Over the river and through the woods to the CDT we go..

Welcome to the CDT. I know we all look ridiculously happy to be here, but there are no woods, no rivers, and I don't know it now, but this is going to be the hardest trail I've ever hiked. We have been thrown a rather significant bone though. The CDT runs a shuttle from Lordsburg to the Southern terminus point. They also put out 5 caches of water in the first 100 miles. The distance from Lordsburg to this point is only 87 miles but it takes 4 hours. I've never seen road quite as bad as we traversed. Yet we all look happy at the Crazy Cook Monument to walk the five days back to Lordsburg...and beyond.

Across the bottom of the Crazy Cook monument it says... "Southernmost point N 31 29'48.9" W 108 12' 31.8" , The Trail Unites Us, Continental Divide National Scenic Trail Dedicated November 10th 1978, Land of Enchantment. Did anyone else notice that this trail was dedicated one month before I was born? Kind of cool that I and the CDT are almost the same age. I'm not sure if you also noticed it, but the second photo has a big chip out of the corner. There is someone who keeps coming to this area from across the border and knocking this monument down. You have to remember, hikers aren't popular in this region because this is ranching territory. It doesn't take a lot to kill a cow in this terrain, and sometimes hikers don't mind their best manners. As you're about to see, there's not a lot of water anywhere and sometimes hikers mess with cattle water feeds. This interference can kill more than one cow. which makes some ranchers less than friendly. Remember it takes owning over 400 cattle to make ends meet living here. Just think how much water 400 head drink.

While we were standing at the southern terminus we thought it would be funny to have our picture taken crossing the border. Now that we are150 miles in, the joke has sobered some. As you look at our photos, please imagine crossing this not for sport, but out of desperation for a better position in life.

Lucky for us we had someone looking out for our wellbeing. His name is RADAR))) and he was one of the two people who drove us to the southern terminus. He is also one of the best trail bums I've ever known. He volunteers immense amounts of his time to make New Mexico's CDT trail the best it can be. He also looks out for every single person that he puts out on the trail.

Mike and I were the last people to leave the southern terminus and I was fascinated watching each person's back disappear into the desert individually. Some of the people had shiny sleeping pads strapped to the back of their backpack, This made them reasonably easy to spot even if they were 5 miles out...Generally speaking, over the next three days Mike and I would know where everybody in the group was even if we couldn't see them.

There is superstition and lore amongst the long distance hiking community about blazes. Some hikers feel the need to touch them all, some feel the need never to touch any until the last one, I on the other hand, being what we lovingly call a LASHER ( Long Ass Section HikER), like to touch the first and the last one in each section. You've been here to see me touching the first blaze, and I hope that someday you get to see me touch the last.

This is what our entire first day looked like. I know most people say that facetiously, but we literally spent the entire first day and a half walking towards that mountain range. You're going to hear me talk a lot about cattle damage, and this picture shows what I mean. Any large plant that you can see is called saltbush, which is a semi-invasive plant that nothing but camels will eat. Since camels went extinct 13,000 years ago in North America, there are not many around to keep it down.

This is one of the common ways that water gets to cattle. The windmill that you can see provides power that pumps water from underground pipes into the sistern that you see on the left. As we hike this section we will quite often run across black PVC piping poking its way through the desert floor. You can't tell it by looking, but there is a maze of hundreds of miles of piping hidden underground.

Soil in the desert is very rocky, so even though washes are generally not our favorite place to walk we welcome them here because at least the stones are round and smooth.

At the end of our first day we were lucky enough to set up in a place with a view. Most of the rest of the group stayed by the water cache, which is about a mile from where we are located. We wanted to go further but, as you'll see tomorrow, finding the markings of the CDT in this area is quite challenging.

In the morning we got up before the sun rose and were able to see it light up the red cliffs while the moon was still up. The spindly little bushes that you can see in the foreground are called Ocatillo. For some reason they are one of my favorite desert plants. It's something about their tiny little deciduous green leaves that poke out next to enormous spikes, and at this time of year they also sport beautiful red flowers.

