CDT – Day 5 – Lordsburg to Powerlines

5/29/15, Day 5 – Cow Camp – 1st night alone

Lordsburg – Powerlines
21.3, 106 Trip Miles

Sunny, 80’s Windy Blue Bird Day

8:50 to 6:45 pm

Critter Count

29 Lizards

3 Horny Toads

2 Jack Rabbits

Totals

43 Lizrads

9 Horny Roads

5 Jack Rabbit

3 Snakes

I slept like a bear last night. I slept in until 6:30! As I packed the night before I was eating my free breakfast by 7. I didn’t eat all that much to be honest. 

As I sat next to a giant ice machine in the parking lot of the grocery store Apple pulled in and told me everything I needed in the grocery store was available at the Dollar General. I thanked him again and told him how I was cynical about him yesterday and that I journaled it. How wrong I was. 

me having a little fun.

I stopped at the PO to ship a bunch of extra food and maps home. Then hit the General Dollar for peanut butter and hand sanitizer. After this it was two miles of road walking followed by miles of shadeless open desert. 

I finally found a tree that offered some relief from the ever oppressive sun. I had lunch and tried to enjoy what rest I could. After that it was more of the same. 

I caught and passed 2w who took a different way out of town. We would share a large shady area under at tree. Yes a real TREE! I haven’t seen once since Colorado I think. We met again in a beautiful grove of trees, that’s right a whole groups of them, at a solar well. I doused my head twice while there. It felt amazing. Filled up with water I left 2w to push on. 

After a brutal climb (the bar is quite low at this point as there hasn’t been any steep climbs) I topped at 6640′. This is the highest I’ve been so far. Tomorrow or the next day I will hit 8007′. 

I was going to stay at Cow Camp as the map calls it but it didn’t feel like home. Not on this night at least. I pushed on a little over a mile to camp next to some powerlines. Nothing like the hum of watts running over your head. 

The day started with open BLAH but ended with me smiling ear to ear because I got to hike in and under trees! 

As it usually is with the day after spending time in town I was filled with mixed emotions.  You question leaving the safety of town, the connivence, and luxuries.  At the same time the draw of  nature, the simplicity, the quiet, the beauty of being in the woods calls to your soul.

I recall on the road walk out of town I got a thorn in the side of my foot.  Bastard hurt like hell.  The open space out of town was void of any shade and very hot and windy.  I dropped my pack in a large open space, set up my camera and took multiple photos of me pretending to be crawling/dragging myself across the arid landscape.  Weeks later I believe it was 2w asked me about it as he kept seeing me lay down then get back up.  I had forgotten about it by then and we had a good laugh.

It was also one of those nights where I couldn’t decide where to stop for the night.  Nothing looked good enough.  I scrapped out a small spot and did some smoothing of the ground where a couple others had camped before me.  I recall being worried about mice as I was camped close to brush.

Back to day 4, Forward to Day 6

Scatman