Note: This post is delayed, I am in Lordsburg (mile 84.5) as of writing. I have a lot to say, so it’s also split into sections.

For West is where we all plan to go some day. It is where you go when the land gives out and the old-field pines encroach. It is where you go when you get the letter saying: Flee, all is discovered. It is where you go when you look down at the blade in your hand and the blood on it. It is where you go when you are told that you are a bubble on the tide of empire. It is where you go when you hear that thar’s gold in them-thar hills. It is where you go to grow up with the country. It is where you go to spend your old age. Or it is just where you go.”

Robert Penn Warren, All the King’s Men

The Shuttle

There were nine other hikers on my shuttle to the border. We put our packs in trash bags in the beds, and piled into two six-seater pick up trucks for the journey down. I sat next to Cal, who drove us. He told us about the history of Lordsburg and Hachita, and pointed out the water caches along the way. He gave us his information and told us to call him if we need anything when we’re in Montana, that is where he lives now and he is a trail angel there through the hiking season. He warned us about tbe exposure and said that they’d collected six hikers from bailout points just the day earlier from heat exhaustion. It took about 3 hours to drive from Lordsburg to the border. When we arrived, Cal and the other drivers gave us water and took our photos, we touched the border fence and then we were off.

Day 1: 12 Miles

My only goal for Day 1 was to not get heat exhaustion. I was not (if I had any say in the matter) going to need anyone to drag me out of the desert. I took a break early on and ended up behind the pack of hikers from my shuttle. I realized pretty quickly on the first day that my left boot was too small. It was too late to do anything about it, so I used a few stopgap tricks to try to lessen any damage and went onward.

I took a siesta in a shady wash with some other hikers (they took a different shuttle) who were really cool before heading back out. In the late afternoon, the miles got hard. The heat and elevation change really hit me and I was nauseous and constantly needed breaks. I drank a ton of water and took salt, but I still felt off and had to fight for the ground I gained. I went down a side trail by accident and didn’t notice for about 1/3 a mile, which, considering how hard the hiking was, felt like a big setback. I kept going and pulled out my headlamp as it got dark.

After dark, the hiking got easier. There are so many spiders in the desert, and you become keenly aware of this when you night hike because their eyes reflect the light of your headlamp. I found Monk (a hiker who I met on the Tucson bus and crashed with in Lordsburg) sitting in his tent under a tree at Mile 12, and set up next to him.

I got to look at the night sky without my headlamp for the first time: it is unbelievable how many stars are visible from earth when there is no light pollution. The sky opens up to the universe and you can see half the galaxy from here.  Looking at the stars, I felt for the first time like I was supposed to be out here. I’d felt defeated, but it made me excited to keep going.

Day 2: 13.6 Miles

Day 2 brought my first route choice: to stay on the CDT through a section that is overgrown with large cactuses, or to take a road walk that was a mile longer but entirely clear. I was already struggling with the adjustment to the desert and it was going to be another hot day. I was just happy to be out there, happy to have made it 24 hours without having to get pulled out due to heat exhaustion. I took the road.

I dealt with the same frustrations as the day before. It was hot, my pace was slow, I wasn’t hungry and was often nauseous. I took salt, drank electrolytes and water, and took breaks any time I felt like I needed them. Progress was slow, but it was progress. I was out there, and it was beautiful. I also saw my first live snake. It was a bullsnake, although it took talking to a post office worker in Lordsburg to figure that out.

I finished the road walk around dark, as the wind started to pick up. My goal was to get to the 2nd cache, which would have been a 5 mile night hike. I realized quickly that the route signs are reflective, but didn’t realize that my headlamp beam on full blast will light up ones several hundred yards away. I quickly became reliant on GPS to know if I was close to the CDT or not because the posts were far apart, and decided after several miles that it would be better to call it a night. The wind was blowing at a sustained 20-30 mph with gusts up to 50mph. In an endeavor to put my tent in a flat spot, I inadvertently sent it up perpendicular to the wind, and had two stakes ripped out of the ground before I even had a chance to get in it. Realizing the mistake, I pivoted the tent 90 degrees on one of the remaining stakes so that it would be more aerodynamic, and tried to get the stakes into the ground with my boot. I did a passable job, threw my pack over one iffy stake, and went to bed. My tent held overnight, largely because I didn’t put up my rain fly.

Looking ahead, I saw a 13 mile water carry and decided it was probably better to head into Hachita to regroup. I planned to walk to the 2nd water cache and call for a shuttle in the morning.

Day 3: 14.9 Miles

I woke up early and was packed up before the sun rose. I checked the forecast using satellite and found out that the high was only in the mid 70s. I felt loads better physically, and decided to get the longer water carry out of the way while it was cooler. I could then catch the shuttle into Hachita at Mile 44.5. The nausea was gone, and I got hungry quickly. I ate without getting nauseous for the first time since I started the hike, and kept going. I wasn’t sore anywhere, the desert was beautiful, and I finally felt in my element.

It was a good day. I took it slow and took a lot of breaks, but I also made a lot of progress. Near the end of the water carry there was trail magic left by one of the owners of the Hachita Food Mart. There was Gatorade and a water cache filled by Radar, a trail angel who has been shuttling everyone to and from Hachita and filling water caches. He is a godsend. I hung out with a bunch of other hikers at the surprise cache and the continued, making it to and past the next water source. I hiked into the night before picking a good spot and setting up my tent.

Day 4: 5 miles to Hachita

I woke up early, intent on catching Radar’s shuttle at 9am, 5 miles out. The miles came easily, and it was so beautiful. In the last mile I started to feel a twinging pain in my left knee (probably a combination of hyperextension and overuse). I made it to the shuttle with about half an hour to spare and hung out with some other hikers who were also waiting for the shuttle.

Radar brought us to Hachita and I got snacks at the Hachita Food Mart. From the wifi, I was able to order 2 knee braces and have them sent to Lordsburg, and to look up how to tape my knee in the meantime. The other hikers and I washed our socks in a sink, cleaned out and re-packed our packs, got organized, and ditched extra food. I bought band-aids and cleaned my blisters. We regrouped, and Radar brought us back out when we were done.

I came out here in large part for the struggle. I wanted to be pushed, to be thrown from my comfort zone the way the Weasleys throw gnomes from their garden in Harry Potter. The trail has obliged, but with incredible grace. I am so grateful to be here.

Total Days	4
Miles walked	44.7
Bears seen	0
Moose seen	0
Mountain goats seen	0
Rattlesnakes seen	0
Lbs of peanut butter eaten	0
Showers taken since start	0
Pairs of boots worn out	0
Toenails lost	0
Rain storms	0
Zero days taken	0
Nearo days taken	0