This is Mike climbing up a hill after we crossed a ravine. I am sure that the trail and the trail markers are obvious to everyone… oh wait, they weren't even obvious to us. This is why we had to wait until the light was good to get started this morning. It's hard to see, but there is a 4 by 4 post directly up the hill. They come about every two-tenths of a mile and you simply have to walk forward and look for them.

Since the CDT is across ranching land, we have to cross many "roads". This is one of the ways that we ensure that we're keeping ourselves on track.

Other than cattle, there aren't a lot of animals out here but we did spot this beautiful fence lizard hiding under wildflowers. More often than not we don't actually see the lizards, we just hear them scampering nearby.

Oh and if I haven't mentioned it already, the desert gets pretty mean. This cactus impaled Mike's shoelace as he passed by. Little did it know I was going to take its spine and use it to lance my blisters (# Mostdisgustingthingsdoneonthetrail). See, who needs modern devices when nature provides!

Unlike most of the other trails that we have walked, this one really doesn't have any shade. Mike took this photo of me as I was getting out our lunch. We do make a concerted effort to stop and take our shoes off a couple times a day, usually coinciding with meals.

Another obstacle that the CDT provides are cattle gates. Unlike the AT, these are extremely small. We made jokes about how if we'd been 5 pounds heavier we wouldn't have made it through with our backpacks. Quite a tight squeeze! I'm not sure what size cattle they're trying to keep in 😂

OK, so every once in a while we do run across some man-made shade. There are a very small number of kiosks at trailheads along the CDT. I really want to meet the crazy non-CDT hikers who come out here just to go on a day hike. Truly there is not a lot of plant and animal diversity out here. Joy of seeing a new cactus species or lizard species comes about once a day, i.e. about once every 20 miles. When we arrived at this man-made shade, Hopeful had already taken up residence and was waiting out the noonday sun. We don't have that luxury because we don't hike quite as fast as he does. I mean we all make our 20 miles a day, he just does it faster. Just as we were ready to leave, Bean showed up so the four of us hung out a bit longer.

Oh, and just to add insult to injury, we have to share water sources with the cattle. And let me tell you, they're the ones who think they're getting put upon. The cattle often collect around these water sources, and to be fair they really are about two steps off wild animals. If you've ever wanted to see a wild cow, just come to the American Southwest near the border with Mexico. Some of them may only see a human once or twice a year.

At the end of day two we got lucky with the view but less lucky with the weather. You can't tell it from this photograph but the wind is really whipping through our tent site. It was one of the times when, if the sunset had not been so spectacular, I would have stayed warm inside my tent. At night our routine is very similar from day to day. We both write in our journals, and then I read while Mike listens to music. Currently I am re-reading Little Women. Sometimes I wonder what insanity caused me to bring such a large book on the trail.

Today the trail surprised us with a new style of blazing. Do you see that blue bludge in the middle of a rock?... that's what we're supposed to find and follow across the desert.

Now seriously, take a look at this landscape and tell me where the heck is the next blue rock! At times like this Mike and I like to remind each other that we paid someone a lot of money to drive us and drop us off in the middle of nowhere. Somebody get me the DSM-V... what's the definition of insanity?

One of the reasons that we chose to hike the trail now is because it would be almost impossible for me to do it in June, July or August. I'm particularly glad that we did choose this season because so many of the wildflowers were up. I won't go through and tell you all their names ,but if you're curious there is an amazing website that will identify them all for you.

We run into Hopeful one or two times every day. He made kind of a big mistake and didn't pack a good fuel for his camp stove, and because of this a lot of his food is not edible for him. Luckily I'm a bit of an over-packer when it comes to food so we were able to share our oatmeal. Hopeful cracked me up by eating it with the back end of his sun screen. Trust me, sometimes it's more effort than it's worth to unpack your bag and find your real spoon.

