What a beautiful day… mostly. Today was all about climbing up to a mesa, then dropping into a canyon. I planned on taking the Ghost Ranch alternate today as well.
Ghost Ranch is a famous guest ranch where Georgia O’keefe spent her summers. Much of the landscape I hiked through today was featured in her paintings. It’s also a popular stop for hikers on the CDT as a way to split up a 150 mile food carry. Since this part of the trail is usually pretty early on in a hike, that’s an especially difficult carry. They don’t have a store, but they do accept packages for hikers.
I didn’t really plan ahead for this return trip so I didn’t sent a box. I also knew I could fairly easily do the food carry. I was still planning on going to Ghost Ranch anyway, just to see it. Then I got to the junction. To get to Ghost Ranch I’d be walking down a gravel road with a decent amount of tourist traffic. The official CDT climbed out of the canyon then followed the rim of the mesa for a few miles.
I’m really glad I took the CDT. It was spectacular and there was even pretty good cell phone service! Staring at my phone for awhile cost me some miles, but it was nice to have a little connectivity. While I was up there I saw a southbound hiker. He was the first I saw coming from Canada. He told me he biked most of Colorado and that’s how he got down here so fast. He also said he hasn’t seen any other hikers in about a month. He’s the 4th I’ve seen in a few days. They must all just be hiking at the same pace.
As I dropped down off the mesa, the clouds around me grew dark and thunder started rumbling. Around 6 pm it started to sprinkle and then eventually downpour, including hail. Thankfully there were trees around so I hid in a group of them with my umbrella and stayed pretty dry. It died down and I kept hiking. There was still a pretty major problem.
There must be a lot of clay in the ground here that makes up the trail. After the rain everything was a slippery mucky mess. All the little dry washes in normally see we’re flowing. Now I understand why they call it monsoon season. According to the locals, it should be just about over. This is the 2nd thunderstorm I’ve been caught in during my 5 days of hiking here so I’m not so sure.
I had a mileage goal for the day and I hit it. I was kinda hoping to surpass it, but it’s not such a big deal. Less than 100 miles to go!