CDT - Lordsburg to Silver City

Published on 2022-04-25 by Michael Stanton

To go back to days 4 and before, click here.

52.5 miles, 7371 feet elevation gain.

The text below covers the same events as these entries from the blog:

• On a computer so I can TYPE!
• arrived in Silver City

April 25, day 5 - 23.2 miles

An intimidating journey across a desert and into mountains. Through, then down to a camp beside highway 90.

Heading out of Lordsburg, 5:45 am.

It was great to finally be going north of Lordsburg! Gogo and Blueberry had the room next to mine and the walls are thin enough that when they woke up, I woke up. They've been traveling at a similar pace to Slim and I, but with a curious schedule... From 4 am to 11, then again from 6 or 7 pm to 11 pm or so. Once I woke up in the night thinking cars were driving on the road far away, but they were the headlamps of Gogo and Blueberry. I rolled over and went back to sleep... No need to holler out at people late at night!

It's great the way our paths cross and recross. We can always recognized Slims enormous feet and huge stride. Information travels up and down the path. The feeling of community is amazing.

So Slim and I headed north, then east across often trackless desert, always climbing gently. It was beautiful the way Lordsburg receded, and multiple days of the hot, blasted country we'd been through opened up. Big Hatchet Mountain shimmered blue in the far distance, no longer the forbidding peak towering over us. We headed towards Apache Mountain, and the sun slowly gained dominion over the land.

On the desert floor, making for Engineer Canyon.

Slim on the flats.

I lost the trail in here and stumbled upon this.

I followed the wrong track at some point and ended up well off the normal route. I followed a road south to rejoin. There are markers every so often on the horizon, and footprints in the sand keep you on the right track usually. Desert washes are where I usually went wrong, as several paths exit. I saw a cute pair of road runners in here... Little walking birds that move forward with purpose, then hesitate in an endearing way... In unison.

Slim and I met up again after an hour, when the trail turned up in a braid of sandy roads and washes. We were making for the "engineers well," the first of three water sources on this stretch. I met Dragonsky in here, a young lady from New Jersey. We got to the well and found a nearly empty tank with a few dozen bees swarming around it... And clear, running water!

Despite the bees, I reached in among them and filled my water bladder. Then I sat down to filter the water next to Slim in the shade. Over the next days Slim told me about his hike of the PCT four years ago. It was great, but he had to dodge fire closures for the last 70 miles in the North Cascades. Some of his urgency to push rapidly forward is based on the reasonable fear of fire closures later in the season.

"Automatic" water filtering at the Engineer's Well.

Only a mile after the well, Slim and I hit a major milestone, the first hundred miles! We climbed up into ridges of shattered granite, and increasingly, trees!

The 100 mile marker in the Gold Hills.

A bigger 100 mile marker. I was proud!

In the Gold Hills, beyond the Engineer's Well.

The first big rock of the trip!

I made sure to stop after every 2 hours to take shoes and socks off. In this country, there was an active mine down below us, so it didn't feel like complete wilderness. Nonetheless, it was hot and sandy, though the occasional tree promised better country to come.

In some up and down country near Hornbrook Mountain, somebody made a little "sign" to make you laugh.

In a light forest, the ground looks like this. Quite spiny for blow-up air mattresses!

A wonderful evening courtesy of a real trail angel, Solo!

In the evening, Silm and I dropped down to highway 90 and the rumour of a trail angel named Solo who might have some Gatorade. Sure enough, she was there! She had two chairs, and insisted Slim and I sit in them. I tried to demur and sit on the big mat she had laid out, but she was ready for that. "I still won't sit in the chair," she said.

We three had a great conversation about Elon Musk, about censorship, about the felt presence of God or "whatever you want to call it" in the mountains. Solo said that she was transformed by the experience of raising a son with autism... She had to change herself in order to be closer to him, and the change was deeply for the better. Slims wife Tor is an energy healer, and we discussed the definition of the term "new age," about what we like and dislike about it. Slim shared a beautiful story of how he met Tor.

Patches and Emma came by at this point in the dark, exchanged a few words and kept moving a bit further (but why skip a great campground?). I'd see this nice pair often in the weeks ahead.

Finally, Solo offered us tequila shots and sent us off to bed down in the trees. The milky way and shooting stars sent me to sleep. So ended the first day of the second leg.

April 26, day 6 - 20 miles

Up from the highway and over Burro Peak. Down an interesting side canyon to a camp by the road and the Tyrone Mine.

Slim's Blog has some good details about this day. I woke up with rabbits looking at me, asking if it's time to go...

Climbing above highway 90 in the dawn. The true divide is off in the distance, I'll rejoin it later in the afternoon. Lordsburg was, in fact, a multi-day detour.

Along the right side of a spine moving towards Burro Peak.

Looking west towards Knight Peak, guarding Knight Canyon.

I was impressed by very green plants after days of brown.

Looking back to the Gold Hills (I think!).

Mmm...water. Slim prepares to filter.

The first trail sign on a tree! I was loving this forest so much.

Beauty! To be in the pine forest of Burro Peak was an incredible feeling.

Slim on Burro Peak.

And me. This was the first peak of the trip, 8022 feet high.

