The desert is beautiful! There is always a “Patagonia” sunset and sunrise and the prickly cactus and plants are all flowering right now. Even though we are mostly hiking the desert floor there is always a view of mountains in the distance. There is so much to be thankful for out here! The sun is so intense that you can’t help but be thankful for every breeze or occasional cloud. We have resorted to climbing between two spiked bushes to get away from the sun.
The water caches and the guys refilling them daily are angels. It’s so nice to know that there is for sure water ahead. And we have been lucky enough to see Tim (a shuttle driver and trail Angel) twice at road crossing and a water cache) and each time he handed us each a Gatorade! Thank you Tim for all you do! We also met Radar (another trail Angel restocking water) and he had hiked the AT back in 13 (same year as me)so we had an interesting conversation about hikers we both knew.
Other than the trail Angels, we were pretty much alone until day three when we stopped at a cattle water tank and found several hikers hanging out in the shade (Skip, Skeeter, Happy Six and D20). Skip said he had been thinking about a trail name for Rebecca and suggested TBD which he said could stand for “the best daughter” or “to be determined.” It’s kind of funny because on her blog she had written trail name TBD (to be determined). We left the tank at the same time as Skip and chatted with him for a bit before he left us in the dust. Our goal that night had been to get to the next water cache but we saw a perfect spot two miles before the cache and decided to set up there.
The next morning we started hiking at 5:30 using our headlamps and passed a tent and then met Tuba and her partner at the water cache. We would cross paths a few times that day. It was a crazy hot day and we ended up walking off trail to a very nice tree to hang out for an hour. The heat and intense sun were just draining my energy and I felt like I was going to slow TBD (Becca’s new trail name) down. Sadly she was slowing down because her knee was sore. We stopped at the last water cache where Skeeter was taking a break and made dinner. After dinner and a chat with trail Angel Tim who was refilling the water cache we put on our headlamps and decided to night hike and get as close to town as possible. It was beautiful! The cactus and sage we had seen all day took on a different beauty at night. And it was so cool and refreshing at night! We ended up a miles and a half from town and just cowboy camped (camped under the stars). It was a perfect night!
We made it to town 20 minutes before the Mexican restaurant opened and he led out the amazing hiker tables at Econolodge one last time.
After a big breakfast we headed to the Dimensions truck for extra large blueberry smoothies where we met Chad (another Canadian on the trail). We chatted with him a bit before heading to Felicia’s house for showers, laundry and pack overhauls. I had so much leftover food from this first section that we decided to mail forward a box to Silver City where we had originally planned on just buying food. With all the hygiene chores done we headed to the post office and the grocery store for something to eat and at both places we bumped into other hikers. We had dinner in the shade next to the grocery store and then headed to the library where we were promised charging outlets and water. It’s really nice
of them but I don’t like leaving my pack anywhere and they insisted that the packs be left at the front door.
Overall I was surprised by how well we managed this section. After seeing some
of the injuries (cactus spines that had gone right through shoes and into skin, blisters, sore ankles…)when we first arrived in Lordsberg I had thought it might be a struggle. Glad that is wasn’t too bad!
Trouble
Day 1: 13.8miles/22.2km
Day 2: 19.7miles/31.7km
Day 3: 22.6 miles/36.km
Day 4: 25.9 miles/41.7km
Day 5: 1.5 miles into town
“Hiking is a bit like life: The journey only requires you to put one foot in front of the other…again and again and again. And if you allow yourself the opportunity to be present throughout the entirety of the trek, you will witness beauty every step of the way, not just at the summit.” Unknown
Thank you for sharing the first five days of your trek!
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