It’s hard to get an early start out of town. I always stay up late on my phone enjoying having the internet. Last night was no exception but I did manage to leave the hotel at 7 am.
I didn’t really have anything for lunch the next few days since the dollar store didn’t sell tortillas. I hoped maybe the gas station might have something since the grocery store didn’t open until 8 and I didn’t want to wait.
It didn’t, but I did go back to McDonalds and buy a few extra breakfast sandwiches to eat on the road.
The trail left town and quickly climbed up a few thousand feet to get me back above 10k for the first time in awhile. It was around here that I saw a ton of hunters. Many were camped along the trail and a few were hiking back to the trailhead. The guys I saw hiking back had gotten an elk and some cowboys with horses were carrying it for them. It was weird to see the head of an elk strapped to a horse. I’ve seen a lot of hunters lately so I’m glad I have pretty bright clothes on. It also just seems to be now season so there’s a lot lower chance of a stray shot going anywhere.
Up at elevation I was in a thick pine forest. The trail quickly went back down and the trees got smaller and there was more and more sagebrush. There was also a couple miles with horrible mosquitoes! I thought I was done with that a month ago but I guess the climate here is different.
I saw another thru hiker today that was finishing up the fire closure like I am. They’re headed south and we’re both about the same distance away from the end. I think I met this guy once before in Colorado and I’ve heard his name a bunch, but we never really met even though we must have been hiking nearby for months.
I actually got to camp a little early tonight. I’ve been thinking it would be nice to get to the end a day early and catch an earlier flight, but I don’t know if that’ll happen. Right now I’m just going to take it relatively easy and try to give myself a short day to the border.
If I somehow get to Chama in the morning, I may be able to make it back to Albuquerque that night and then catch a flight the next morning. More realistically, I’ll get to Chama in the early afternoon, shower, laundry, celebration dinner, then in the morning I’ll try and hitchhike to Albuquerque. If that doesn’t work I’ll catch the free bus to Santa Fe around noon and then Uber to the airport.
About 116 miles to go!