After yesterday’s rough finish today very welcome. There weren’t a lot of big views but everything was just really nice. The landscape is changing and instead of cacti and sand there’s pine trees and water!
It’s still very much cow country and I saw a lot today. This one is one of the skinniest I’ve seen so far. I was told that the moms out here can have trouble with their weight when they’re nursing. Based on the youngster in the background, that may be the case here.
I’ve also heard that most of the cows in New Mexico aren’t actually eaten. They’re used to make babies then the babies get taken to large feed lots to get fattened up. Most of the cows around here look pretty healthy since there’s more water and grass, but the cows down farther south usually looked pretty rough.
I passed through a lot of big meadows today and took a break under a tree. It was of course surrounded by cow pies but that’s been just about every shade tree on the whole trail. It’s still kind of annoying when you’re looking for a place to eat lunch.
I saw a few more hikers today. They were doing what they called the Northern New Mexico Loop. It’s about 500 miles long and sounds pretty interesting. They were headed to Ghost Ranch and asked how it was. They were very surprised when I said I skipped it.
I also saw two bow hunters hunting for deer. I saw a few deer today, but none near where they were. I saw a whole bunch of elk and even a few males, which is more unusual.
This photo has one male with his harem. (Really, that’s what it’s called) Hunting them doesn’t seem terribly difficult since I was able to walk up on a few groups of them today while listening to music and singing. I suppose getting into range for a clean kill is quite a bit harder.
Progress felt pretty slow today since I spent most of the day on a very gradual incline. I still made my miles but had to hike in the dark again for about 20 minutes. I was at camp at 8 pm. A few weeks ago that felt really early, now it feels incredibly late. At least it set me up well for my last full day on trail.
Just 47 miles to the border where I’m officially “done” and another 3 miles to Cumbres Pass where I can get a ride to Chama so I can celebrate.