Day 105 – October 10

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Highlights:

1. Shopping for Alpha Direct gear at Tumble On Outfitters.

2. Hitchhiking to Ghost Ranch with Goldie—new friends, new adventures.

3. Seeing the Northern Lights for the second time—mind-blown.

Daily Summary:

• Distance hiked: 21 km

• Starting point: Ghost Ranch

• Ending point: 4 km from the ranch (km 3727)

• Weather conditions: The hottest yet.

Daily Reflections: “Northern Lights, Cactus Struggles, and New Mexico Magic”

So, the night starts off with me waking up and immediately not falling back asleep. Classic. When you’re on the trail, 3 a.m. is when your brain decides it’s time for deep, existential calculations like, “How am I going to finish New Mexico and get home by November 8?” Thanks, brain.

Anyway, after solving the mysteries of time and space, I headed out early for a cup of java—because when you’ve been awake since forever, coffee is life. Breakfast? Oh, just a casual enormous burrito in Chama that had me fueled for most of the day.

Post burrito I still managed to take some good decisions at the Tumble Weed Outfitter store. I bought his Alpha Direct hoodie and haven´t regreted it yet. Also talked to him and the backpack designer about getting some pants and an exotic backpack (a 28 liter record breaker design backpack).

Then came the hitchhike adventure. The mystery of time and space was going to be solved by cutting off 200km of beautiful northern New Mexico in exchange for higher likelyhood of reaching Phoenix by November 6 (to meet up with Wild Flower). After thumb-dancing for 20 minutes I got a ride to Ghost Ranch with Goldie, who runs a nearby hostel. Cool lady, good vibes, and, I mean, Ghost Ranch was just awesome. Those mountains? They look like they were stolen from a movie set. Just standing there being all majestic and stuff. No wonder Georgia O´Keefe spent so much time here painting nature.

Met up with Semper Dry at the ranch, bought him an ice cream because, well, what’s better than ice cream after hiking? Two ice creams, obviously, because I had two for myself. Gotta keep the energy up!

After that, I decided to meditate in the garden—like a zen master, just soaking in the serenity of the place. Ghost Ranch is one of those spots where you feel like you could just sit and breathe forever.

Semper Dry and I hit the trail again around 6 p.m., aiming to knock out some miles before dark. And then, out of nowhere, the Northern Lights decided to put on a show. Yep, right there in New Mexico. I wasn’t hallucinating—it was beautiful. I stood there like, “Is this real life?”

Of course, not everything was magical. We also had a few run-ins with cactus—New Mexico’s not all sunsets and pretty lights, folks. First night camping out in a tent here, and everything inside feels new and kind of sticky. As I write this, I’m falling asleep, and I’m pretty sure there’s a cactus needle somewhere in my sock.

Natti.

All of the lights
Huge burrito
Ghost ranch is a very peaceful place that have inspired artists for centuries
Red mud mountains
The only rattle snake seen on CDT (run over and flat)
Chimney top formations
Stars and magnetism
Wannabe astronaut

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