Follow Strider's Rambles

Day 26

We ate breakfast at the table on the church’s patio. Last night we’d noticed a haze and fire smell and it had gotten stronger. Time wound on and the General Store opened so we migrated there. Kelly gave me free drip coffee and I bought chips. My friends got second breakfast items, plus Bird got more snacks. Randy, who owned a dog kennel across the street, stopped by the store and said hello. We took turns watching for westbound vehicles. Pop got us a ride in a Subaru Outback. 

Out driver was Jean, on her way to the Black Mountain Lookout tower, where she has worked seasonally for 27 years. It’s a five mile hike into her tower and she carries fresh food items, canned and dry goods having been dropped off by mules at the beginning of the season. Jean checks in with Dispatch each morning and provides weather data. She called in the Hummingbird Fire, the one causing the current smoky conditions. Jean called in four fires that day, all started by lightning, but only the one took off. She drove us back to our trail intersection. I thought her job sounded interesting and peaceful.

Back on trail, we approached Monticello box canyon. It looked fascinating, though we didn’t peer inside as there was purportedly an ongoing landowner dispute. Six elk watched as we wound our way along Alamosa Creek, jumping it now and then to find the best path. It turned into a dry wash, which we followed, going under and over a couple fences. Brett’s route showed us continuing up the wash, however we found a handy dirt road that paralleled it along a ridge. I was excited to see cholla appear and turn into a cacti forest. We followed the road until we stopped for lunch and shortly after it brought us back to the route.

The early afternoon was a series of short road walks interspersed with cross-country travel down into and up out of drainages. When we reached Elk Tank, our water stop, it was dry. Uh oh, our next source was 13 miles distant. I had less than a liter of water left so Pop & Bird gave me some of theirs. I reexamined the water data and found a source near our campsite, ~6 miles distant, that had not been investigated. It had water last year so that buoyed our spirits. Meanwhile, Thorn and Bird dragged a log into the muck of Elk Tank to access a small puddle of water. It had tiny wriggling critters so we let it be.

Pop and I led the way along a ridge that offered lovely, though smoky, views. I looked back to see Thorn gesturing with her poles, it turned out we needed to be one ridge over. We dipped down and as we regained the proper ridge, I spotted a large Greater Short-horned lizard, colorful with black, gray, and orange splotches so that it looked like lichen. I caught it and it nearly filled the palm of my hand, so cute! We waited for Bird to catch up; turned out she had a cactus incident. She stepped on a cholla segment and several spines went through the sole of her rapidly deteriorating Altra shoe. A quick snack break helped her fully recover.

A very steep cross-country climb left us all slightly thirsty, all of us conserving water. Then, lo and behold, and unmarked circular, metal cattle trough with good clean water. We were all so excited and immediately sat to filter and drink. As we set out again, Bird gave Thorn and I magic mushrooms, then ate the last dose. (Pop let us have the experience, having eaten some earlier, though not enough to experience anything.) The day’s last two miles were a walk along Burma Road. After a while, I felt good, a bit floaty, and as if the landscape was a tad accentuated. Pop aptly described it as wearing 3D glasses.

The four of us cowboy camped on a grassy promontory that overlooked a wide drainage. I felt blissful, present, and ate my dinner entirely by moonlight. Pop complimented my peanut noodles; I’d given her one left from the last section. She handed over her phone’s star viewing app and I gazed at Hydra, a giant snake constellation to the right of the moon. We all laughed a lot. With the water we found, we could have wet breakfasts! Bird said that either Mirage (Michael referred to us as one when he came back for our hitch and couldn’t find us) or Wet Breakfast would be a good tramily name. We decided on the latter.

Day 27

I slept well until 3 am, when a breeze woke me, seemingly blowing right in between my hood and bag, brrr. On the bright side, breakfast and morning chores felt more companionable without the obstruction of tent walls. Still… though it is fun to cowboy camp from time to time, I do prefer my tent.

As we hiked away from camp, Thorn spotted a windmill and solar panel in the drainage. While Pop and Bird waited with our packs, Thorn and I took a side road to check the water source. At our approach, a pack of quail ran off, a promising sign. We found a full circular trough and a half full cylindrical metal tank with an audible water trickle. I gathered one liter. It was the source we intended to visit had we not found the surprise water trough.

We hiked Burma Road for three miles then turned onto Shipman Trail. After passing through two gates, the trail descended into the drainage of Shipman Canyon and entered the Apache Kid Wilderness. We gained 1,000 ft. in the next 1.5 miles. Scenic rock formations loomed on the horizon and green leafed trees edged the path. At Myers Spring, we took a break to gather water and snack. Thorn told me that we gained 1,000 ft. in the coming mile so I ate a Montana sugar cookie (thanks sis!). The climb went surprisingly fast and at the saddle I saw the ruins of an old cabin.

