So it begins

I don’t know what to say about the first few days on the CDT lying here safe in a motel in Lordsburg the last four and a half days start to feel like a dream. Though, the scratches, sunburns, the copious thorns from cacti, all give testament to their reality. As the shuttle drove us deep into the desert the reality started to sink in. We passed the Crazy Cook Monument (below) and there it was, the terminus and the beginning of the journey for us Nobos.

There were four others beginning their journey, none of which had thru-hiked a long trail before. These brave souls have chosen to cut their teeth on the CDT.

As the shuttle abandoned us to our chosen fate in a cloud of dust, we nervously eyed our surroundings. The Mexican/ US border was marked by an ancient dilapidated, barb wire fence with a rusted gate. Tire tracks in the dirt showed where locals (or drug smugglers according to our driver) crossed at will. We each posed for our starting picture and every one eyed each other waiting to see who would be the first to take the plunge.

The only thing was, there was no trail just trackless waste. I checked my guthooks app and saw that it was somewhere off to the right so off I went. Soon I saw a marker sign

And headed in that general direction, once I walked past it I walked straight and soon spotted another and headed towards it and so continued on picking my way thru the cacti and rocks. About this time one of the other hikers ,a young lady, came up behind me and said she was trying out the name Dare-Bear and asked if she could pass. I let her go and a few mins later she stopped and said she had lost the trail. I checked guthooks and the trail had gone to the right. We were on the wrong side of a deep wash. We scrambled down and over and headed cross country eventually we could see a marker in the distance. This showed me a problem with my strategy of walk to sign and then head straight till I could see the next one. If the trail turned and there was no marker in sight then you were probably going to go the wrong way.

So all I could do was look for signs, sometimes depending on the soil I could follow footprints and tracks from those that had come before and frequently check the app to see where I was. Dare-Bear stopped for a break around mile 3 and I forged ahead. Looking behind there was no sign of anyone else. Then the signs disappeared all together.

The trail went down into an old stream bed and followed it along for miles. I grew complacent, daydreaming, praying for a shade tree, just following the twist of the old dry creek. I realized I hadn’t checked my position in a bit and pulled out my phone. I was off trail, somewhere, unmarked it had left the stream.

The map showed it was 800 yards off to my right. The only problem was there was a rather large cactus and brush covered hill directly in that direction. But since I hate backtracking I climbed out of the stream and headed up the hill. I’m not sure what all the thorn covered plants that live out in the wastes are called and generally just lump them under cacti and thistles and thorn trees, but I am sure they all grew on that hill. As I scrambled up, the terrain underfoot turned into loose shale which tried to slide with every step. And with every slide there was a waiting thorn to stop your fall. In this way I reached the summit hoping to see any sign of the trail on the other side. But alas as per the bear of song, there was only another mountain. I checked my app and it showed the trail at under 300 yards away over that next hill. So with a heavy sigh I started down the slope I was on in order to find my way over the next. After a steep sliding, thorn dodging descent and another climb up. I could see a flat barren basin stretching to the horizon and according to guthooks somewhere out there was the trail. So in the blistering heat I worked my way down the hill and set off to find it.

Eventually I crossed the red line on my map that said I was on the CDT, though it looked no different that anywhere else. Regardless, I followed the line on the map and marched on. The first water cache was at mile 14 and I arrived around 3 pm desperately in need of a break. The 5 water caches between the border and Lordsburg are maintained by the CDT conservancy and the water is part of the price of the shuttle ticket. They are sporadically placed near roads and are supposed to fill in the long gaps between the other sources, which are cattle tanks.

There was no shade to be had so I filled up my water made sure every bit of skin was covered and laid down in the dirt for a nap in the sun .

(that lump is me)

Around 430 I decided to get a few more miles in and headed back to the trail. At the junction of trail, and water cache I saw a person standing about 100 yards south looking slightly lost. It was Dare-Bear looking for the water. I pointed her in the right direction and she said she was camping there for the night. I struggled on for 4 more miles and found a slightly less rocky patch of dirt at mile 18 to sleep on. It seemed pointless to pitch the tent, I would probably just break all the stakes trying to pound them into the rock hard ground. So, I cowboy camped under the stars, my first day on the CDT.

