Day 1: Off-road & On-trail
Was up late last night finishing up my taxes (last minute I know) and unpacking my bag one last time before hitting the trail today. For breakfast my Mom, Cousin, and I ate at Denny's in Deming. I had an All-American Grand Slam. I felt remarkably calm as compared with my first days for the AT & PCT. Weather was clear and will likely have highs in the mid-70's through to my first resupply in Lordsburg, NM about 4-5 days away. I'm going to try and keep around 15 miles a day for the first stint of the CDT to get conditioned. I'll should be able to tell when I'm ready for all day hiking. Driving down 81 to Crazy Cook we came across a handful of parked border patrol trucks. I guess we're required to let them know that we're not crossing into the country illegally, and to let them know what I'll be wearing/carrying, etc.
Getting to the trail was much more of a issue than I thought. To get to the monument we had to hop on a rugged desert road 11 miles south of Hachita, and good thing I downloaded a bunch of maps because it was nearly a two hour crawl until we reached our destination. Side note: if you ever want to start the CDT northbound, take the shuttle... The three of us were nervously laughing after every big bump we hit when we though it was flat. We actually crossed paths with the CDTC shuttle driver, who thought we were crazy doing this in a Ford Escape. We made it though.
At the Crazy Cook monument at the Mexico border we cracked open some Modelo's to celebrated under the shaded roof placed nearby. It was windy and I felt like I was already getting sunburnt. After we took some pictures and said goodbye. Mom and my cousin pouted as I walked off.
Very soon I realized that this trail was different, the trail I was on quickly turned in the two, three, to a dozen cow trails. I wasn't lost, I just needed to keep route finding with my maps. Until I made it to the base of the Big Hachet Mountains. I met my first hiker named Nes, who was resting about 6 miles in. I hiked on to the first water at around 11 miles, a solar well. I rested here alone and realized the sun was setting soon. Most of the day was spent winding through dried up wash beds in valleys from whenever this place gets rain. Seems hard to believe. I finally found camp after the sun set near the first water cache put out by the CDTC. Four more of those to go until I get to Lordsburg.