One of the things about the CDT is that there really is only kind-of a trail. A lot of the time you're just generally heading in the direction you think is correct. I know that most people would say how can it be the correct trail if you have to climb under a rancher's fence. My confused reply would be this is the fourth time today; what's odd about that?

Every once in a while we do run into something that gives me pause. You've seen the landscape that we're walking through. There are no buildings, there are no natural water sources, and there is certainly nowhere to hide in the shade. We came across these three left-behind backpacks in an incredibly unlikely place. There were no roads or farm roads or any other distinguishing markers in the area. I spent the rest of the day brooding about what happened to the people who left those backpacks. I had to content myself with hoping that this was the worst situation they found themselves in and that now they are somewhere better.

Sometimes the landscape does diversify a bit. Here is us going through a saddle. Whenever I see this picture I will always think of Bean. We ran into him about 1000 yards from this photograph, hugging a rock. This may seem odd but it was the only shade we had encountered all afternoon. Also we chose to camp just past this saddle because it acted as a decent windbreak.

And it wasn't just us that thought it worked as a good windbreak too. This little Horned lizard from the Genus Phrynosoma, spent all evening in camp hanging out with us. If you watch college football, you may already be familiar with him. He is the same as the TCU Horned Toad mascot. This one was so small that I can imagine he was only born this year. Good luck little guy.

The next morning we got a very early start because we were walking the first few miles on a "road". I had been wondering how the road was so well maintained when we stumbled onto this grader. If you've ever driven on country roads, you know about the washboarding effect. This device helps to limit that, as well as making the road flat and driveable for ranchers. Of course the unintended, but fortuitous, consequence is that Mike and I can get a few miles under our belt before the Sun comes up.

As the Sun came up we were passing another water station for cattle. I hope you can forgive the inordinate number of pictures of these things but it's just not something we have back in our section of Pennsylvania. I guess I have one more thing to feel super grateful for coming from the North East, and that would be year-round surface water.

At this point we're quite close to Lordsburg and you can tell that there are more people around. Sadly, non-hikers will shoot just about anything. Much later in our hike we ran into a ranch hand who told us that the same people who shoot these signs are also responsible for shooting cattle water tanks. I was horrified. That kind of damage can lead to an entire section of the herd dying of thirst. I really cannot imagine what kind of a person would leave cattle without water for two seconds of entertainment.

When we finally got into Lordsburg we saw RADAR))) first. I think he was a little surprised that we were the first to make it back as we didn't make a very good impression being late on the first day. We were really glad to catch up and to get some information on the trail ahead. After that we grabbed our pre-mailed food box at the Econo Lodge and immediately hit the McDonald's. It's amazing how good pre-frozen beef can taste when you've been eating freeze dried food for nearly a week.

Getting to Silver City was a very dry affaire, but that's looking up now as you can see. I pirated this photograph off line just to show you how large this city is. We are going to walk many more days and where we end up will be called Doc Campbell's. The people at Doc Campbell's come to Silver City to buy all the supplies they sell at their store. I mean they come here to buy Ramen and Knorr packets and Bologna. This is the biggest city for hundreds of miles. We got our next box from the Post Office and moved along out of town. Now unfortunately I don't have a picture of the next part of the story. Once you leave Silver City it's a very long road walk up to Gila National Forest. We're going to spend a really long time in this national forest so you'll hear about it again. Now I don't mean road walk like you saw at the beginning of our journey, I mean paved 4-lane road. This of course calls for one of my newly-acquired best skills...hitching. Unfortunately the stars were not aligned in our favor and everyone passed us by. We'd walked several miles before I saw a guy, who looked like the kind of person who would be hiker-friendly, in his backyard. I said to Mike I'm going to walk over and ask him if he'll drive us to the trailhead for $10. Mike gave me the look he always does... the "you do you... I don't know if it's going to work" kind of look. So away I go. Unfortunately he's a stay-at-home dad and his wife, who is a baker, isn't home yet. We stand around and chat for a few minutes, when his neighbor drives up. He asked her if she'll drive us and she says "I can't, I don't have enough gas." Luckily she takes us up on our $10 offer and drives us the 5 miles to the trailhead. I'm telling you, when we get back East not hitching is going to be one of my greatest losses. You just meet the most amazing people when you're sitting in the back of their car.

