CDT – Day 8 – Silver City to Gila Alt

5/2/15, Day 8 – tarp

Silver City – Gila Alt

7.0, 151.2 Trip Miles

Sunny, 70’s Blue Bird Day

6:38 to 7:30 pm

Critter Count

2 deer 

Totals

52 Lizrads

9 Horny Roads

5 Jack Rabbit

3 Cotton Tail Rabbits

3 Snakes

2 Deer

1 Mouse

I slept 11 hours last night. It was tough sleeping with the fan constantly running as it was too noisy on the street side of the motel to sleep with the window open. The hotel room stunk thanks to my gear and my shoes, if  you were to walk out and come back in you really noticed it.

Me chilling in the shade watching the Tour of Gila Crit in downtown Silver City.

I woke up and iced my foot in the sink with the little ice I could get as the machine was broken. In all honesty that Motel 6 was a shit hole. Plus the people that stayed there noisy as crap.  

Pretty bummed right now. Half of this entry and the complete one from Day 9 disappeared. 

I iced and elevated my feet the whole time.

I hung out in town to watch my buddy Steve Fisher of the Jelly Belly Pro Team in the Crit which was happening at 4 pm. In the mean time I slept end in until 7 am then dicked around until 10:30. At which time I went to the PO then the library. 

The rest of the day was spent under a shady tree on turn two of the Crit course. I also iced my foot more and elevated it. 

End of the pavement portion of my road walk out of Silver City.

After the crit which Steve won a prime in I said good bye then did a few last town things and headed north. 

It was an uneventful 5 mile road walk, then a short cut through a small park. I camped just off the road. When I went to sleep at 9:15 or so the moon was out then I woke up at 10:47, which felt like 3 am it had started to rain. I quickly put the tarp up only to have it stop raining within minutes. My new spot was not flat either which erred me. 

Despite needing to rest as I hadn’t taken a Zero Day yet I found it hard to just sit around town.  I was also excited about seeing the Gila which was one of the places I mentally highlighted before I left.  

Silver City is big by thru-hiker standards so getting around was tough.  I had hoped to get out of town much quicker than I did but alas I didn’t. Even though I wanted to leave town I didn’t really rush it.  I was thinking a lot about those at home and just how far I still had to go.

The other thing that was on my mind but at the time I didn’t give much thought about like I did later in the hike was the ability to stretch my connection with those at home via my cell phone.  It was great to have that ability but unlike the PCT or the AT unless you were disciplined it was hard not to let go of that connection.  Prior to the CDT when you left town that was it.  Now I could talk or surf into and out of town.  Just another example of how attached we’ve become today.

Back to Day 7, Forward to Day 9

Scatman