Leaving Lordsburg after our desert stretch was a bit intimidating. Not because of the terrain or environment that we would be hiking, but more because of just how many blisters I had on each toe. I also realized I had too small of shoe size. I've never worn a shoe bigger than a size 7, but after having my feet expanding in the desert weather, a bigger shoe size was required. Only way to fix both was to get to Silver City - 61 miles away. So on we walked.
We finally gained some elevation, which provided cooler weather and an abundance of shade compared to what we had just experienced. Even with those added bonuses, the water carries were still brutal: 20+ miles in between unnatural water sources. Solar wells and cow troughs were still going to be the normal for this stretch.
With a morning climb up to Burro Peak, we knew that some views would be coming up, which we were looking forward to. Once we arrived at the 8,035 ft. elevation, the peak offered beautiful lunch time views. This was the highest elevation we had been on the trail so far, and knew that it may be the highest for the next few hundred miles as well. We took off our shoes to let my blisters breathe a bit, and soaked in some afternoon sun - something we had avoided the days prior but this day, seemed to enjoyed. Before descending down the peak, we agreed to take a mile detour to the Burro Mountain Homestead for the night. We had heard there was water accessible to hikers, so that was enough to pull us in.
We arrived and were even more happy about our decision. The homestead offered showers along with a towel, a space for hikers to charge their phones and other devices, WiFi free of charge, a room for us to hang in to hide from the sun, and the best part: a check in office that was stocked with cold soda-pops, snacks for days and ice cream cones. We quickly grabbed a soda and ice cream; a combo I wouldn't typically suggest, but in this case, was all about it. We went out to the front porch to enjoy them before they got cold and melted.
While scrolling through the CDT Facebook group to see of any updates that we needed to be beware of, sure enough, I viewed a post from the CDTC on behalf of the US Forest Service, that announced National Forests of New Mexico would/could be closing as early as Monday, May 16th due to extreme fire hazards and conditions. We weren't even 8 days into our hike and already the trail was making us adapt. The CDTC and US Forest strongly encouraged all hikers to be prepared to adjust our itineraries.
We tried to not let it shake us too much, but we weren't even 150 miles into our hike. New Mexico was supposed to allow us to complete somewhere between 600-700 miles, and now we didn't know if we were going to by hiking much more of it. Even more nerve-wrecking was that we were so close to entering the Gila National Forest, an alternative trail of the CDT that most hikers do, and is said to be 1 of the 5 highlights of the whole CDT trail.
We talked amongst the other hikers (Worm, Gump, John and Cody) at the homestead and most of our reactions were "well, let's get to Silver City and see what happens come Monday" while another hiker started making reservations for buses to get to Colorado.
The next day seemed to go by slower, with not many views and eager to get to Silver City. We hiked 18.8 miles the day after the homestead, which left us only another 18 miles to get to town on Sunday: 5 being on the trail and 13 being road walking. Because of my feet situation and a newly developed ankle pain (most likely from the too small of shoes), I had mustered up the courage to hitch hike into town to skip the 13 mile road walk while Ross wanted to complete it to keep his continuous footpath going as much as possible. HWY 180 wasn't the busiest road, but Ross assured me that "probably some nice, grey haired lady will pick you up soon". After about 10 trucks/trucks with trailers passed, a small car was approaching. I stuck out my thumb with a smile on my face, but the car zoomed by. I disappointedly sat back down on my pack, for 30 seconds later realize that the car that had just passed me whip back around. A lady with white hair jumped out of her car and yelled, "Get in!". I grabbed my pack and pole, and happily threw my stuff in the back seat and slid into the front. I waved my handkerchief out the window as we passed Ross on the road, and by hitch-hiking angel, Nora, honked her horns a few times. Ross was right - a sweet lady with white hair would pick me up.
She dropped me off just 15 minutes later at a stop light, and I hobbled out of the car to work my way to the town square, which was a lush patch of green grass. I took my shoes off and stuck my toes in them for the next few hours, as I had to patiently wait for Ross to walk into town. A gentleman named George and his dog Jake joined me and made hours pass by quickly, as we enjoyed each other's company. And really, it felt good to scratch a dog's belly.
We ended up taking 2 "zeros" (no official hiking miles) in Silver City to do some more in town chores, charge up for the next segment (even cowboys need to do their laundry), explore the fun town, eat some good, local food, but primarily rest my swollen feet and ankle. Nothing that the bathtub filled with epsom salt, ice provided by the hotel and a pepperoni pizza won't fix.
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