Finish: Magdalena, NM

Miles: 0 / 171.88 total

Ascent: 0 feet

I just took a zero day a few days back to wait out thunderstorms and flooding.  Now here I am again.  Well after the summer monsoon season normally ends in New Mexico, Pacific Hurricane Polo made landfall in Mexico and headed straight towards New Mexico.  While Pacific hurricanes are common, they usually head out to sea rather than striking land.

I just can’t catch a break on this hike.  It should be nice weather every day, but this is now the 4^th wave of strong storms that is passing through the area.  My next step is to head over a high ridge line, and then others after that, and the entire state is under a flood watch.  I’ve already seen the effect of thunderstorms and flooding in this area, and it is not something I want to mess with if I can choose not to.  Therefore I am taking 2 zero days in Magdalena to ride out the weather.

I really don’t want to take so much down time so early in a hike, but I think it is the only way to safely approach this route.  Also, the forecast after this hurricane looks great, so hopefully I can put in some solid hiking.

After this town stop, I am getting into way more remote country with fewer resupplies and longer distances to towns until I hit Arizona, so another reason to not strand or injure myself in the wilderness now.

My resupply box never arrived, so I ended up having to do a Dollar General resupply, just like on the Appalachian Trail in the old days.  Not too bad with some new food tricks I have learned since then.

It has been raining almost non stop for a day and a half here.  Every local I have talked to has reiterated that the past week or so has been the worst weather they can remember.  Lucky me.  However, there may be some scattered showers as Hurricane Polo finishes dying overhead, but then the 10 day forecast has very little chance of rain, and highs of 70 with lows of 50 for the duration, so hopefully I can get some good uninterrupted hiking in.

I’m carrying 8 days of food out of town for my biggest haul of this hike.  The going will be slow as I’ll be hitting remote and less maintained areas, and will have off-trail hiking in some not as flat terrain.  I’ll also be passing through some more recent burn areas which could mean miles of blowdowns and washouts especially with all of this rain.  Will see how it goes.

The post Grand Enchantment Trail: Days 10-11 Magdalena appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

As I ascended out of the wash and again onto the flat desert plain, I saw what I thought were elk prints in the sand. I was skeptical of my classification though since, again, I didn’t think there were elk out here.

I regained the plain and followed cow trails until they stopped at more cow tire troughs. Then it was just up to me. There was a checkerboard of public and private land ahead that the trail wove its way through trying to stay legal. This time there weren’t even fencelines to guide the way and ensure I stayed on the straight and narrow. That meant it was once again compass time! With the wide open landscape, it was perfect to let me make my own path with minimal effort.

As I was crossing the land, I saw a couple elk in the distance. I guess my prior observations weren’t nonsense after all. I took many pictures as I got closer and closer to them, since they were along my route. Eventually they grew impatient and jogged off with their odd head tilted up saunter. There was another group on the other side of me bugeling occasionally as well. Quite the unexpected sight.

My cross country jaunt came to an end at a county/forest service road, and I soon entered a patch of National Forest, where the forest was only sparse juniper bushes.

From there it was an easy stroll through the “forest” and across some more ranch land before my road dumped me straight into the center of Magdalena. I got my bearings and headed off to the only open restaurant for their biggest burger and a beer, much deserved I thought after the challenges thrown at my by the land and weather.

I got a motel room since the weather is supposed to turn south once again and started in on all my town chores. Magdalena is an interesting town that has a lot of potential with quaint old-time charm, but most businesses are closed at this point, unfortunately.I’m unsure what the next couple days will bring in terms of weather. I’m being fought every step of the way so far which I had not expected starting this trail.

The post Grand Enchantment Trail: Day 9 Into Magdalena appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

As I neared the San Lorenzo wash which my route went up, I was unsure of what I would find. There had been flash flooding in the entire area, and this was a large wash. As with a few days ago, I was unsure if it would still be flowing or dry. When I first hit it, it was grassy and muddy, but I followed the levee upstream, crossing a railroad and a road, after which the wash became dry and firm like before. That was great news for me, since the alternative could have been me leaving the trail.

