Adios New mexico

Surprisingly enough, the night was quite warm. Even being surrounded by snow at a high elevation, the temps didn’t drop much. I was nicely protected from wins by a bunch of trees, and I slept fairly soundly. I’m sure the 34 miles had something to do with that as well. 

I woke up early and was out by 6. I wanted to try and get the crunchy snow so I didn’t have to post hole too much. I put my feet into my wet shoes, and instantly they were frozen. However, since it was so warm, the snow didn’t really crust over. So post hiking was the name of the game today. With already wet feet, I barely felt my toes at all for the remainder of the day. The silver lining? Walking through snow, or water, didn’t matter. They were soaked none the less. 

The trail was almost non existent. Foot prints lead astray in every direction. The battle of whether to go the slightly easier route of stepping in semi safe foot prints (sometimes 2-3 feet deep in the snow) or follow the trail and trudge my own path, essentially ran the day. Even more tricky, was the fact that there were downed trees everywhere. You’d think covered by snow would make them easier to navigate, however, it just meant they were harder to see as I fell into holes of knee high snow. One could easily twist an ankle, sprain a toe, or knee. I almost lost my shoes on more than one occasion. Once way too deep to retrieve without diving in head first...

Even though it was only 7 miles to the road, it took nearly 4 hours to complete. Discouraged, frozen (but odd enough, simultaneously hot), the miles went at a sludges pace. The mental battles ensued, and I was not a happy camper. New Mexico was making me fight for the last few miles, and they weren’t going by easily. 

But, fought I did. And soon enough, I made it to the border. Simply marked by two license plates from CO and NM (and a skull) I snapped a photo and continued onwards. Too drained to really relish in the glory. 

I finally got down to the road, and saw Baguette! As mentioned before, we started on the same day and had bounced around eachother since. She had gotten stuck in a snow storm and her shoe did get pulled off in a post hole and she almost lost it. In the process of post holing, she did sprain her toe and was going slowly. But a trooper, she is. One of the toughest on the trail in my opinion. 

With herself, another hiker named Sweep and I on the road, we were concerned about a 3 person hitch. Not more than 5 minutes later, a fella walks out from the northbound side of the trail who has a car across the street and offers us a ride into town. He actually maintains the next 3 miles of trail, and was well versed on the hikers need to get rides, and off we went. 

Very quickly, in my tired and mentally drained state, I gave up on the concept of grabbing my gear and running back to trail. So I took it slow, grabbed some coffee and breakfast, and headed to the hotel. Getting the last room available, I then got my resupply and gear from the PO (thanks Lauren!) and went back to rest. 

I sent a few things up to Pagosa Springs (mainly extra food I accident bought, and my old shoes incase my new boots weren’t working out), then had dinner with Sunshine and to my surprise, Roger That, who I thought would have continued onwards. However, due to crummy weather coming in, he decided to wait it out in town. 

All in all, one of the tougher days on the trail, even though it was definitely the shortest mileage wise. BUT it also marked the end of the first state, which is contrastingly exciting. 

Now, the battles of what to do tomorrow. Part of me wants to go out on the main trail, even though reports are that it’s worse in terms of snow, and at 64 miles, much longer than the 7 I had just had. Another option is to head along the Great Divide alternate, which is at lower elevation and less likely to have snow. Finally, which day to head out? Wait out the bad weather and head out Sunday like most folks? Or just push on forward tomorrow? I’ve already taken so much time off, especially here, I’m not sure I can justify waiting around longer. 

No decisions have been made, but early in the morning I’ll make a call, and then the next state will truly begin.