Day 9: The Long Walk Out of Lordsburg

April 29: After I finished fixing the last known problem on Atlas Quest, I finally packed up, checked out of the motel, and continued my adventures! It was, perhaps, 10:00am and temperatures were cool and comfortable.

Evenstar checks out a board with information about the CDT on our way out of Lordsburg.

 

Before leaving the motel, I knocked on Pez's door and gave him a bag of popcorn that I had trouble fitting into my pack. Him and Addie decided to both take an extra day off, but I had already had a double zero and wasn't anxious for a third consecutive zero day. Not this early in the hike, at least!

I had barely started my hike when I heard Evenstar shout out to me from the other side of the road. She was just leaving Kranberry's after picking up a giant cinnamon roll. She gave me a small piece of it to taste and I gave it two thumbs up. Delicious!

We walked together to the post office, both of us wanting to mail our laptops ahead to the next trail town. Mine was already packed up and ready to go, but Evenstar hadn't picked up a box beforehand so she'd just pack it up at the post office, coping the address I used on my own box for the Silver City post office.

Then we headed out of town together. We hadn't planned to leave town at the same time, but I was pleased with the happy accident to have company for a bit. I knew later on the trail, I'd be so very lonely. No reason to rush into that any sooner than necessary!

The trail followed paved roads for several miles out of town, but we missed the turnoff and walked an extra 5 or 10 minutes past it before I looked at my GPS and realized we had veered off-trail. We backtracked to the turnoff and immediately saw why we missed it. It was essentially unmarked and blocked with a barbed-wire fence we'd have to get through. The official CDT required us to jump, crawl through, or crawl under a barbed-wire fence. There was no stile or gate to help. It was an easy turn to miss, and we missed it.

The trail followed this highway out of town for several miles.

 

We crawled under the fence and from there, the trail went cross-country across a flat, open field. There was no distinct trail to follow and we relied largely on my GPS to make sure we were going in the correct direction. How did people hike this trail before the age of GPSes?!

The wind blew strongly throughout the day, and with clouds often blocking the sun overhead, it turned out to be quite cool throughout the day. I had carried a boatload of water out of town but wasn't drinking it very quickly and eventually realized that I had way more than necessary. At one point, I stopped and dumped out 10 pounds of water. It seemed like something that should have been a criminal offense in a desert, but I just didn't need much water today. I was barely drinking anything--it was by far the coolest day of the hike so far.

Evenstar and I took a short break at the bottom of a dry creek bed to help escape the wind, and it was a nice place for a lunch break. She did a little blister maintenance. I did not, however, since there weren't any for me to deal with.

Evenstar checks out the blisters on her foot while taking a rest at the bottom of a dry riverbed.

Later in the afternoon, we started spotting markers marking the trail, and eventually reached a point where an actual trail was visible once again. Evenstar was still limping from her blistered feet but moved remarkably quickly. I think the two days off-trail helped her immensely, even if she was still feeling the pain.

And we ended up hiking about 4 miles beyond my original plan, covering about 14.4 miles according to my GPS. Later in the day, when it was clear that we were far ahead of schedule and making such good time, we decided to shoot for the next water source, but we wound up coming up a couple of miles short as the sun was about to set. It wasn't a big problem, however, since I hadn't planned to reach it tonight to begin with and even after dumping 10 pounds of water, I still had plenty of water left to cook dinner and eat breakfast the next day. Dry camping would not be a problem.

Evenstar and I eventually stopped to camp at the bottom of another dry creek bed to help avoid the wind. It wasn't entirely successful, but at least it was a bit more protected than in the open.

And that was the end of another day of hiking.

Sunset from our campsite!

The trail passed under this railroad through this pedestrian tunnel under the bridge while leaving Lordsburg.

Evenstar checks out the barbed-wire fence that we had to get over, through or under. In this case, we decided to go under.

No sign of an actual trail through this desolate terrain!

Now this barbed-wire fence had a gate for us to pass through. Much easier!

The trail had been largely flat all day, but we knew we'd be heading into those mountains in the north...eventually! Tomorrow. Yeah, tomorrow.

It was a gruesome discovery....

The hunt for a campsite is on!

Days 7-8: Zeroing in Lordsburg

April 27: There's not really a whole lot to report. I took the day off. I did walk to the post office to pick up a package, then walked out to the Interstate 10 rest area a mile or two west of town to look for a letterbox. (Found it!)

Evenstar scheduled an appointment to see a doctor about her blisters, but he didn't have any suggestions except to say that he felt she shouldn't be walking. Ha! What a quack. Has he never treated a thru-hiker before? Unless there's a loss of a limb involved, most hikers aren't going to stop walking because of blisters, even if they are enormous and ugly. 