The hills began to close in on the wash, and a 4×4 track joined in. After a while, some off roaders came in and passed me.Rock formations became more interesting, and an actual hiking trail appeared. At this point, I had 2 options. Either continue down the wash and pass through the heart of the San Lorenzo Canyon, while also having the opportunity to explore a side slot canyon, or take the hiking trail and see the canyon from the rim.

I love slot canyons, so I opted for the main route. However, a few minutes later I passed a second trailhead for the same trail network, and it pulled on me to get on some actual hiking trail since it had been a few days. I ended up changing my mind and taking the trail.The trail quickly headed up to the rim of the canyon which it followed as closely as it could. It offered views of the canyon as well as the rugged surrounding land, so it was a good choice. I then heard blaring Mexican music coming from the off roaders in the canyon, which definitely was better experienced from the rim and not inside the canyon.

It was a nice hike on the rim, but the trail petered out in the end, leaving me to finish the route cross country and negotiate a steep descent on loose dirt and rock to get back into the canyon. I made it, but it wasn’t the best.

The canyon narrowed even more and there were a couple pinch points to get through, one with a chock rock wedged between the canyon walls, and a second pourover flowing with water.The pourover was a little difficult to get up since there were not great handholds and it was about as high as I am tall. I couldn’t get up it with my pack on, so I heaved it up onto rock above, and then was able to scramble up it myself. When I got to the top I saw that I had heaved my pack right into the stream, but it hadn’t soaked through yet, luckily.

The canyon then began to quickly disappear and the wash was again on a wide plain. The flowing water disappeared, and I took a break and refilled my water since there were only cow troughs ahead which I had no idea if they were filled or how contaminated with cow they could be.

The day got hot since all the clouds of yesterday had cleared out. After most of the day in the San Lorenzo Wash, it continued on into the hills, but my time with it came to an end, and I turned off onto a 4×4 track with a couple dry cow troughs.

I topped off my water at a rancher well to my full capacity since it was hot with not a bit of potential relief from the sun. Down more 4×4 track through this barren stretch until I began to see some juniper on the horizon. I decided I would get to some shade for my next break. I wasn’t going to sit down in the sun, that wouldn’t be much of a relief.

The road turned into cow path, which lead me down into a wash which turned out to be a beautiful oasis of poplars. The wash had obviously been flowing high yesterday in the flooding, with water marks as much as 10 feet or so above the center of the wash, but now there was not even a puddle left, just some mud.

The trail only joined this wash briefly, and I definitely took a break in the shade before setting out again across the desert. I dried my stuff from last night. Looking ahead on the trail, it would be another 6 miles or so to the next potential cover, where I was in essentially a sandy oasis with plenty of shade at the moment. It was only 3:30, way earlier than I normally stop for the day, but I didn’t need to go any further really since I’m hitting town early tomorrow regardless. So I made the unusual decision to stop for the day at this early hour.

I didn’t know what to do with myself, but I ended up laying around on the sand in the shade, and just enjoyed the solitude of this oasis.

The post Grand Enchantment Trail: Day 8 San Lorenzo Canyon appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

Finish: Rio Grande

Miles: 24.56 / 139.41 total

Ascent: 755 feet

The forecast said it was supposed to storm last night, and storm it did.  In the middle of the night, the wind picked up and then yet another thunderstorm rolled through.  It didn’t last too long, but I think I have already encountered more thunderstorms here than I have at home in the past 5 years.

The wind kept up overnight which at least meant that my tent was mostly dry by the time I got up.  As if it didn’t even happen.

I continued through ranchland, and I finally had to collect some water from a tire cow trough.  At least it had a bunch of seaweed growing in it which is always a good sign.  And no brown masses I could see which is a rarity.

The route shortly turned off the road and followed a wash for a few miles this time. There were even some pourovers to negotiate. I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery and experience, but it was too short lived and I ended up back on 4×4 track.

I reached the point where I would have to decide between fording the Rio Grande and crossing it on a bridge. As an engineer, I’ve been studying the numbers and took one last look at the 500cfs flow rate and easily made the choice to use the bridge. From what I was able to tell, past successful fords earlier this year were an order of magnitude lower flow rate.

