Miles Hiked: 25.3
Total Milage: 453.6
Location: Mt. Taylor, NM
This morning we woke up at 4:30 am. Everyone was ready and hiking up the trail by 5am. We had to gain 2,000 feet of elevation over the course of 3 miles to arrive at the summit of 11,300 feet. Our goal was to get there by sunrise at 6:15. When we woke up this morning it was pretty warm. As we got closer to the summit it kept getting colder and windier. I couldn’t feel my hands. The hike this morning was kicking my ass. I was so exhausted and cold by the time we reached the summit at 6:15 am. Jenga quickly snapped our picture on his camera and then I ran for the nearest tree cover to bundle up in my sleeping bag. Luke and I ended up hanging out up there for two hours. During that time I didn’t come out of my sleeping bag at all and even fell asleep for a little bit. That hike totally kicked my ass. I felt really stupid for not even hanging out to see sunrise but I was so cold I couldn’t do anything else. At least we could see the beginnings of it on our way up the mountain!
Eventually Luke and I were the last ones left. Begrudgingly I got out of my sleeping bag, and walked around to take some pictures before descending. We ran into snow for the first time for about 200 yards past the summit. I walked very slow and carefully as to not slip and fall.
Other than the snow, the descent wasn’t bad at all. We hit a forest service road and had another small climb up to a look out. It was easy and short but my legs were so exhausted. Once we found a good spot out of the wind, Rockslide and I made coffee and ate breakfast. It felt like we were way behind the other people I’ve been hiking with but I was so tired I didn’t care. The day quickly ended up being pretty hot and water was scarce. Eventually we rejoined the CDT and hit and actual trail again. We finally met up with everyone else at our last water source for the day around 3:30 and mile 17. I wasn’t planning on going much further today until Free Fall pointed out how many miles we were from Cuba. It was a lot more than I expected and I realized then that we would have a couple long days ahead of us including more hiking than I was feeling up for tonight.
Rockslide, Jenga, and I all hiked 7 more miles for a total of 25 before setting up camp. At was 7pm by the time we found a spot and started cooking dinner. I’m glad the sun set is so late right now! For dinner I made Ramen and I fell asleep hard around 8:30pm
Happy Trails!
-Early Bird
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