We came down from the summit to a small spring which would have to provide all the water until Silver City, so we tanked up! My plan was to avoid going further west to the Burro Mountain Homestead and instead follow Deadman Canyon out to the road by the Tyrone Mine.

Slim decided to join me, because it seemed like an interesting alternate way. We followed a cart track down for about half a mile, then had to boldly turn away from it and head into trailless forest. With Slim in front, I kept the phone up to make sure we were on the right bearing. After only 15 minutes or so, we reached tread that we followed several miles to the road. This was great fun!

After miles on the road we reached the junction with highway 90 in the evening. My feet hurt so much! We made a hidden camp behind a fence in some scrub brushes.

Go Go and Blueberry came along at this point and decided to stay here, too. Great fun chatting with them for a while in the evening. And then, even one more person came...a guy from Croatia who is biking the divide. Now it was full dark and the camp was full!

In the night a border patrol truck came and parked near us, idling for over an hour. It went away at 2 am on the dot, and returned briefly an hour later. They have huge cameras mounted on poles. I suppose they knew we were there and didn't care.

Out of the interesting Deadman Canyon, on the long road that borders the Tyrone Mine.

April 27, day 7 - 12.6 miles

A peaceful road walk in the morning north to town.

A long walk starting before dawn on highway 90. The mountains ahead cheered me up, though!

Here is an excerpt from the blog, I don't think I can add more to it:

I can report the trail is damn fun, too. Even this morning, getting up at 4:30 to make a 12 mile road walk...I exulted in the stars overhead, and the distant lights of Silver City on the plain far below. I have many, and growing resources in the form of sinew, experiences, and friends I can ask a favor from.

Slowly I become EQUAL to the trail, and by this process I may rise above it again, back to the land of dreams where my real home is. Dreams must have a basis in reality from which to launch. Since my old dreams were out of true with the reality of the CDT, they had to die. But seeds have been planted in fertile ground, and like the phoenix...I will rise!

Slim sets off, soon getting far ahead on long legs!

A homeowner along highway 90 has a sense of humor!

I meet our driver to the border! He lives in El Paso, and would begin hiking the trail in a few weeks. Really cool guy.

Cemetery in Silver City.

What a beautiful courthouse. And the green lawn!

As graceful as the townspeople are friendly...

Blueberry cheerfully ambles to town.

Two small dogs are excited I am here.

Blueberry and Go Go in Silver City.

I can relax a bit!

I stayed in a hostel with a kitchen and several laundry machines. I'd have my own room to sleep in! Also, there was a computer which I took full advantage of to write down a bundle of memories and thoughts about the trip so far. I never really got used to writing blog entries on my phone.

Blueberry was having a problem with her foot. She had a big blister right on the pad under the ball of the foot. Acting as a trail angel, our driver from the border was in town, and he made a trip to the pharmacy for her. Since she's a medical student, she was able to phone in a "bespoke" order for her situation, which, I think, included antibiotics. It seemed like a rather serious situation overall.

But, she and Go Go also cooked a great vegan dinner. I helped out by paying for supplies. It was fun sitting around the table, with the young ladies bustling around in the kitchen and telling stories of their first hiking experiences. It had a feeling of "home" or normalcy that I missed.

Clean clothes do a LOT to aid that feeling, too. I was wandering around in pants way too big for me from the hiker box while I waited for my clothes to dry.

A "hiker box" is a place where people leave things they didn't need. Many people found a replacement for something they'd lost earlier, like a part of a water filter. On the rest of the trip, at a hotel or hostel, I'd always paw through the hiker box on the off chance I'll say "oh wow!" and come away with a great find.

April 28, day 8

Rest day! Sleeping in late was just incredible.

I joined up with a group of people going to a late breakfast. I irritated the table by defending Jeff Bezos who they'd consigned to the ranks of the demonic. It wasn't the first time I'd feel called to do that! All of these young people were full of the idea that capitalism was evil, and that guy in particular exemplified the evil.

They had no perspective on their privilged situation in the West. They had all the latest high-tech devices, expensive cameras and gear. They wanted for nothing at all. And yet looked around with bitterness at the whole thing. They were able to take 6 months off from earning a living to come do this, but somehow, the structure of our society was awful in their minds. My thought was simply: if it is so very bad, why are we reveling in so much good fortune?

Nobody wants to hear this. In fact, to say these things paints a target on your back. You become the defender of that hated thing: the status quo. You are speaking because you actually feel gratitude for what is, but they think you are insincere...that you are a "paid shill" for the oppressive systems of near-slavery that "crowd all around them."

But oh well, you learn new things always. And the breakfast was insanely good. Also, one of the people there was an extremely talented photographer.

I started my chores. First shopping and shipping a box up the trail to Pie Town.

My first rest day. I'm making a box to ship to Pie Town.

With a gang of other folks, I went out to dinner at a brew pub in town. Food was, of course, amazing. We came back and jumped in the hot tub at the hostel. Here I met Mishap for the first time. I was impressed with her modern blue hair. Me being me, I started arguing why atheism makes so sense.

But I couldn't disturb the free-wheeling atmosphere. I chatted with Lemonhope and we planned to leave together early in the morning.

At the pub, I also had a great talk with Blue Jay, the nice lady from day 3 on the trail. That was another slice of normalcy and companionship...one of the best evenings of the trail.

To go on to days 9 and after, click here.