Lucy Ondo

April 28 to May 3

Day 27 to Day 32

Departing Grants we climbed upon the Mesa north of town surrounded by the aroma of Piñon pines and the sound of rolling thunder. During the afternoon it rained lightly.

A bell waiting our ringing at the Mesa top.

After a few hours of hiking we stopped early not wanting to camp at a higher altitude.

Climbing Mt. Taylor in the morning:

Signs of snow on the trail during the descent:

After the trail off Taylor we faced a miserable road walk in the cold wind with two major climbs.

The next day (Monday) the trail followed a very rocky abandoned road all day:

The exciting part of day was meeting two Native American (Pueblo) wild turkey hunters after their successful hunt.

They shared water, oranges, and apples with us. All we happily accepted to augment our trail rations.

The next morning we were finally on a trail through the forest and soon found ourselves on top of a large mesa.

After a long ten mile hike across the mesa we came off the mesa dropping 3000′ over three miles.

Out of water we had to filter from a murky green cow trough.

I’m quite certain there were dead things floating around in the water.

The late afternoon was spent cross large arroyos with quicksands.

Looking ahead at the start of the buttes we struggle through for the next forty miles:

The buttes: we have arrived on Mars. These sandstone cliffs striated with color are a visual experience.

Unexpectedly we meet Hopeful who started the CDT the same day as we did. He left the trail in Grants to attend a wedding and was hiking southbound on this section Cuba back to Grants with a college friend.

We see so few other hikers this was an event.

A water stop between buttes.

After two days of walking along the top of buttes as the trail edges the cliffs, I am happy to be headed in to Cuba.

My fear of heights was tested to the max when going up the last butte meant scaling straight up on a rock climb while looking 1000 feet below to where I would end up should I slip and fall.

This climb scared Ghost, a seasoned mountain climber, because of our heavy packs which makes it easy to loose balance.