Just into the National Forest we come upon this big flat field. I say I want to stay and read my book here! Mike is completely incapable of sitting and doing nothing, so he started to poke around the forest. He came back with a couple of boards and began to build a fire pit. After that he took the boards and made some benches.

We spent the rest of the night hanging out around the fire, having dinner and just relaxing. The CDT might have started out as the hardest trail, but I have to say I never had such luxurious accommodations on the AT.

The next day, as we proceeded to Gila National Forest, we began to realize that this was an ex-mining area. I would guess gold because about a mile from where this photo was taken we saw a man panning in the river.

Just beyond that we ran into the ruins of what I can only assume was a prospector's cabin. We stopped and had some breakfast here because the Gila River is just below us and gave us a moment to fill up our water bags.

I can't believe how the scenery has finally changed to pine forest here. We spent so many days tramping through the shrubby,scrubby desert. In less than 24 hours we've left that behind and entered a totally new ecosystem.

On the top of the ridge we've come to the home of enormous Junipers and beautiful bedrock.

One of the many safety precautions that the CDT puts in place is registration points along the trail. Now obviously they don't check this book very often, but if anyone goes missing it's a good way to know where they were last. This is the kind of location that a casual hiker doesn't just trip across. It's 50 miles to a trailhead in one direction and 20 miles plus in the other.

As we look out over the valley you can see that there are some spectacular rock formations all along the cliffs. I never thought that I would get tired of the desert but I have to say the area from Lordsburg to Silver Springs really taught me that there's desert, the red rock kind, and then there's desert, the other kind.

It was so nice to have shade at every single stop during the day. Unfortunately our feet have not fully recovered from the trials across the desert, so taking off our shoes and doing blister maintenance is kind of a thing. It's an unusual thing for me because I made it over halfway on the Appalachian Trail and never had a blister! The desert can be a real taskmaster on feet.

One of the other nice things about this area is that the water sources are a lot better. During the early portion of the day we had the Gila River and now we found a fully enclosed cattle tank. It's amazing how grateful you feel towards clean water after hanging out in the desert.

In the morning we got a taste of what the CDT would have been 10 years ago. We were following the path and I very clearly realized that all of the switchbacks we were doing were completely useless. Normally I'm not the kind of girl who goes cutting switchbacks, but on this trail we were talking about probably a mile of extra trail. I knew that we needed to end up in the Canyon so I figured let's take the quickest path between here and there. It was a little bit hairy but we got there in what I would consider half the time and with twice the good feelings.

After about one more mile of trail, we came to the Gila River. Mike and I tried to decide how to get across without getting our shoes wet. The map showed that we were going to need to cross about 6 times in 16 miles. Not a big deal... we figured that we'd just work it out.

That was before we realized that the map was an estimate and the trail crossed the river about every 2/10 of a mile. In reality we probably crossed the Gila River close to 70 times in 16 miles. Obviously taking off your shoes every single time is completely impossible. Now Mike was slightly better set up because his camp shoes are crocs… mine are $12 flip-flops from Kohls… I don't break easily on the trail but I'm gonna tell you that the Gila River did a pretty good job on me by the end!

On a much more positive note, the entire walk was stunning. In the middle of the river after one of our many crossings I saw a circle of stones. Being nosy and curious, I had to go and investigate. This is a hot Spring in the middle of nowhere. I truly wish that we had walked enough miles and could have stayed at this spot and soaked, but unfortunately we didn't. When I put my hand inside the circle, the water was close to 100ﾟ.

