The Night Before Crazy Cook

Day 0

Miles hiked: 0

Location: Econolodge in Lordsburg, NM

Today I woke up at Luke’s and I finished some things I had to do on my laptop (including paying for my blog!!! Which means I can post more pics!). I showered, then went home and grabbed my stuff from my apartment before hitting the road around 9:30 am with my sister, Emma and Zach, who is also attempting the entire CDT as well.

It was a nine hour drive to Lordsburg New Mexico. The drive consisted of lots of singing, talking about life in Telluride, the AT, and the CDT. We were all trying to hydrate before the very hot day tomorrow so the drive included pulling over to pee on the side of the road several times oooops.

Along the way we got a preview of the terrain we will be walking through including some very long road walks that we are not looking forward to. New Mexico was prettier than I expected and has way more mountains than expected as well! I missed the desert, but I’m sure that will change when I’m struggling in the dry heat tomorrow.

Once we got to Lordsburg we checked into the hotel and got dinner at McDonald’s before I started some tasks I have been procrastinating on. My mom helped me set up my Garmin In- Reach Satellite phone which was a HUGE HELP. I will be sending my parents and closest friends my GPS location attached to some preset messages everyday to make sure someone knows about my location in case anything happens. It also gives my parents peace of mind as well.

Before bed I made some last minute calls to my family and my best friend Teresa. We popped one last bottle of Prosecco to celebrate the start and went to bed around 11pm. Tomorrow we will be picked up around 6am by the Camp Crazy Cook shuttle. It will be a three hour drive until we reach the Mexico border. There isn’t very much water on the trail at all so part of our shuttle fee goes towards putting out five caches of water at certain points on the route. I’m so excited to start!

Happy Trails,

Early Bird