Soon after negotiating a fence no one intended to be crossed, I joined a dirt road which would take me all the way to the Rio Grande. It turned out to be fairly scenic though. The road has history hundreds of years in the past since the Spanish used it in their colonial days. It held to a high ridge, touching each pass between the small hills on it. You don’t often see a road routed like that; that’s how trails work.

I could see long distances on either side of me from the road, and especially to the south there was some great canyon country with red rock cliffs. Quite scenic.

testThen I finished the descent and got into some sandy flats. The day was warm and the sun beating, but I pushed through it and shortly arrived at the Rio Grande. Yep, definitely made the right decision on the bridge crossing. There would be no way without me swimming through the liquid mud. No thanks. I even said hi to the water level gage I had been watching online to make my decision.

I took a break at a park on the other side to rehydrate and rest my feet. I’m using new shoes on this trail since no shoe company can make the same shoe for more than a year or so. I’m using an “upgraded” version of the shoes I used on the PCT and it is noticeably tighter, giving my toes too much of a hug. Tried some alternate lacing and I might just have to do shoes off breaks. Will see.

During this time, there were a lot of storms off to the west and north, but I could only see blue skies and small clouds coming towards me. My lucky day.

I pulled off the levee at my planned stopping point of a picnic area that looked abandoned. It’s out of the way, so I’m sure it will be fine to set up here.

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At the top of a rise, the route left the road and went up and old 4×4 track which quickly disappeared, leaving me with my first cross country travel of the trip; a moment I have long been savoring.

Alas this wash was pretty short before I had to leave it, but I still had a bit of cross country travel to enjoy before I hit a road to take me through some private property.

On the road some sprinkles set in. There was still a chance of rain today, and there were some gray clouds around. The rain lasted just long enough for me to don my raingear. Typical.I cruised the road until the route veered off for a much longer stretch of cross country travel. The route went in straight lines, leaving me to navigate my way across small canyons while staying roughly on track. So much fun.

The landscape was low ridges and hills that some may say is boring, but I was having such a great time making my own way.

All good things must come to an end though, and after a scenic lunch with my legs hanging over a cliff, I joined a series of 4×4 tracks for the rest of the day through the Sevilleta Land Grant. This is private property, but the trail founder negotiated access for hikers with a few easy to follow rules.The land is ranch land, so there were periodic solar or windmill powered wells. I grabbed water at the first one which was like a level of Assassin’s Creed in trying to figure out how to climb, duck, and step carefully to get to the water tank. I did succeed and grabbed water for the rest of the day since I didn’t know how reliable their wells were.

It was easy to roll along the roads and eat up the miles, dodging and weaving between ridges, where each had a new look and color scheme.I stopped for the day about an hour before sunset, next to a juniper where I only had to kick away a couple cow patties.

I was able to sit up and enjoy the sunset as I ate my dinner and planned for how to cross the Rio Grande tomorrow.

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Finish: Mountainair, NM

Miles: 0 / 92.83 total

Ascent: 0 feet

Zero day today as the rain from yesterday continued, finally breaking in the late afternoon.  There are reports of flooding around, and there is supposed to be another storm Friday, then more continuous rain Monday to Wednesday.

I don’t really know what to do here.  I can’t just wait in town here forever for conditions to best suit me.  I plan to go back to the trail tomorrow morning and see what it is like.  Otherwise I would be waiting another 2 days or so.  Things should drain out quickly, but I don’t know if it will be impassably muddy out there.  I will also have to cross or follow some washes, though they appear small and not draining much on the map, so I think they should be passable.  If it doesn’t go, I can turn around and walk back out.  Or if it goes but the rain keeps up and it is just a sufferfest, I will reach I-25 in 2-3 days where I could easily pull out.

I don’t know what is going to happen with this trail.  I might not be able to finish it if the unseasonal rain keeps up like this.  I will be hiking many miles in washes on this trip, and across burn areas which could slide.  If the trail becomes too dangerous or is just a battle, I would leave it for another day.

Tomorrow I should get a good idea of how this is going to go, and I’ll take it from there.

