Mountain Cat

Today started at the wee, dark, cold hours of 3am. Not by choice, but with hairs on the back of my neck raised and chills in my bones. A mountain lion was entirely too close to me making their weird barking noises that sounds like a teridactal choking. Once, was it a dream? Twice, no, it wasn’t. Three times, damn that’s close! I shone my headlamp at full blast out in the direction and caught a quick glimpse of eyes not more than a hundred feet away, only for them to as quickly disappear never to be seen or heard again. 

Quite startled, especially camping on my own with no fellow hikers to say wtf to, I was now awake. Not more than five minutes later, a car drives by, stops a few hundred feet passed where I was camping, reversed and pulled into the pull off across the street from me (where I had almost camped, but instead tucked myself in the trees on the opposite side to hide from the wind). The car turns off, hear some doors and weird buzzing noises, and try to make myself not noticeable. Fortunately, I think it must have just been a tired driver looking for a place to pass out for a few hours... maybe?

Either way, about 4am I fell back asleep. Until I was then woken up at 5am to the pitter-patter of rain hitting my tent. My fly doors were rolled up and unstaked, so I quickly unrolled them and hooked them to eachother. They were flapping in the wind, but at least would prevent drops of water from getting inside. Only then I realized, it was actually snow. 

I managed to get another 30 mins of sleep, but then said oh well and started to make breakfast and pack up. What a cold morning, and day. The sun was mostly blotted out by thick clouds that would sometimes spit out white mini hail/snow. However, when there was a break in the clouds, it would shine brightly and heat up instantly. Add on the cold breeze, and there was really no proper way to dress, so o finally accepted I was just going to be cold, and hot, at the same time. 

For the most part, the day was pretty quiet. After the mornings excitement, I guess the trail decided it didn’t want to throw too much at me at once. I actually didn’t even see anyone until later in the day when I was approaching a lookout tower, and that was a quick pass by in a car. 

Then the descent from hell began. And old unused dirt road for miles on end, filled with every little tiny rock you could ever imagine. My feet were screaming already, and to go over this for hours truly killed. It was brutal. I couldn’t think straight, or walk straight, and every step hit each and every blister the rocks could find. 

Soon, but definitely not soon enough, I reached the bottom and a normal dirt road, with actual dirt! It felt better, but my hurting feet didn’t care. 7.5 miles left, of the 26 mile day. Yes yes yes, I know I said I only needed to do just over 20s to get to Pie Town, but while researching water sources and spots to camp, I stumbled upon Davila Ranch. Didn’t really know anything about it, but it said it was a CDT rest stop with a fridge, laundry, showers, and a toilet. Well shoot, can’t say no to that. Feet, you’ll have to survive yet another 26er. 

6 miles left, and I was basically running. Smooth ground, wide dirt road, and soon to be in a comfortable place. 3 miles left, and old fella drives down, rolls down his side window and an adorable doggo comes barreling out, looking for all the petting and love. While slightly soft spoken, probably about 85, and drinking a beer, he asks if I have everything I need. I thank him for stopping and say yes, but then before parting ways, I look at the beer in his hand and say, ‘unless you’ve got an extra beer’. He points to the cooler in the back, and I grab a cold one. Roll over to the drivers side to thank him, and cheers with his beer, and off I roll. 

And roll I did. 23 miles of hiking, a couple clif bars and energy chews, and only 1.5 liters of water drank - woo was I feeling good. Feet pain? Psh. No worries here, life’s good. 

The next three miles goes by fairly quickly, and I find myself at Davila. 

Essentially, it’s a corrugated steel lean to on steroids. There’s a little “inside” area where there’s a fridge, satellite WiFi, a washing machine, and a couple propane burners. Fridge stocked with eggs, onions, potatoes and Coca-Cola, as well as cans of beans to the side. On the other side are two stalls, one toilet, one shower. What a glorious (and hot!) shower it was. The best part is, not a single person here! In the trail register I look back at previous days with anywhere from 5-12 people per night. I’ve got it all to myself, and how wonderful it feels. A nice long hot shower, can of beans, and setup my sleeping bag on my hammock over looking the beautiful rolling hills, as well as an old broken down log cabin easily from the 1800s and a few cows rolling by. Heaven to a hiker. Fully donation based, these folks drive 3 hours from Albuquerque to keep this place running and stocked for the benefit of weary travelers and hikers, and oh what a glorious stop over it is. Thank you all so very much!!

Now with a full belly, and relatively clean body, I get ready for a good nights sleep. Tomorrow I “only” have 15 miles to get into town where I’ll end my first bit of CDT to go have a wonderful weekend with Lauren, and it’ll start off with a hearty egg breakfast.