Tuesday, November 5th

Tuesday, November 5th. Day 140

Today's miles =  24.1 Total CDT miles = 2,275

It rained last night. It was raining this morning when I woke up. It's so hard to get motivated in the morning when you can hear the cold rain hitting your tent. But somehow I rolled over, lit my stove, and cooked my oatmeal. By the time I ate my breakfast and was ready to get out of the tent the rain had stopped!! I thought that it may start to rain again soon so I took the opportunity to pack up as quickly as possible.

The first mile or so today followed the same dirt jeep road as yesterday but eventually the road just stopped. I had to cross country down a steep canyon, follow a river, and bushwhack through thick downed trees and upturned earth. The September storms in Colorado had washed all the rain down to New Mexico and destroyed a lot of land and waterways.  It was a mess to hike through. I had to ford the river countless times, climb over, under, and through barbed wire fences, rock hop a very long way, and crawl to get through some of the jungle-like thick blown over trees. It would have been downright fun if it wasn't 18 degrees outside, if I wasn't on a time restraint, and if I hadn't just hiked from Canada. But I admit I was getting rather frustrated at some points. The rest of the day was a breeze compared to this morning. Eventually I climbed out of the canyon and came across another dirt road which the maps indicated would take me in the general direction I wanted to go. I followed that road for 13 miles up a mountain...then another mountain...and another. This road too eventually ended and I had to find my way down into another canyon. This canyon is far more impressive than the last but the damage from the storms is even more obvious. There was no trail. It was my impression there was suppose to be in this spot. It looked like a dam broke and all the water came crashing through the canyon destroying everything in it's path. I had to ford the Gila River and climb right back up the same canyon I just climbed down. I didn't make it to the top. I'm actully camped pretty low in the canyon tonight in a burn area. I'm hoping to get up early tomorrow and see the cliff dwellings before making my way to Doc Campbell's, their homemade icecream, and the hot springs I'm going to soak in all night.

Oh, and I got attacked by an angry cactus monster today. It took forever to get all the sharp things out of my legs.