The rest of the river was nowhere near so warm but it didn't matter because the days were quite warm. The vast majority of the way you cut around, in, and across the river while surrounded by enormous cliffs. It's never a slot canyon but I have to say that I might prefer this kind of canyon as there's a lot more living in this type.

Sometimes the trail would disappear completely, and it was clear that walking in the river was probably our best option. We read that there were a lot less river crossings when the trail first opened, but that erosion over the last 10 years has caused the soil to come away from the Canyon wall, necessitating hikers making additional crossings.

About halfway through the first day I simply gave up my flip-flops and got my hiking shoes wet. This might seem crazy but it was so much more comfortable going for me. Normally Mike and I do right around 2 miles an hour, in flipflops we were down to about .9. It may not seem like a huge difference but trust me .9 miles an hour feels like you could crawl faster.

There are very few actual campsites or camping areas marked on the CDT map but this one was, and I wanted to see what it was like. It was called Alum Camp and if you look at the chimney you can assume it was an early homesteader or ranching cottage. Hikers and campers have put all kinds of trinkets on the mantel piece of the fireplace as a tribute. The neat thing is that, if you wanted, you could still cook in the fireplace.

We chose to use the fire ring and enjoyed lovely views as the sun went down. You might be wondering why we light so many fires in the desert. You have to remember that, even though the days were generally quite warm, the nights plummeted into the thirties as soon as the sun went down. Having a fire would extend the evening by at least an hour and a 1/2.

In the morning we had a rare treat in that the path led us up onto the hillside and away from the Gila River. We trucked along at a terrific pace while watching the Sun come up and make the rock a brilliant golden red.

By the time we got to the last river crossing I wasn't sorry to say goodbye to the Gila. True, it did provide a wonderful and easy water source, but trudging through it for almost 2 days was quite enough. We knew that when we saw the Gila River bridge we were less than 2 miles from Doc Campbell's Post.

When we got to the trading post we had another piece of luck. Unbeknown to us, the owners of the trading post had been in South Korea for almost 3 weeks. Their parents were looking after the post 7 days a week but were only open very short hours. We arrived to Doc Campbell himself coming out of the post. He immediately opened up for us, got us our Box, told us to try his daughter's home-made ice cream and to make ourselves at home. They're extremely warm and friendly people and they even have free Wi-Fi for hikers. Unfortunately I had so many things to do I didn't have time to use it. It's amazing how many things you can only do in "town". One of the most important things is that I wanted to try and secure us a hitch on the 4 mile road section between Doc Campbell's and the Gila National Forest visitor center. Amazingly, two lovely young women allowed us to ride with them on their way there. I swear they might have been the only people going in that direction all day!

They were even nice enough to take a photograph of us by the Geronimo's birthplace monument. If you didn't know, history says that Geronimo was born at the headwaters of the Gila River. Interestingly, we walked along the same path and trails that Geronimo might have traversed.

I had Mike take a picture of me next to this National Forest sign because, of all the national forests we've been in on this trip, we spent the most time in Gila. I also have to say that it might be one of the most beautiful national forests we've ever been in. So much diversity between the edge of Silver City and Pie Town.

This is also my favorite outlook. Unfortunately the picture doesn't do it perfect Justice, but it was stunning to stand there, look into the Canyon, and see all of the towering rocks on the other side. The weathering of the stone in this area gives everything such a dramatic feel. Mike and I are hoping that some day we get to come back and bring kayaks to go down a large section of the Gila River. No disrespect to the Gila, but I'm not sure I really want to hike and cross it every .2 of a mile ever again!

The only downside to being up above the river is that we really struggled for water. We got lucky and met some local birders who told us to go up a side Canyon for about .25 of a mile where we would find a stream that had come above bedrock for a short distance. I'm not sure what we would have done without this information because we went 10 more miles without seeing a drop of water.

Just down from the Canyon we ran into a New Mexico State Forest cabin. It's not the kind of cabin that you can stay in if you don't work for the park service, but we certainly took advantage of the porch and had breakfast.