From the saddle, I descended into a burned out forest. I picked my way through fallen limbs and other debris. I was listening to country music and so happy to be backpacking that I almost cried happy tears. For context, it was windy day with periodic strong gusts, maybe 40 mph. A bit later, I was descending a hillside towards Neva Spring when two trees crashed down on the opposite hillside. The danger of walking through a burned forest in high winds hadn’t struck me until then. I checked for and found water in the spring. On the next climb, I was hungry, but I had to find Pop. Happily she had stopped at the top, making that our lunch spot. A few minutes later, Thorn showed up, a bit freaked out by wind/ tree danger. When Bird arrived, she was crying because a falling tree limb had hit her pack and she was justifiably scared. Pop gave her a long hug and she slowly calmed down.

We decided it was safer to walk in pairs for the rest of the day. Pop and I hiked together and I gave up on wearing my hat. When Shipman Trail became the Apache Kid Trail, the two of us admired the great view into a distant, smoky valley. I’m sure the high wind was not helping the fire. At the next saddle, Pop and I snacked and waited for the others. Less than two miles to camp, we debated going further with our extra daylight. That was before the next mile, which was an absolute mess of fallen trees and limbs. In spots, there was pink flagging that helped us follow the trail. I enjoyed going over, under, and around the debris, though it did slow us down. After we gathered water from a flowing spring, it was nearing dinner time.

Thorn scouted out the camp spot near the spring. It had a couple snags, yet enough spots to safely pitch our tents. Since Bird and Thorn’s tents were adjacent and it was our last dinner all together, Bird and Pop sat in Bird’s tent and Thorn and I sat in Thorn’s Nemo Hornet tent. We ate and chatted from doorway to doorway, sheltered from the wind. I returned to my tent to eat dessert and get cozy for a chilly night. It was a low mileage day, 12.5 miles, though with ~6,000 ft. gain.

Day 28

All four of us were still in our tents when I heard a voice and there was Freya, sitting down in between my tent and Bird & Thorn’s tents. She intended to camp in our spot last night, but ran into the blowdown mess and stopped on the saddle. Freya gave a trail days recap and said she was headed into Socorro. When I said that Magdalena had a hotel and restaurant, she said she might go there and took Bird and I’s phone numbers. Then Freya got cold and took off.

The four of us walked 0.2 miles together, then we exchanged hugs and goodbyes. I’ll miss Pop and Thorn, but they have jobs they need to get back to. Both Bird and I were happy to still have each other’s company! We spent the next four miles on a well switchbacked climb to the summit of Blue Mountain at 10,310 ft. From the top, I saw the Magdalena Mountains to the northeast and Apache Kid peak to the south. Not far from the summit, we accidentally took the wrong trail for 0.6 miles and had to retrace our steps. Then the trail was full of downfall for 1.5 miles.

The burn area gave way to live trees and we entered Water Canyon. Soon there were water pools and a trickling flow. When the trail took us near a large pool, we stopped to eat lunch and gather water for a 21 mile carry. It was a lovely spot and though it was nearly 2 pm, I made a small coffee. When we set out, my pack felt light despite the four liter water load. Perhaps it was the unobstructed, slightly downhill trail or simply not having to high step every third step. The canyon was absolutely pleasant with pines and occasional rocky sidewalls. We hiked briskly; I spotted a turkey and a short-horned lizard.

Two miles after we transitioned from the Apache Kid Wilderness to the Cibola National Forest, we crossed a low saddle between Water and West Red Canyons. The latter had sand of a lovely red hue, though we were in it only 0.2 miles before turning into Indian Creek Canyon. We hiked along the drainage for 2.4 miles before taking a quick snack break. Then began a couple mile climb, at first along vague trail, to Grassy Lookout. The 9,680 ft. summit had a firetower and 180 degree view, which I went the extra 100 yards to visit.

Our last 4.7 miles were on 4WD forest roads that followed the ridgeline of the northern San Mateo Mountains. It would have been pleasant except the wind had picked up again and buffeted us. Darkness fell and I walked by moonlight for a while before turning on my headlamp. We discussed stopping to eat dinner and decided we would get cold. Bird and I reached our intended camp site shortly before 9 pm. It took us a bit to find a spot somewhat sheltered from the wind. We set up our tents and ate dinner. For dessert, I ate my last Blondie brownie, so delicious! Pop InReach messaged that she and Thorn had reached the highway.

Day 29

I woke to wind and felt rather tired of it. When we left camp, we were back on the road for 3.6 miles. Both Bird and I left our puffy layers on to ward off the chill breeze. We talked about the AZT and it turned out that I met one of her trail companions, Dad Bod, going northbound on the CDT. (He and I had a great time chatting.) I also learned more about Bird’s time in Zambia.