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Finish: Mountainair, NM

Miles: 18.52 / 92.83 total

Ascent: 1700 feet

My focus yesterday was walking around the Whiskey Fire and setting myself up to get back into the mountains early this morning to rejoin the GET.  However, as I looked at the maps and weather forecast last night, I may have been short-sighted with my push yesterday.  I knew rain was coming starting today.  I knew that I could get up and down the mountains before it hit.  But I hadn’t considered after that.

After the GET leaves the mountains, it follows a number of washes and canyons , and the NWS issued a flood watch due to the rains.  I knew that I would not be able to clear the canyons before the rains, and I would even likely have to camp in them somewhere.  I’m always up for an adventure, but I decided that was just asking for trouble for no good reason.

So after my long, hard push yesterday, I decided the best thing to do was to bail out to town for tonight and wait out the weather, dashing any chance at a continuous hike that was carrying me through yesterday.  I wish I had realized that yesterday, but I did not and here I am.

I had 2 bailout options: I could directly walk to Mountainair on roads that looked straight and boring, or I could take the more scenic route on a forest service road that paralleled the GET and even rejoined it for a time.  It would end not far from where the GET would cross US 60, so I would still be in the spirit of the route.  It was 18 miles, and with the rains forecast to start around 2pm, there should be plenty of time for me to get out before they hit.  That settled it for me, and I started early down the forest service road to ensure I would beat the rains.

As I started, there were a few sprinkles which made me immediately rethinking my plan, but I decided to go for it anyways.

The road wound around the foothills of the mountains, and gave me frequent views of them through the trees, so at least I got to see something of the Manzano Range that was supposed to be one of the highlights of this trail.  They were scarred by past wildfires but were starting to rebound and regrow.  The bard patches did make them look more daunting and rugged though without all the rock hidden underneath the trees.  Good views and I had the road to myself without having to worry about the traffic from yesterday.

The GET came back in at the first flowing spring I had seen on the trail and descended out of the mountains in a wide valley.

A few trucks passed me, and each either offered me water or a ride, but I had plenty of water and I thought plenty of time.

Things mellowed out and the pines were replaced with juniper and cactus as the road wandered in and out of ranchland. 

I was making good time, but once I crested a ridge that the road followed for a while, I saw that the rains were approaching, already obscuring mountains to the south of me.  I thought I might get lucky as the rain appeared to be tracking to the side, but soon I felt some drops, and then a sheet of rain was sweeping towards me across the plains.

I dove under a thick juniper and donned my raingear.  Some thunder and lightning accompanied the rain, and it quickly became thick and heavy, with a little hail mixed in for good measure.  Puddles started forming around me in minutes.  Then the puddles began to coalesce.  Then I noticed some of the bigger puddles were starting to flow in expanding rivulets.  The road turned into a stream in the matter of minutes since the rain had started.  I’ve seen flash floods in the desert before, but this time I saw the entire process behind my eyes, accompanied by thunder and lightning a second apart.  Maybe the quicker bailout option would have been better, but the rains swept in before forecast.

As soon as the rain started tapering off and the thunder and lightning had passed, I got back to walking to finish the 3 miles I had to go before I could hitch into town.  One truck flew out when I was hiding in my bush, probably knew what was coming, and there were no more up the road that I had seen and could expect to help me.

I hiked out the road, dancing across the rivulets that wove back and forth across it, the water laughing at the ineffective swales and continuing down the path of least resistance.

The flow of water increased as I descended the road, and parts of the desert were just flowing period.  There were a couple deeper stretches I had to cross, but it was only shin deep so not the end of the world.  At last the road started ascending and the water disappeared down a raging wash.

It was then just a short hike out to US 60 where I found a pullout to hitch into the town of Mountainair about 20 miles away.  A car passed me, then circled back to pick me up.  Driving to town, there was flooding everywhere with raging torrents of water being funneled through the few culverts under the road and adjacent railroad.  The locals driving me even circled back to watch some of the flooding because they were amazed by it.  A DOT truck pulled up to check the road, and they said it was nothing.  The storm a couple days ago when I was on Sandia Ridge had water flowing over the road.  There were still some piles of hail along the road leftover from that.

I got dropped off at The Rock Motel which is run by a great couple.  They quickly got a room cleaned up for me, and I had the requisite pack explosion to start drying my stuff.