At about 4 o'clock that day we saw the Gila River up close one last time. I thought we had left it behind at Doc Campbell's, but it threw in one more river crossing before we climbed up the steep ravine on the other side.

When we got to the top we felt as though we were on a very old road; grasses and things just don't grow in unnaturally straight lines like we were seein. After about a mile, we ran across this rusted truck and realized that this area must have been open to ranch vehicles at one point.

Now it's only open to pack animals. This was the seond set of mules that we had seen in the forest. Only later did we find out that people in the area make part of their yearly salary from collecting elk sheds. If you don't know what this is, at the end of every year male elk lose their horns and grow new ones. If you can find a six-by-six matched pair they can go for up to $600 on-line. Most of the mule deer sheds and smaller antler sheds go for about $12 a pound and are cut up for things like dog toys. It's amazing how many things I learned on this trip.

We spent the night at a cowboy camp just past where we saw the mule train. It was very nice because the trees helped to block the whipping wind. This is one of the most developed parts of Gila National Forest, but I have to say that the bathrooms might have been my favorite feature.

The next morning the weather was freezing! We got up and packed before dawn, but hiking in the early a.m. was trying. Luckily the late morning was spectacular. I know this photo does not look like a lot, but I have never been in so much non-grazed mixed grass prairie before. I know it doesn't look like anything special at first, but remember that this is what most of the mid-west should look like and I can attest to the fact that native grasses like this are an "endangered species" in most of the areas we've walked.

The grasslands went on for much of the morning. We walked through maybe 10 to 12 miles of them, coming ever closer to the dark mountains you can see in the back. The only downside was that the wind across the plains was awful... 20 to 30 mph for most of the day. Note to self: when you come back to finish this trail, bring a lot more body lotion! Oh and perhaps some gloves...

In the middle of the day the weather improved. The wind diminished a tad, it warmed up to the high 50's and I took the opportunity to nap during one of our breaks. There really is nothing more satisfying than a long walk, a small snack, and sleeping with the wind in the grass.

By evening the wind was in full revolt again. We found a small stand of mixed pines and set up camp. Seriously, I cannot imagine living here permanently with what locals have told us is the normal annual windy season. We piled tons of pine needles around our tent in preparation for the inevitable drop in temperature. You can see the dark piles beside my tent. It's suposed to go down to 24°F tonight... we really only packed for the mid 30's so I'm hoping for the best.

As you can see, no one got frostbite last night but it was also not the best night's sleep. We got up a bit later because we wanted to wait until the sun was up to get moving. This is Collins Park... no, seriously, it's on Google Maps and if you look closely there's a road sign announcing it. We met the first of a series of people here who helped us to make it through this impossibly cold and windy day. Remember we're in a National Forest so people do own land here, graze cattle here, and combat the elements. As we stood on the road taking photos, a local pulled over to talk to us. He was a jack-of-all-trades... I.e. he mended fences, controlled the wolf population, fixed trucks, rounded up cattle, and gave advice to CDT hikers. We really wanted to know what the weather was likely to be once we gained 2,000 more feet of elevation by the end of the day. He told us how he and his horse had been blown sideways across the prairie yesterday but that the hiking should get better once we reached the trees. He told us to clear the mountains if we could and camp in the valley. We thanked him and moved on. I did not know what we would do. It was 25 miles to clear the high mountains and we'd already hiked 6 miles that morning. The distances were impossibly far, and tonight was said to be in the mid 20's at our current elevation.