Evenstar's feet were particularly sensitive since she had had foot surgery several months earlier and had done pretty much no walking or training before hitting the trail. And she complained that her shoes didn't seem to fit properly, but as there were no shoe stores nearby, she'd deal with that problem another day.

Evenstar and I planned to meet for lunch after she finished her doctor's visit.

When I entered the motel lobby to check out the hiker box, I found Addie checking into the motel. Addie! She looked more sunburned and weathered since I last saw her several days before, but definitely still recognizable. =)

I invited her to join Evenstar and I for lunch. She was just checking in, though, and I said it was fine if she wanted to shower or clean up first. That, she told me, could wait, but she did go to her room to settle in and drop off her stuff. And maybe she did take a shower. I'm not entirely sure, but I think she skipped it for now.

We headed to Kranberry's since it was right across the street. Evenstar didn't want to go far because of her blisters. I couldn't blame her--she had some of the worst blisters I've ever seen any anyone. I was amazed at her strength and perseverance to keep pushing herself despite the pain, but today was a zero day for her as well and she certainly wasn't going to spend any effort walking that wasn't absolutely necessary.

Addie had her own foot trouble with blisters, but they didn't look anything near as bad as Evenstar's blisters. Still, I took photos of both because, well, that's what I do. =)

Addie had her own blister trouble. Her big toe was definitely a lot bigger than it should have been!

 

We asked Addie about Pez and she said he was planning to get into town today as well and thought he was ahead of her and already made it into town. Really? Well, we should get him to join us as well. Addie called the motel to ask for his room, but Pez was in the lobby and we asked that they tell him to come join us at the restaurant across the street.

So Pez walked in about 10 minutes later and the four of us were together again! It was wonderful. We shared our stories and laughed and laughed. Pez's knee was still hurting him so he was going slow as well. So far, at least, I was the only one left in the group that was uninjured and not limping.

Our trail family, finally reunited again!

We ended up spending the next six hours sitting at the table and chatting! Originally, I had planned to continue my hike the next morning, but we were out so late, I never finished the work I wanted to get done online. Pez and Addie had only arrived in town today and both of them wanted a zero day, while Evenstar thought two zero days might be good for her feet. I didn't want to leave my whole trail family behind the next day....

So....

April 28: ...I took another zero day. A double zero. I did manage to get some work done in the morning, and Pez, Addie, Evenstar and I decided to go out for lunch again.

And it was today that Pez actually got his trailname. He was standing outside the motel lobby talking with a few other hikers and--I wasn't here for this and only heard the story second-hand--might have been talking with his mouth full of candy and wound up accidentally spitting some of it out like a real-life PEZ dispenser. Presto! A new trailname was formed!

We joked that his full name was Pez D. Spencer, which I thought was an absolutely awesome trailname, but we'd call him Pez for short. We felt like we were on a first name basis by now anyhow. And we were all glad that he finally got a trailname because all of had trouble saying his real name. =)

This time, we headed out to Denny's for lunch, which required a little bit of a walk, but all of my injured companions seemed up for the challenge.

I joked that we'll spend another six hours chatting there, and the others said that that was not going to happen this time. And they were right. This time, we only spent about five hours at the restaurant laughing and chatting.

I imagined the wait staff there was probably ready to see us go as we read out the descriptions of the dessert menu out loud like it was hiker porn!

Pez checks out his dessert at Denny's.

Anyway.... while we were there, a huge rainstorm swept through, and we watched the buckets of rain falling outside the window while we were dry and warm inside--and feeling a little sorry for the hikers out in the desert actually having to hike in it. It only lasted a half hour or so before stopping.

But all good things must come to an end, and we eventually left and headed back to our motel for the night.

All-in-all, a really good time! =)

A lot of the buildings in Lordsburg were abandoned and falling apart. It seems like the heyday of Lordsburg was in the rear-view mirror.

One hiker made his own camp shoes from shoe inserts and string. Those were definitely lightweight! I'm kind of inclined to try making my own someday.... (I didn't think to write down the hiker's name and I long forgot whose feet these are, though. Sorry!)

Day 6: Lordsburg, the first trail town

April 26: Evenstar was already leaving camp as I was just waking up a little before 6:00am. I don't know how or why she woke up so early--it was still quite dark out and the stars were out--but she was off and moving before the sun even rose. Probably trying to take advantage of the cooler temperatures of the morning.

I, however, didn't get moving until a little after sunrise at about 7:00am. My usual start time. But Evenstar was still limping along with her massive blisters and we both knew that there was a good chance that I could catch up with her at some point.

The day's hike was pretty uneventful and followed the pattern of previous days. I stopped briefly at the fifth and final water cache, but I didn't actually need any water since I had carried more than enough from the last water source in order to camp away from water and still had a liter available. The town of Lordsburg, was only about 6 miles away, and given the cool temperatures of the morning, I figured that was plenty.

