Today started off with a wonderful road walk along a somewhat busy highway. I’m not sure why the CDT follows so many roads, but at least on this one we got to cross the actual divide.
The walk wasn’t too long and soon I was in El Malpais National Monument. Yesterday I went in and out of it, but today I actually hiked through a good portion. This monument covers a large lava flow and there are a bunch of lava tubes and places to explore. Malpais is Spanish for badlands and the name is appropriate. There’s no water and lots of sharp pointy plants. I stepped on two cactuses (cacti?) today and the spines went straight through my shoe and into my foot. Luckily they were pretty small.
Even outside of the monument The trail loosely followed the flow of a lava tube. I was able to scramble under this arch, which was pretty cool.
Eventually the trail went into what seemed like a newer flow, without much vegetation. This trail was really cool, but it was a TON of work to get through it. Sometimes I was stepping over 2 foot wide cracks that were 30 feet deep.
Earlier in the day I had the idea that I might just make it into town today. It would have been a big 40 mile day, but I’ve don’t that before. The lava flow slowed my progress to a crawl and I gave up on that idea quickly. Eventually I made it out of the flow and down to the road, where I immediately saw a few hikers that I stayed with at the Toaster House. They had done a shorter road walk alternate route and were looking for a ride into town.
I opted to keep walking with another hiker and we made it to a campground a few miles down the road. We had plans to go a few miles farther, but after lapping the campground hoping for some trail magic we decided to stay after a couple offered us some water. We also offered to share our site with someone, since we don’t have a car, and they turned out to be a wilderness fire fighter.
The plan for tomorrow is to hit a brewery and celebrate being “done” with New Mexico. The closest brewery opens at noon and is 16 miles away. That means I can sleep in a little.