The rest of the day will sound impossibly fanciful, like a fairy story, except it is true. After we met the rancher at Collins Park, we hiked away and up into the mountains... there is nothing there but wild cattle and crazy CDT hikers. Oh and even crazier ranch hands who spend the entire "summer" mending fences. Mike and I came upon three Navajo men working for a local ranch. I stopped one of them on a 4-wheeler and asked him which trail was the fastest way to get off the mountain while still heading to Pie Town. He pointed to a forest road that went to a place called Apache Creek. I nearly cried. We'd walked for hours up a mountain and if we'd just turned right on a different forest road, in Collins Park, we'd have been in Apache Creek by nightfall. I thanked him and turned to go, at a loss for what to do. If we followed the CDT it was another 1,000 foot climb which meant another 3 to 5° temperature drop, but if we walked to Apache Creek it would take all day and then we'd need a 30 mile hitch to get back on track, but it would be 15° warmer at that elevation. Indecision filled me as we walked away. Then he said, "We ran out of fence-mending supplies and are heading into town today." I turned to stare at him. There is no way he could be going into town. I smiled and said, well if you pass us on the road will you give us a ride? As you can see, they did. We screamed down forest roads in their truck and they dropped us at the only store in town.

Now our luck got even better on the mountain; we got to talking and found out that they were going to a Navajo reservation that is 75 miles past the turnoff to Pie Town. I asked for a ride to that turnoff and he said OK but they needed to drop us off, unload the pickup at their boss's house and then come back for us. We had no choice but to say OK, got out at the convenience store, and waited... it was the longest 40 minutes but they came back and all 5 of us squeezed into their pickup. I have never spent a more enjoyable time with total strangers. We were immediately taken in as friends. They spoke to us in English, but to each other in Navajo. They told us about their jobs, their families and their lives. We worked out that the first man we spoke to was the father and these were his sons. All too soon we reached the town of Datil, New Mexico. When we got out I was so grateful; but then the oldest son, whom you will see in the next photo, asked me if I was wearing all my warm clothes. He did not wait for a response and gave me his gray sweatshirt. He doesn't know it, but I will heep it forever.

Datil is TINY but they have this gas station cafe that serves amazing Mexican food. Mike and I stood in the parking lot and had a Come-to-Jesus talk ... should we turn left, walk to Pie Town and finish the hike to Colorado or should we throw it in, admit we only packed for the mid 30's, and come off trail. As if he could sense our indecision, the son poked his head out of the cafe and said have some coffee with us. We had coffee, stuffed Sopapillas, and more stories that are, to be honest, too personal to relate here. Needless to say we parted ways after lunch, but I have no words good enough to express my gratitude.

As we walked out of Datil we had a plan to make it to Socorro, take the (Greyhound) Mexican bus to El Paso, rescue the Beaver Lodge from storage and find something else to do with our new-found time. Then reality set in. We left knowing it was 60 miles to Socorro, and also knowing that I have good luck hitching... After walking down the straightest, flattest and most heavily pickup-truck-traveled road I have ever been on for 8 miles, I was beginning to lose hope and looked for places we could put a tent for the night. I mean seriously, we are two hikers, and over 50% of the vehicles have beds we could hunker down in... I took to coming up with disparaging commentary for every eligible vehicle that passed...

Then one stopped and we were off to Magdalena with a family of professional Karaoke providers. As you can see, I fell asleep in the bed of their truck.

When we got to Magdalena we all needed a place to stay that was close to the Golden Spur Saloon where they were working. We started at the Western Motel and RV Park where they had a vacancy, but ended up at the High Country Lodge. Normally I don't care where I stay, but should you ever be near Magdalana stay here; it's worth the check-in hassle and odd rooms. This lodge is a non-profit that was set up to keep this motel running and to employ people in the area who need a second chance.

The family that picked us up dropped by our room to see if we wanted to come to Karaoke.... normally not my thing, but we had the BEST time. Everyone at the bar and the town were so friendly. The guy singing is Montana. His father owns the bar and he, firstly, sings very well and secondly, made us feel like we belonged. I sang three songs and was so happy to be there.

This is the Karaoke woman who picked us up. The entire Karaoke family lives ages away in Arizona but come to Magdalena because the people are so friendly. I can't blame them because Mike and I agree we'd drive out of our way to meet them again any time we are in the West. The next day they went way out of their way and dropped us in Socorro.