CDT 2024 - Day 2, What to do

Ventured out for a visit. And Stuff

Trail crossing at the road to Hatchita, NM

A beautiful morning and sometime during the night the wind calmed. The weather shows it will pick up again this afternoon. I wasn't in much of a hurry to get up this morning but evidently Beau was. I leashed him up and out we went for a stroll about the Veterans Park. During our stroll I noticed one of the several dirt roads on the end curved and went up to a slight rise where I found what appeared to be a few campsites from older days. The sites were scattered about and the sun shelters were old and unkept. The picnic tables were missing boards or had none at all, barbecues were bent over or broken off, and the sites were not level. But I did notice there were water spouts (functioning!) at each of the three sites. It was obvious the spots over in this area were seldom used but one of them had a bigger shade tree on either side, one to the east and one to the west, and a spot where I could park. The best thing, there was a lot of scrub and bushes, not road and loose dirt/dust, on the windward side. Perhaps today will be a "repositioning" day.

Gate at road to Hathita trail crossing looking south, NM

After checking on the SPOT, I got Beau in the truck and started driving. Wasn't sure where I was going but wanted to do my running around before hooking up to the trailer for my reposition. I had decided I was definitely going to shift and the wind wasn't due until afternoon. We stopped at the little grocery store in town and bought a couple jugs of bottled water and some fig bars. After checking the SPOT again I jumped on the freeway East and then headed South on a small road heading towards where Runningbird would be crossing in the next few days. Saw only a few cars and most of them were CBP vehicles. Using FarOut, the SPOT, and Google Maps I found my way down a dirt road (fairly decent) to where the CDT crossed and waited about 45 minutes for Runningbird. I saw only one other hiker, Lookout, who had started with Runningbird's group. He is a photographer and gets up and going by 0500 as that is when the best light is.

CDT Information board on south side of Hatchita Rd., NM.

When Runningbird came along Beau made tracks to greet her. She was in good spirits and moving right along. She was happy to see us and some of her first words were, "did you bring me any food?" Oops. The only food I had was what I had in her supply bins in the bed of the truck and some peanut butter pretzels I had in the truck. I scrambled for words and told her I didn't even know I was coming out here. It just happened. No matter, she pulled a few things out of her bin and that was good. We chatted for a few minutes while she topped off her water bottles from the jugs I had just bought. She reported that her legs were twitching all night from the workout she put on them on day one. She was not complaining. We talked about her schedule for arrival through Lordsburg and then a hug and a kiss and she was off again.

Arriving back to the campground I shifted the trailer to my new spot between the trees, made a reservation for the KOA so she could take a hot shower when she came in and then made some dinnner (kale salad and Madras lentils on rice). The wind was up again but there was not the dust and the trailer cooled off nicely in the shade of the trees.

Settled into quieter, less dust campsite at Veterans Park, Lordsburg, NM.