7.10.2013

Gail called from from Atlantic City, WY after her first leg of the CDT this year from Rawlins, WY. See here for the route and the terrain. She said that overall the terrain is "harsh, man alive geeze", but the natural sources of water are really "lovely".

She said that it's been hot, but not too uncomfortable, except between 3 and 5 pm. She had one stretch of trail that was 30 miles long, with a cattle watering tank at mile 20. The tank was there, but it was too gross for her to filter and drink - and she's filtered some pretty disgusting cow drinking water before. But, she got some trail magic. A sheepherder was camped nearby with a mobile home and a horse trailer. Gail said she approached the trailer expecting a "Brokeback Mountain experience." She asked the guy for some water, and he said sure, so she asked if she could hang out in the shade, and he said yes. She ended up hanging her hammock inside his (clean) horsetrailer for the night. She said she had a pleasant evening with the guy, who was apparently her age and nice (I didn't ask if he was cute.) He owns 1000 sheep and has leased 1/2 million acres of federal land to graze them on. Gail has two pet sheep, so she told the guy that she has sheep too. Later it came up in conversation that she only has two.

She's walking through BLM land, and so she sees the white crewcab trucks frequently and has talked to a few BLM staff. The trucks never have BLM badges on them, and she asked why. They said that if the badges were on there, the truck would be a target for vandalism. The government is not generally regarded in Wyoming. But she said it's sort of funny to her since the white crewcabs are so obviously BLM. No need to discuss the politics of the situation on behalf of my mom or myself here.

Gail's staying at a place that has scotch tastings twice a month, and she scheduled herself there on a scotch tasting night. She's doing laundry first in the bathtub and taking a nap, but then heading to the saloon after. She will call me again later with a blow by blow scotch report. She's not much of a scotch drinker, but her hosts said they'd take care of that. She's also looking forward to a real meal. She hasn't been eating much because it's too hot to eat. She says that even her Snickers bars look like "a hot turd".

Gail should mail me a camera card tomorrow so I can post photos.

Back on the Trail

Today was officially Gail's first day back on the CDT. She is in Silver City with friend Sharon, picking up where she left the official trail last spring due to wildfires. It was at Silver City where hikers were starting to pick alternate routes in hopes of going around the fires.

So, today's hike was an unfinished road walk into town (Sharon had picked her up at the trail.) "Today Sharon drops me off at the driveway lined with dozens of old toilets to finish my roadwalk into town. I hike out tomorrow. We are staying in same old historic hotel and having dinner at same favorite restaurant to get me back in the vibe."

I find the toilety kickoff amusing since she will be mostly without sanitation. I took her to lunch before I dropped her off at the airport, and she was very impressed by the hand dryer in the bathroom. I told her that there were going to be none of those on the trail.

Tomorrow's hike starts with breakfast at restaurant followed by driving the already-done road walk out of town up to the trail that was closed, and then starting off on foot.

Gail is as usual ever so slightly grumpy getting started - it's her special way of being nervous. I'm sure I'll get the usual happy happy joy joy calls from now on though. There are wildflowers (I almost accidentally typed wildfires again) and conditions are good.

She will pull into Gila Hot Springs on Monday.

Cease and desist

Gail and Greg navigated and postholed through 95% snow for a week. Gail said they were doing one mile an hour much of the time. She's calling it quits for real this time. This year is not the year for hiking the CDT - it's neither fun nor safe. It sounded much more like walking to the South Pole.

Greg and Rhianna kidnapped her and whisked her off to Durango, where she's currently doing the shower/eat/drink/sleep thing and is plotting her return home. She will pick up the CDT next summer, although she's not sure of the order yet. Although she's not generally a very good quitter, she's in very good spirits and is looking forward to coming home, reorganizing her gear and resetting her sights.

Chama NM

Gail took off again from Cuba, NM last Sunday and joined up with Greg for the last little bit of this leg to Chama. She and Greg by now have coffeed, breakfasted, showered, coffeed and all that good stuff in tiny Chama. It was a bit tough going on this leg, with lots of GPS navigating along dirt roads, 4WD track and the occasional trail. Gail said she was told to budget at least a total of one hour a day for GPS perusal on stretches of the CDT and she said that was about right on this stretch. She said that signs and rock cairns were few and far in between, and sometimes the cairns were wrong. However she did manage to get in one 20 mile day anyway.

Gail and Greg were both depending heavily on GPS when they met. The way Gail told it, they were both walking while looking down at their GPSs when they practically bumped into each other. Gail was pretty happy to see another human after not seeing anyone for five days. And it was Greg!

Chama is in NM, but this morning Greg and Gail crossed the border to CO to get to Highway 17 before getting a ride back south to Chama, which is the nearest town. They have a zero day tomorrow before heading back up to CO for another stretch. Gail is happy for the zero day because the weather is a little cold and wet right now. They have their restaurant picked out for dinner tonight, although it's a mile from where they are staying so in her words they'll "be doing some walking."

Hike on pause

Gail's at Campe Verde in AZ. She'll likely take a month "off" and start up again on schedule near CO. The fires are still going, and they've sort of been the last straw for hiking through desert in a year when rainfall has been 5% of normal. She is in great spirits and is being well taken care of by Sharon and Bill, so do not worry about her. She's also waiting to hear some trail reports from those have resumed north of the fires.

Update: Gail has a plane ticket to Seattle Monday May 23. She's doing day hikes, weeding and gin and tonic drinking with Sharon and Bill until then. Lucky.

Back in Silver City

Gail called from Silver City, said something about taking a shower and finding a nice ale. She is now strongly considering coming back to Seattle until it's showtime for Colorado because there are strong winds forecast this weekend, not good for fighting fires in such a dry year. Think calm thoughts for her this weekend. However, she's got great attitude and is keeping her mind on fun. She can come back and do the rest of NM next year before she heads back to WY for the finish.

Although I think I'm going to use my daughterly persistence to see if I can get her to start back up at I-40 since it makes sense logistically, to me at least. My daughterly persistence has got me many things in the past, including clothes, hairspray and a puppy, and I even got her to play Scrabble with me a couple of times, so let's see if I still have the touch.

Postcard from Silver City