3 Highlights:
• Realizing my arms aren’t entirely useless with 50 pushups—take that, gravity.
• A hotel breakfast that wasn’t just a stale muffin and questionable coffee.
• Cowboy camping: where the sleeping bag meets stargazing meets “what just crawled on my face?”
Daily Summary:
• Distance hiked: 36 km
• Starting point: Lordsburg
• Ending point: km 4717
• Weather: Hot (because, of course, it was)
Reflections:
So, I decided to stay at a hotel for a “good night’s sleep.” Spoiler: it was not. I should be charging them for the insomnia. Anyway, I’m up early, taking a cold shower that felt more like a personal attack than a refreshment, and then off to do my best impression of a man who’s still got it with 50 pushups. Nailed it—kind of. Breakfast was the real win: eggs, bacon, waffles, the works. Why can’t trail mornings be like this?
We left by 10, hit a water cache maintained by some saint who I will never meet but owe big time. Lunch? I don’t know. Everyone else was eating; I was busy trying not to disintegrate in the sun. And then there’s the phone—I’m sure there’s a circle of hell just for dealing with spotty service and post office calls. But cowboy camping was the cherry on top: just me, the sky, and a mild suspicion I might wake up as a raccoon’s pillow. Good night.