I did catch up with Evenstar barely an hour into my walk which surprised me. I had expected it to take longer for me to catch up, but she explained that she had taken a wrong turn and walked a half hour in the wrong direction. Ouch. That had to suck.

She continued limping along, and I passed by eventually arriving in the small town of Lordsburg. I already knew my way around the town a bit since it was the same town where I stayed with my mom the night before I started the trail.

I checked into the Econolodge, the thru-hiker's favorite hangout, reserving the room for two nights and made myself comfortable. I took a shower, rinsing off all the dirt and grime from the past week, then walked across the street to Kranberry's for lunch where I ordered a burger with fries.

I checked into the Econolodge in town.

 

After lunch, I walked a few blocks further into town to the grocery store and picked up a few items to stock the mini-fridge of my room with.

Then I headed back to my room for the rest of the day. I had left my laptop at the hotel before leaving town for the border, so I had my laptop readily available to catch up with messages. (I also left some clean clothes so even though I hadn't done laundry yet, I still had some clean clothes to wear.)

All-in-all, a pretty dull day, but it sure felt great finally being clean again!

The fifth and final water cache before Lordsburg

I stopped at Kranberry's Restaurant for lunch.

Where I ordered the burger with fries. Delicious!

Then I passed under Interstate 10 to get to the grocery store.

I think calling this a "super" market is a little generous--seemed more like a large grocery store to me, but it served my purposes! =)

This is the hiker box in the lobby of the Econolodge where hikers can leave stuff they don't need or want anymore and other hikers can grab anything they might want or need.

Day 5: Blistering heat, blistering feet....

April 25: I slept well, despite the mouse running through camp during the night. At least the little guy didn't chew through any of my gear or food.

Sunrise in the morning!

I managed to get hiking by 7:00am, my earliest start-time yet! I had planned to start at 7:00am or earlier each day to get as much hiking in before the heat of the afternoon settled in, but it seemed like I always fell a little behind in breaking down camp. At least today, I finally hit my goal.

The weather forecast called for a high of 85 degrees--certainly on the hot side, but I knew it could have been much worse.

The day's hiking was largely uneventful for me. I soon caught up with Evenstar and her blisters continued to be a massive problem for her. Today, they mostly managed to pop on their own just from walking which saved her the effort of popping them herself, but they gave her so much trouble, she couldn't even get one of her feet into a shoe and walked with a Croc on one foot instead for half the day.

Evenstar hiking with one Croc due to the blisters on that foot.

Several times during the day, I managed to lose the trail but quickly realized whenever I veered off track and corrected. I did, however, use the opportunity at one point to dig a hole and poop. It seemed very unlikely that another hiker would catch me in the act when I had actually lost the trail--they would have had to have lost the trail at the same place that I did which seemed unlikely. If I tried to go somewhere near the trail, the chances of being caught on this very exposed terrain would have been much higher. =)

Throughout the day, several hikers passed us, including a second hiker named Sprout. Only my 5th day on the trail, and I've met two Sprouts. They joked that one of them should call themselves Sprout 1 and Sprout 2. Or maybe one could be Brown Sprout and the other Small Sprout to distinguish themselves from each other. (The one had a darker complexion, perhaps with some sort of Latino heritage, but that's just a total guess on my part.)

Another hiker, Sweep, swept past Evenstar and me while we were stopped under a shady tree like we were standing still. In fact, we were sitting still, but even if we were walking, I still think it would have felt like we were standing still. He started the trail only a couple of days earlier, I believe, pulling in 30-mile days for who knows what reason. It didn't sound like fun to me, but he seemed in good spirits.

Initially, my goal had been to camp near the last water cache before Lordsburg, but I later decided to stop before then because it sounded like almost every hiker who passed us was planning to camp near there and it sounded like that area might be a bit crowded tonight.

So Evenstar and I set up camp before then. Evenstar stopped before then because her feet just couldn't carry her any further. I stopped to keep Evenstar company and avoid the crowds at the water cache.

Then we set up camp and watched the sun set. I wrote in my journal and read my Kindle while Evenstar did, well, I'm not sure what she did. She might have just gone to sleep. In any case, we were done for the day!

Perhaps a warning to thru-hikers?

Definitely a warning to thru-hikers. *nodding* You can die out here!

Yum... nasty scum water. =) Today, we had no water caches to enjoy so instead we had to use stuff like this for our water supplies.

Shade! Precious shade!

More nasty cow water....

The best water of the day came from this tank. In the photo is Sprout, Paddles, Guru and... I think Fraggles and Tumbleweed? I'm actually having trouble connecting faces with names since it was so long ago I met these folks and I never really saw them again after today. They were hiking much too fast for me!

Evenstar attends to this blister on the back of her foot during a break.

Don't confuse this photo with the first one on this post. That first one was the sunrise. This is the sunset.