I eventually had to head out into the rain to get some food which had me walk most of the town before I found the single restaurant open.   I got what I needed for the night and settled into my sheltered motel room to watch the rain come down continuously and wonder what I should do next.

The post Grand Enchantment Trail: Day 4 Flooding Bailout appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

Finish: Red Canyon

Miles: 36.04 / 74.31 total

Ascent: 2380 feet

I didn’t know what today would bring.  It could either be a long or a short day, but in any case it would be mostly roadwalking.

The National Forest here ends with a wall of reservation land and private property, though there is an unofficial route through.  However, there is a wildfire where the National Forest resumes, so the risk of crossing non-public land would be moot unless the fire closure was lifted.  The fire seems to be on its last legs, but that doesn’t mean the forest will immediately be reopened.

So, I set off with my headlamp on just before it was light enough to walk, aiming to hit the road at first light.  The road did have a great wide shoulder when I got to it which was a pleasant surprise.

One bonus of roadwalking is the potential for town food versus my usual hiking fare.  I passed a restaurant first thing that Google said would be open, but alas it was not.  However, there was a convenience store just another 3 miles down the road, so no big deal.

The convenience store had a friendly owner who let me refill my water bottles.  There was also a Forest Service employee there when I arrived who I pumped for information on the wildfire status and alternate trails and water.

I got some homemade breakfast burritos for there and the road, and some electrolyte drinks since it was a cloudless sunny day and I was walking blacktop pavement south towards the sun.

The road was fairly flat with rolling hills, but easy to make steady progress on.  However, the lovely wide shoulder suddenly disappeared completely, with virtually nothing to the left of the white line.  That made the rest of this stretch of road a practice of stepping off the road where I could to give the vehicles travelling at highway speed some room.  Not the end of the world, but not the best experience either.

The road took me past grazing land and homesteads, all tightly fenced.  The guide notes that there is an intensely private air about this area which was pretty apparent.  One stretch passed through the Chilili land grant which even had posted not to take any pictures.  Not really the type of place you want to mess around with too much.  It was a colorful looking community though, but without any services.

The road dragged on.  I do like the continuity of a hike which is why I just walked it out instead of thumbing along the way.  Instead of just the forest, mountains, and desert, I can see how the people of this area live.  It is just a different part of the adventure.

However, it was a very long roadwalk on a sunny day.  I kept up a good pace, but I did have to put on an audiobook for the first time since it was a grind after a while.

After several hours, my route turned off the paved road onto much quieter back roads where I only saw a few vehicles over the next couple hours before arriving at the next small town of Tajique.

This is where I could continue to follow the trail if the Whiskey Fire was put out and the land reopened, or where I would otherwise have to continue roadwalking to get around the fire.  I checked and there was no update on the fire, and the closure had not been lifted, so continuing the roadwalk was my only choice other than waiting an indeterminate amount of time for the closure to be released.

There was no more water ahead for a while, so I purchased 2 gallons of water from a convenience store.  One of my friends likes to carry a gallon of water in his hands in the desert to take some load off his back.  Some of the water had carry handles, so I thought I would give that a try.

I resumed my roadwalk with the sun at its hottest.  It was only in the 70s, but there was no shade and no clouds, and it was hot on the blacktop.  I willed myself forward for mile after mile to just get it over with.  The roadwalk was no longer an interesting side adventure.  I was hot and chaffing.  I drank water, but it didn’t seem to satisfy me.  I set mileage goals to keep myself moving with the promise of only one break and then camp.

With the continuous fencing and apparent desire for privacy in the area, it did not seem like stealth camping on private land was a good idea, even well out of sight.  That meant that my only option was to get back to public land.

On either side of me it was a 2-3 miles to get to public land, which I would then have to reverse tomorrow as well.  It would be 36 miles for the day to hit National Forest again, and if I kept my pace, I would get there right around dark.  Seemed like a good enough goal for me.

As the day wound down, 2 people stopped and offered me rides, but at that point I was close to my goal, so I declined since I knew I could make it and maintain my hike continuous.

