Monthly Archives: June 2019

Lost then found then lost again

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Favorite Southwest resupply options. I love them vegan chili ramens – which I haven’t seen since Said Valley on the PCT in 15. Also, once you get far enough spin every bodega & grocery has instant dehydrated refried beans – perfect cold soak food with Fritos!

Made a fancy custom rain cover for my fancy Brooks saddle… dodging afternoon rainstorms our of Taos.

Branching with the best of them in Cuba, NM. It’s interesting coming back after hiking thru on the CDT last year and seeing how my perspective has changed.

Steel horses and dirtbag cowboys. Riding through the American West reminds one of many conflicting narratives – black cowboys, soldiers paid cash for scalps, a million miles of barbed wire, shooting bison from the train, the violence and genocide that surrounds how these spaces are occupied & my privilege in being here. It’s a lot to digest, but the long views lend themselves to meditative thoughts and potentially change… tho there are still uranium mining railings outside Grants (the largest federal SuperFund site) and endless ‘NO TRESPASSING’ signs.

Good luck finding this or yourself – spiraling ever inward & outward simultaneously, away from and into an invisible center.

Into the world… again

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After a mile of hikeabike we finished the climb to Marshall Pass – probably the high point for us, we would find out later, as we rerouted around massive remaining snow outside Del Norte. Cruises into Seargents for some super overpriced French fries and severely limited resupply, then onwards…

Town park between the tracks and the highway in Monte Vista, part of the reroute. At least there was a liquor store across the street…

Into Taos – we figured it would be easier to ride the Taos Plateau straight from Monte Vista rather than route back to the Divide. It was hot, empty and beautiful – and involved an itchy dip in the Rio Grande (probably too much pesticide?).

Long views leaving Colorado. After Seargents it was a long grind ringing the valley before descending into Del Norte. It was an exercise in getting the legs back – 2 days of climbing, 10,000ish feet. The flatish reroute our of Del Norte came as a welcome relief.

Sunset from the ‘M’ hill, Manassa, CO – home of Jack Dempsey and one million mosquitoes. We ended up traversing much of the southern San Luis valley which was pretty, but a buggy hell around sunset. We climbed an extremely steep slope to try and get a breeze but the bugs just followed us…

Finally in NM with the cacti blooming by the Rio Grande…