself) whose photos looked a lot like what I had seen, and their range did include the southern half of Arizona. I was at the very extreme northern edge of their habitat. They were native of South America--which is where I thought they looked like they came from--as well as Central American and southwestern North America. They were also members of the raccoon family, Procyonidea--which I suppose explains their raccoon-like faces.

This hole in the tree kind of looks like an ear, doesn't it? That's the
only reason I even took this photo. =) The forest--it listens to you!

That looks like the Mogollon Rim up ahead!

Highway 87

Highway 87 into Pine. Just on the other side of Pine is the town
of Strawberry. You'll often see both towns mentioned as if it were
a single community of Pine-Strawberry.

The THAT Brewery and Pub also had cabins in back for rent.

My little cabin for the night!