As dusk was falling, I finally reached the end of the last fence and entered the national forest.  There were some prints on the ground that I thought at the time were mountain lion, but I didn’t care, and I found the first flat spot inside the boundary to pitch my tent as the light waned.

I had no idea today would end up like this, but it is how things worked out and I made it only slightly sore and a little chaffed.  I ate my dinner and went straight to my tent to lay down.  I didn’t even write in my journal which I try to do each day since it gets harder once I get behind.

What a day.

The post Grand Enchantment Trail: Day 3 Roadwalk appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

Finish: Southern Crossing Trail

Miles: 21.33 / 38.27 total

Ascent: 2340 feet

It sprinkled on and off last night and there was even a rumble of thunder or two but nothing serious.  It cleared up for a much better looking day in the morning.  Despite the rain, my tent was only a little wet.  The dry desert air does wonders for gear management.

I set off at sunrise and is my baseline plan for the trail.  It is fall with the days getting shorter every day, so I want to make the most of the 12 hours of daylight I currently have.  Also want to get moving before the sun heats things up too much.

Heading down the trail, even the brush along the trail had mostly dried out.  This is in stark contrast to a warmup hike I did back home where the bushes stayed wet the whole day even with the sun out.  Big difference in climate.

I continued down the Sandia Ridge, with it petering out as I went.  Soon a sharp divide marked the end of the ridge, leaving a large gap to the next chain of mountains that continued further south.  I descended quite a ways on easy trail, and watched the flora go through evolutions in the reverse of what I saw yesterday. 

I spent a lot of time hiking through large juniper which were fragrant which I always enjoy.

I got occasional views of the surrounding landscape, but I was mostly buried in forest with little else to see.

I came to a waterfall which was bone dry even after the recent rains.  There were a ton of dayhikers heading up to the falls from the nearby trailhead, so I’m sure a lot of them were disappointed.

I got to the trailhead and my route transitioned to road for the first time to get under I-40.  Thankfully on the other side there was a café where I topped off my devices and had 2 meals, since that is way better than trail food.

When I stepped away from my table to get my water bottles refilled, someone dropped off a plate of food when I got back.  The restaurant didn’t do it, so I presume someone thought I was homeless and needed the food.  Not the first time that has happened on a hike, but definitely the soonest.  It was only the morning of day 2!  I returned the food since I didn’t want it.  Don’t want to be too full on a warm day hiking uphill.  I’ve learned that lesson before.  A shame it probably went to waste though.

The route continued up a road briefly, then hooked into some multi-use trails which I would follow the rest of the day.  It looked like mostly hikers and mountain bikers used them, so no ATVs or beaten down trail from that thankfully.

There was a big network of trails, and I made my first wrong turn of the trip.  I knew there was a turn coming up, but I didn’t see a trail until I confirmed with my GPS that I had passed it.  Oh well, it was only a few minutes.  I paid closer attention the rest of the day with the many trails, but I don’t like to just stare at my GPS.  It takes something away from the hike for me.  With this being an unmarked route following existing trails, it will happen.

The mountains I was passing through today weren’t as high or steep as the range yesterday, so the hiking was fairly easy, but with few views.  It was nice forest, but nothing spectacular.  I purposefully don’t research hikes extensively before hand because I want to see the landscape as it unfolds before me.  I don’t really know what to expect for this route.

My stretch target for today was to camp right before the next road crossing, since that is the beginning of a long road walk.  Ideally, I wanted to hit that road first thing tomorrow morning so I could get as much of it done as possible.

I saw that I was well within range of the road at the beginning of the afternoon, so I took it a little easy and took a couple long breaks.  It was fairly warm and exposed and I had only gotten 4.5 liters of water at the café, so I needed to manage my water closely.  I probably should have gotten more since I won’t get to the next source until tomorrow morning.  Oh well, I had enough.

I rounded out my slower afternoon by getting to camp around 5 with plenty of time.  I’m not far from the road, but still can’t hear it, so that is ideal.  I got a much nicer campsite for tonight.  Flat, spacious, a bed of pine needles.  Better in every way from the site last night.

I relaxed the rest of the day.

