CDT Days 37 – 39 – Transitioning into the mountains!

This section of trail was a mix of green and wet mountain meadows along with sandstone cliffs and bluffs that felt like the desert again. We hiked over the Rio Chama, which qualifies as a full-blown river.

Day 37 – Mile 674.3 – Wilderness Areas

Today we hiked through two wilderness areas. The first was the San Pedro Wilderness, which we entered yesterday. It included high meadows and elk. The next was the Chama River Canyon wilderness, which we entered in the afternoon and exited in the evening. This region has towering colorful sandstone cliffs above a red sand and sagebrush canyon floor. The views here are amazing. Just when we think we’ve seen everything New Mexico has to offer, it gives us more! At the end of the day we made it to the Rio Chama — this is not just a stream, but an all out river! I went swimming and Renee washed her feet. We are camping just a bit up the trail from the river, so we can hear it’s melodic rushing in the distance. For dinner we had coconut PB noodles. Yum! -T

Day 38 – Mile 699.4 – Cicada sounds

This morning we enjoyed three coffees and tortillas with peanut butter among the sagebrush with wonderful views of the colorful sandstone of the Rio Chama Valley. (Not the lightest-weight breakfast, but I needed a break from overnight, cold-soaked oatmeal.) We started the day with a climb to the top of the sandstone bluffs and had even better views. It was another hot day. On our lunch break, we soaked our feet in a stream while eating cold soaked rice and beans. One of the best parts of New Mexico is that we’ve been able to buy dehydrated refried beans at almost every resupply stop! We have been hearing the loud electric-sounding buzz of cicadas for a few days. We are camped in a pine forest. There must be cows nearby because we are hearing strange mooing/howling. -R

Day 39 – Mile 725.3 – Wild flowers and dead cows

Early this morning we stopped to fill up water at a cow trough and chatted with some section hikers. They told us about two dead cows nearby. We didn’t go check out the two they told us about, but as we hiked on we spotted two more in the next mile. They looked like they had died within the last few days because they were bloated and had gone stiff. Their legs were sticking straight up in the air! We don’t know what killed them, but we hope it wasn’t the water we are also drinking… So far we feel fine 👍. As we hiked on we passed through rolling mountains covered in fields of beautiful wildflowers. Also, I noticed that the stones are all rounded around here. That, coupled with the rolling mountains, makes me think that this area was once glaciated, but I have to look it up. We also walked through very green Aspen and oak forests. All around, the greenness of today stood out. For both of us, the high elevation of the day made us sleepy, but it is good conditioning for the much higher elevations ahead. Toward the end of the day we chatted with two more section hikers who told us that Dirty Money is only two hours ahead of us. She’s been two hours ahead since we all left Cuba four days ago! Maybe we’ll catch her tomorrow, but probably not. At the end of the day we saw a large bird doing a mating dance and call. For dinner we are having Thai curry. Yum!! -T