Borders & Reflections

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Done & done – 2900 miles border to border, triple crown, and 11,000 trail miles down. What’s next?

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The southern terminus is a Crazy Cook, a nowhere place in on the NM/Mexico border, just a little bump on the panhandle 85 miles away from any roads.

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Life is harsh out in the desert. Everything is sharp, the sun intense, and the bones bleached dry.

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I was skeptical about the southern terminus, expecting another anticlimax. I’m happy we were there at sunset, where the light turned spectral over the western mountains. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but as the sun descended behind the hills there was intense pink and blue banding fading into a perfect butter yellow sky.

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We waited for hours at the road after walking the 85 miles back – no luck hitching, only a couple of cars. Finally we got a ride from border patrol – we didn’t bother telling him Huck was a Danish national on a dubious visa.

 

New Mexico

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Frosted flakes outside Chama, NM. And I thought it was going to be warm in the desert…

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After a morning of 100 or more river crossings, Huck and I decided to seek out higher ground. We spend the majority of the day wandering around the Gila Wilderness far from any trail, thru tall grass and wide open pine forest.

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Ghost bike for a cyclist killed by an automobile outside Silver City, NM.

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Those desert skies tho – I’ve never seen any sunsets so chromatic, and it got better the further south we headed.

Into the Desert!

Checking out the new scenery headed into Ghost Ranch NM

Finally! At the Colorado/New Mexico border… 800 miles left!

Winter tarp lyfe – almost not frozen!

Following Huck into the snow, Carson National Forest, NM

Sunrise on the tall grass.. NM

Warmer than it looks? I can almost feel my feet…

Into the Desert!

Checking out the new scenery headed into Ghost Ranch NM

Finally! At the Colorado/New Mexico border… 800 miles left!

Winter tarp lyfe – almost not frozen!

Following Huck into the snow, Carson National Forest, NM

Sunrise on the tall grass.. NM

Warmer than it looks? I can almost feel my feet…

More picture of rocks

Yellowstone – watching people waiting to watch things.

Summit Lake at sunset – Yellowstone NP

Did I mention I love the Wind River Range? Upper Jean Lake, on the trad CDT route.

Fremont Creek at sunrise. Wind River Range, Bridget/Teton National Forest, WY

Headed towards Hat Pass, the winds

What happens in Montana stays in Idaho

How the West was won – barbed wire & diseased blankets. Shoot em from the train!

Not bad Idaho, not bad at all…

Blood sun over a meadow – smoke on the horizon. Summer in the American West.

On the other hand there’s this – epic forgotten landscapes, space to walk and think, no celle reception & no people for days. Forget an office chair, get naked & swim in a lake…

Holy light..

Thank god for genetic engineering I can hardly taste the huckleberries and all my synapses are firing !