We left the road and began a switchbacked descent into Potato Canyon. As the terrain leveled out, it became easier to walk in the drainage itself, excepting occasional fallen trees that we we’d become quite adept at traversing. Bird had to be somewhat careful as each of her Altras had a hole in its sole. Pop gave Bird insoles that provided some stability, however her feet were getting tender from the lack of support. The best part of Potato Canyon was a short series of pour-offs. We took the adventurous route through rather than going around. At the bottom, we stopped for a snack and water break. I saw a gorgeous yellow and black patterned butterfly.

Potato Canyon widened and we walked over white gravel sediment. Our next water source was Cooney Windmill, which had an earth and stone tank the size of a swimming pool, brimming with clear water that poured out of a pipe. The windmill itself was defunct, chained up so as not to turn, with the well’s power provided by a solar panel. We filled up bottles for a 21 mile carry. Then we hiked along Little Rosa Canyon, climbed out of it, did an easy cross country segment where I unfortunately snagged my pants on a barb while crawling under a fence, and ended up on a dirt road. I spotted two antelope and later three elk.

Bird’s shoe situation worsened and we decided to try for a ride into town on 107, a graded dirt road and connector between Magdalena and I-25. After walking the road for a mile and seeing only one cyclist, I checked for and found cell service; Bird called the Magdalena Motor Inn. Nancy got us a ride, but said her friend Denise was worried about the road condition and asked us to walk toward them. As we did so, two pickups passed and the second one stopped. The kindly rancher, Greg, drove us toward town. He was curious about our journey and we learned that he split time between his ranch and Las Cruces. Greg had intended to turn off at his ranch, however he kept going until he saw Denise’s white SUV. We said goodbye to Greg and transferred vehicles. At odds with what we heard earlier, Denise appeared at ease in her Audi, wheeling across the desert and bouncing over a berm to get back on the road. We sped toward town while she bubbled away about Burning Man and living out of her vehicle.

When Bird called, Nancy said the motel had no vacancy. Somehow, she found us a room and then she did our laundry. Nancy was amazing! Our room was adorable with a super comfy couch, king bed, and tiny kitchenette. I got dish soap out of the hiker box and we cleaned our pots. The hot shower felt amazing! After Bird confirmed our resupply length, we walked to Dollar General for her resupply and dinner items.

Day 30

I was up early to chat with my parents; a call that didn’t happen due to phone issues. On the positive side, I got hot coffee. Frustratingly, I chatted with tech support while doing other tasks and there was no resolution. At 11 am, we checked out of our room and walked to a coffee house. The owner made us milkshakes and while we drank them she told us to watch out for wolves, snakes, and cartel members. She also filled us in on local resistance to a proposed data center.

The 107 intersection was on the edge of town. While Bird worked on an essay, I put out my thumb when a car slowed for the turn. Eventually an older couple offered us a ride. Sharon was a birder and her husband John was driving them the length of 107, making a loop back to Socorro. It was a drive they did once a month to look for birds. They also had their dogs, Susie and Benny, both over 10 and excited to be in the car. We saw a roadrunner, turkey vulture, and two antelope pods, four in the first and five in the second. It was fun learning about birds typical to the area.

About an hour after we got back on trail, we were walking up a rocky drainage, when a deer bounced up the hillside. I pointed it out, but it was gone before Bird looked up. Less than a minute later, it was running back our way and a mountain lion tackled it. The lion was so fast and powerful! The two rolled and tangled a short distance, both a similar color, the lion apparent due to its tail. This was all about 50 ft. to our right with the lion forcing the deer down near the edge of the drainage.

Bird and I shared whispered amazement at the spectacle. To give the lion space for its meal, we backtracked a few steps and took a curving route to the top of the adjoining ridge. For a time, a tree blocked our view, though when we could once again see the spot, it was only the deer. Darn, I’d hoped to get a picture of the two together! We must have startled the lion. Surprisingly, the deer lifted its head, got up, and bounced off to the top of the opposite ridge, where we then lost sight of it. We’d been so sure it was dead! Bird and I stayed high until the ridge dropped back to the drainage. The lion did not reappear, hopefully it got to complete its meal. What an epic way to see my first mountain lion in the wild!

For the next hour or so, my body was alert, my thoughts on our amazing encounter, and my eyes on our surroundings. We continued cross country up drainages and up a ridge. Near the ridge’s summit, we had a snack and reflected on our amazing encounter. Then we hiked short road segments interspersed with cross country travel, easy due to the wide open nature of the terrain, the high desert (~7,000 ft. hills between mountain ranges. Our final 1.5 miles were a nearly flat road walk. Bird called Thorn and we told her about our mountain lion encounter. Then we set up camp near a road intersection. Bird talked with Mitchell while she cooked her dinner and I ate mine. I reset my phone’s network settings and got it working so I called my parents. It was a pleasantly warm evening.