The post Grand Enchantment Trail: Day 2 Manzano Mountains appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

Finish: Old lean-to on Sandia Ridge

Miles: 16.94

Ascent: 5000

My friends Angela and Mark hosted me in Albuquerque after I landed last night, and dropped me off at the trail this morning after breakfast.

The Grand Enchantment Trail is a route, not an official trail.  It uses existing trails and tracks and sometimes roads, but there is not a single sign for it. Therefore, the route is a bit subject to interpretation.

The route started off at the bottom of a tran station, and 12 miles later it reached the upper tram station, 4000 feet higher.  It would have been incredibly easy to hand over my credit card and get a 15 minute ride to the top in the second longest tram in the world, but that didn’t seem like a fitting beginning to a trail, cheating a bit right off the bat. 

So I opted for the hard way, under my own power.  I was heading out of town with a heavier thru-hiking pack than I’m used to, with 6 days of food in it to boot.  I definitely felt the weight with my water load, but I knew this trail would entail some bigger carries, so there was nothing to do but take a couple pictures and hit it before the sun warmed up and made the climb that much harder.

The trail started out with high desert vegetation; prickly pear, juniper, some sagebrush, and the like.  It had rained quite a bit last night and the day before, and the desert was awash with the strong fragrance of these plants; a smell that I love and brings me back to my past desert hikes.

The trail skirted some houses and wasn’t spectacular or anything, but the ambiance really got me into the hike; it is so different from vegetation back home in Washington.

After skirting Sandia Ridge for a while, the trail started switchbacking up in earnest.  However, the trail was well built and maintained so it was easy to set a pace and hold it.

The trail ascended and the scenery changed throughout the climb.  The trail wound around massive rock outcrops giving constantly changing views of these spectacular pillars.  It didn’t take long for me to realize I had definitely made the right choice with the hike up instead of the tram.

Towards the top, a section of trail I was supposed to take was closed, but there was a bypass that was a little shorter anyways still open.  My first of likely many deviations on this trail.  Good to get it over with on Day 1.  It doesn’t matter to me if I follow a trail precisely, I just prefer to have some type of continuous route.

It wasn’t long before I got to the upper tram station at 10,300 feet; quite high considering I live at sea level.  I took my first good break at the station which also had water available.  Despite the rains of the past 2 days, there was no water on the way up at all.

As I was finishing my break, I noticed some gray clouds and rain approaching.  I checked the radar and there were some strong cells headed in my general direction, but they may pass to the north while I was heading due south.  I was following the Sandia Ridge for the rest of the day, but the trail didn’t stay at the top of the ridge proper and ran on the lee side of the range.  I could either wait at the tram station for 2-3 hours and shelter there, or I could just move on.  With plenty of trees and shelter, that wasn’t a hard decision for me.

I flew down the trail since I was mostly descending now, trying to distance myself from the storm.  The trail was mostly a green tunnel, so that wasn’t too hard.  It did catch me though and I heard some thunder and felt a few raindrops.  I took shelter in some trees and donned my rain gear.  The cells were moving fast, so I figured I could mostly wait it out at a place of my choosing.  The first sprinkles turned into hail, though that was very brief and small.  The cell passed with just a little noise and rain and I didn’t even see any lightning.

I saw that there was an old lean-to labeled on my map a few miles down the trail.  There were storms still around, just isolated, so I figured I should head for that as a goal since it might provide some additional protection if I needed it, or in any case a dry spot to make dinner since that could be easier than in my tent.

I had forgotten to take out my electrolytes, and I really started dragging the last few miles of the day.  With things being a little wet and my food bag being half way down, I was too lazy to grab it and just trudged on.  It could have been the high elevation affecting me too.  I wasn’t breathing harder than normal, but I did have a slight headache.

In any case, I forged ahead, slower than normal, desperately wanting to find a campsite.

The lean-to was very old and about to collapse, but there had not been much for campsites on this trail.  I made due in a damp sloped spot near the shelter.  Not my first choice, but I didn’t really want to go further.  I really wanted to just sit down.

As I finished my dinner, some more rain rolled in and relegated me to my tent for the night.  The rain has been brief though which seems to be the norm for this area.

A tiring but accomplished day.  It is always hardest getting going and catching my stride, so my first few days will be a little slower and tougher than later on down the trail.

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