Border to Lordsburg: April 20th - 25th, 2025

 * Day 1: Drop off, leave Lordsburg at 6:30. Excited and sleepy and a little car sick. Bumpy. Met a talkative yo-yoer. Cool day, I guess it snowed a teeny bit last night. Glorius weather for us as we're dropped off at Crazy Cook, the southern terminus. Mostly flat around Big Hatchet Mountain. Ocotillos in bloom, fiery red torches scattered in the creosote. Snagged some shade from big junipers and saw one big green tree. A few lizards, and Susan saw a bright yellow bird (someone said a Warbler). Maybe 20 people started today. Camped at the water cache after 14 miles. Good first day.

Waiting for the shuttle early in the morning

Crazy Cook Monument, southern terminus

Fruiting cholla plant

Susan admires a blooming ocotillo

At the first water cache

*Day 2: Hard. Nauseaus overnight and woke up feeling bad. Nervous about my health. Susan is a saint, put up with me and did everything in the morning. Seriously considered taking the shuttle back to Lordsburg. We didn't start walking til 8. Walk along blue line was easy at least - BLM dirt road mostly downhill. Traversing the bases of all the Big Hatchet Mountains. Last bit to water cache getting to be a very hot slog. No shade anywhere at 2 PM. Rigged the tarp for a sliver of shade against the cache box and a thorn bush - it flopped a lot in the wind. Felt OK walking, then back to lousy. Almost bailed with the Hachita taxi. Lost the shade and migrated to the info board on the other side of the road - a solid 6 square feet of shade. Cold soaked some couscous and filled it with salt. Salt helped. Need more salt. Hard to be hungry though. Trekked another 4 miles to make the stretch to the next water cache shorter. Cacti changed - squat fishhook barrels and big prickly  pears replace the ocotillo. Set up tent at 7 PM - so tired. Hope I sleep better tonight.

 

Cold-soaked couscous

Feeling tired in the desert

Trailhead sign, the only reliable source of shade near water cache 2

 

More dry hiking

Vibrant ocotillo bloom

* Day 3: Slept better,  no nausea. Was able to wake up and function and watch the sunrise. Got going by daybreak. 9 quick miles with an old shaft along the way - the mysteries of history. Made it to a pump/tank/cow oasis. Cowasis? The water tank runs well. Got to hang out and and sleep and bird watch for like 5 hours. Had BBQ beef mashed potatoes and actually *wanted* to eat - a definite improvement. Small bright yellow birds blend in with the seed pods of the mesquite providing shade. Gray ones flash yellow from their tails, bellies, and chins. Left at 4 PM and cranked out 3 miles, paused under a juniper perfectly scultped for shade. One hour later do last 3 miles to water cache. My eyes hurt from sunscreen and dry wind. We're tired but dutifully do some personal hygiene (wash hands and wipe off face a little) because we have easy water access. I even convinced Susan to do dishes. Very tired but in a much better way.

Desert sunrise

 

Bright yellow bird to match the mesquite

 

 

Bootheel CDT

* Day 4: Woke up at 3:30 AM feeling iffy. It was cold. Put on a midlayer, had a little water and a fig bar, but didn't really sleep much again before 5. Then it's time to get up - the sun is coming for us. Also maybe the black spot of a UFO that's been hovering over the hills to the east the past 3 mornings. As the sun breaches the  horizon we can feel each individual beam brush us with warmth, starting at our heads and working towards our toes, reminding us that it is all powerful here. First 5 miles leads to a big tank where we stop and grab some water. Meander through the Coyote Hills as it gets hotter and hotter, racing for a promised shade tree only a half mile from the next water cache. It appears and we arrive at 12:30, ready for a siesta until 5. Cold soaked couscous and salted tuna packets. Follow the shade clockwise around the tree. Quick jaunt to the water cache where we shared an instant backpacking meal and my body responded really well to the salt. Had enough energy to conversate with Journey, Lost & Found, Blue Moon, and Chappy. Easier to get the tent ready this time.

Desert sunset from the tent 

Siesta in the shade

 

Prickly pears and scrub

 

 

Wacky clustered barrel cactus

 

Thank god for the ranchers and their water tanks

 

*Day 5: Slept much better. Getting easier to pack up the bags in the morning. Still need coffee though. Protein pucks are breakfast now. Flat and dusty barren miles to start the day. Soft, silty, reddish-brown dirt breaks under our feet with each step, sending up small puffs of dust that settle into our shoes and between our toes. The thought of being there in the heat spurs us on. By 11:30 we've already covered the 12 miles to the water tank and happy not to be any later. A group of 3 javelinas moves among the widely-spaced, rotund junipers that throw thick blobs of precious shade nearer to the wash, and we worry we'll have to fight pigs to stay cool. But by the time we get water and walk over they've disappeared into the scrub. Another siesta until 5, time to read or stretch or write too many sentences about the minutea of our day. We filled up on water and set out for another couple of miles, just to make tomorrow shorter. Saw several new and beautiful flowers. Clouds streak across the sky for the first time since we started. I get glimpses of a highway with more traffic than I've seen since we started, and realize it's I-10 and that Lordsburg really is close. Last night before a much needed shower.

 

Javalinas "hogging" the shade

 

Sunset at our final campsite

 

 

Beautiful cactus bloom

 

 

Orange desert blossoms

 

Bright red bird to go with the ocotillo

 

...at least we didn't have to take water from this tire

 

*Day 6: One more desert sunrise. Truck past Pyramid Peak to the last water cache. From there it's only a bit less than 7 miles down to Lordsburg and the hiker hive of the Econolodge. We wander through the last bit of scrubby hills, grateful for the shady juniper providing some relief half way along. 11:00 AM rolls around and we're quickly reminded that it's an unpleasant time to be walking, but Lordsburg is in sight so it's easier to just reel ourselves in. "Trail Magic" cooler is mildly frightening. Towards the end we pass by Doppler, aka "Yellow Backpack", the only other hiker from our Sunday cohort still out hiking (everyone else having finished). She didn't always have the easiest time but it's nice to talk with someone else more interested in enjoying the trail than getting in miles. At the Econolodge Lost & Found gives us a couple Tecates he scavenged from the "hiker box" (i.e. two whole folding tables covered with stuff hikers decided they didn't want). We bided our time in the lobby, ashamed of our stench but for the 5 other stinkers fresh off the trail, all of us waiting for the magical hour of check-in at two o'clock. We have some good conversations and roll our eyes at several others, feeling sorry for the poor receptionist bombarded by sack after sack of crusty, sweaty, sour, dusty laundry. The shower runs hot-cold because we're all using it at once, but it's fine because I still get to scrub a layer off, and after a hearty Tex-Mex lunch at Ramona's I couldn't be more grateful this little interstate town exists. I make sure to tip the receptionist when she finishes our laundry that night. P.S. you absolutely have to check out channel 42 from Lordsburg's local cable provider.

 

 

Trying to make up a caloric deficit

 

 

Our feet before the shower

 

"Press X to open chest"... Maybe a mistake

 

Looking down to Lordsburg at last

Alas, for now we have to pause the hike after just the first section. Not because of anything that happened on the trail, but we need to return to Omaha to take care of some things before continuing. Hoping to get back out there soon!