Day two was more of the same , blistering heat, dodging thorns and just trying to stay near the trail. Around 10 am I passed a couple of other hikers that hadn’t yet started their day. They said they had began the day before me and I was the 1st person they had seen since they left the terminus.

On I trudged, For a while the trail was marked with cairns and you could almost see one from the other, which made navigation much easier but it wasn’t too last and soon it was back to faint footprints and bushwhacking. I made it to the second water cache at mile 25 and filled up my bottles but not my extra sawyer bags as there was another water source on the map only 5ish miles ahead. This turned out to be a mistake. When I arrived at the source I realized it was a tank with a hose that ran into a muddy hole. There was no water coming out of the hose and no way to turn it on. The only water available was full of manure and other cow secretions. I had no choice but to continue on and head for the next source with the 40ish ounces of water I had remaining. It was a broiler of a day and the next water was almost 10 miles away at mile 39.1 A 21.1 mile day.

On I went sipping water, making it last. At some point I was stopping every mile or less to sit and rest then shouldering my pack and staggering through the barren waste in search of liquid gold. Up hill and down, I traveled on. Eventually I made it to the most glorious watering hole and promptly collapsed in the dirt. When I returned to my feet I saw grass and shade (or would be shade if the sun wasn’t already sinking below the horizon). A beautiful little pond fed by a tank with a windmill pump and a hose and coming out of that hose ; cool clear water! I drink my fill and then, promptly threw it all up. Crap I had gotten too hot. Sip the water, sip the water.

I cowboy camped there in the dirt that night. I wasn’t able to eat much but choked down what I could and passed out under the stars.

I was up and walking at dawn, I was still having trouble eating and knew I had to take advantage of the cooler hours in the morning. I stopped for a break at the third cache; mile 45, and filled up again. I was wilting in the sun and had little energy. Taking frequent breaks I made it to a tire waterer at mile 50.5 and there was shade, glorious shade. I stayed there until 430 and then pushed on to mile 56.9 for a 17.8 mile day.

I was up again at dawn on day 4. I was still having problems eating and even holding down water. I realized I probably hadn’t consumed more than 1000 calories total in the last 2 plus days so I was going to have to push it to town and take a day off to restore equilibrium to my system. This meant I needed to cover as close to 20 miles as possible so I could do a 10 or so mile nearo into town on day 5 which would be Saturday. I also couldn’t risk overheating again so I used the same strategy as the day before. I walked just over 11 miles and found some shade behind a water tank to wait out the worst of the heat in. I was really struggling and having to stop and drop my pack frequently, sometimes twice or more in a mile.

I stayed in the shade from one till 430 then pushed on and on. I walked till dark and past. The whole world was rocks, not tame AT rocks but their wild cousins that had never known the trod of a hiking boot. Angry rocks endlessly cooked by the sun. And if there was a spot free of rocks there was brush and thorns, with an occasional cow thrown in. There was no where remotely free of rocks to lay down for the night. Finally around 830 The trail was following a rock road and I saw a sandy spot in the ditch alongside big enough to lay in; so, I laid out my ground sheet and slept in the ditch. Just another creature of the desert resting however I could.

Day 5, I had made it to mile 76.6 the day before (19.3 miles) so It was less than 10 miles to town at mile 85. I crawled out of my ditch at dawn and started focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. The trail often crosses barb wire fences and there aren’t always gates,so I had to climb over fence after fence. It leads into gullies, and washes, and old stream beds; in and out of all kinds of rifts in the landscape. Nothing is easy or flat, at least not for long. There are bones scattered all along from cows and dear and who knows what else. Back on day 2, I actually came across a recently deceased cow lying in the middle of the trail. The desert had claimed it as her own. But there is much beauty here in the harshness where life holds on. I saw two small wild pigs in the morning ( looked like peccaries but I don’t know if they have those here) Jackrabbits and birds are everywhere. In some places the dirts covered in wildflowers and the cacti are in bloom.

I made it to town, going to take a day off and try to get all the thorns out, take a dozen showers and attempt to remove all the dirt. The CDT is testing me, seeing if I’m worthy, and it’s barely begun.