May 24 Start: Ghost Ranch Stop: Ghost Ranch 0 miles Total miles: 538 It’s raining. Again. Before breakfast I Wi-Fi it up and post journals and pictures. Before I know it I’ve missed nearly half of breakfast. I race over and inhale food. I stuff myself on some breaded meat egg dish, scrabbled eggs, bagel, … More Day 30: New Shoes, Movie Day and Monk Beer
May 22 Start: near hwy 96 Stop: Ghost Ranch 28 Miles Total miles: 538 I decide not to push to Ghost Ranch for dinner which makes my morning miles feel very leisurely. A lazy meander up and over. The afternoon is filled with big sedimentary canyons. Layers of orange, yellow and red stack up all … More Day 29: Channeling Ghost O’Keeffe
May 22 Start: Cuba, NM Stop: near hwy 96 27 miles Total miles: 510 The room did not flood and the feet are in the puddles along the roadway by 6 am. An hour later I remember a few more things that I want my parents to send in my next resupply box. So I … More Day 28: The Snowy Otherworld
May 21 Start: Del Prado Motel, Cuba NM Stop: Frontier Motel, Cuba NM 1 mile Total miles: 483 The best nero ever. Probably because the best things can never be planned. The morning is all business. Do the laundry, go to library for Wi-Fi, upload journals and pictures, do food shopping, find postcard, call parents, … More Day 27: Up Town
May 20 Start: near cerros colorados Stop: Cuba, NM 21 miles Total miles: 482 It’s town day which means no sleeping in. We’re both up and on trail before 6 am. It already seems hot but I push the 9.5 miles to a spring without a break. I find Beads, M80, Trooper, and their dog … More Day 26: Mesa Climb aka Getting Vertical
May 19 Start: near canada de las lomitas Stop: near cerros colorados 24 miles Total miles: 460 The lighting and thunder play all night and I am slow to rustle to life. It’s a 7 am start as I make my way to “the cliff,” as I’ve been calling it. I arrive at the edge … More Day 25: Después De La Mesa
May 18 Start: near spud patch canyon Stop: near canada de las lomitas 30 miles Total miles: 437 It’s hovering around freezing as we slowly emerge from our homes. We descend off of Mt. Taylor and hit a dirt road. 7 miles to a break. 7 miles to a murky pool of water in lava … More Day 24: Mach 7 Mist
May 17 Start: Grants Stop: Near Spud Patch Canyon 30 miles Total miles: 407 Beads and I manage to get out of the motel by 6:30 am. On our way out of town an old man asks us where he can get a drink. Now mind you, it’s 7 am on a Sunday. We crush … More Day 23: Mt. Taylor Flank
Start: Grants Stop: Grants 0 miles Total miles: 377 If three zeros in three weeks is unprecedented then two zeros in a row will make headlines. The day starts with cold rain plus Beads is not feeling well. It’s snowing up in the mountains where we are headed over 8000 ft. Checkout time comes and … More Day 22: Scab Snack
Start: Grants Southwest Motel Stop: Grants Sands Motel 0 miles Total miles: 377 Three zeros in three weeks is unprecedented. But once I tell Beads about the snow up north we decide that slowing down a tad and taking a day here in Grants is just what the trail gods ordered. At 9:10am the room … More Day 21: Elvis Room
Journey Return 