Let the games begin: The Trek

It’s not that I thought it would be easy, I just didn’t think it would be that hard.

The first four days of the tour were much harder than I thought they would be.

Our day started well, we made the 3 hour trip from Lordsburg to the Mexican border with the CDTC Southern Terminus Shuttle. The ferry was at maximum capacity with 12 people. We got to know each other a bit which was great, a little over half of the hikers had hiked before. Even those who had not walked before were very prepared.

First of all, the terminal is currently crazy. There are constant constructions of border walls a few meters from the monument. Heavy machinery is operated and large loads of sand and gravel are delivered throughout the day. We are talking about a waste of taxpayers’ money. Other than that, the shuttle crew was amazing in helping us get there, giving us lots of information, and taking all of our initial photos.

Leaving the border was a 14-mile stretch without water, to our first of five hideouts. We literally wouldn’t survive without these CDTC-managed caches. Our $175 transportation fee paid for all of our water. People who do not take the shuttle service must remember to pay the water tank fee. The day started well but the terrain became progressively harder. There were long stretches of sandy sandboxes, ankle-breaking rock washes, and hard, dusty dirt. My feet started hurting first and the pain and ache went up my body from there.

Heavy backpacks make heavy hearts

With a rough start putting in too many miles on the AT, I remember the pain of finding the trailheads. When I dialed in my setup for the PCT with a base weight of 8 pounds, it seemed like my first few days on the trail went smoothly, just a little bit of a hiker’s limp. The CDT looked completely different. First, my base weight is 11 pounds with additional water, umbrella, and gear capacity to better suit the desert and cold nights. I knew this would happen because it is noticeably a more difficult trail in terms of items, length, route finding, and more. Of course, if I hadn’t decided to average 20 miles for the first 8 days to get to the trail days, I think my days would have been much better.

By the end of the first day, my body was burning, thirsty, dusty and dry despite drinking constantly. Setting up our new Durston tent ended up being quite frustrating and then the crazy wind that constantly woke me up in the middle of the night left one hiker sore in the morning.

Of course, the second day was more difficult.

With my body sore enough to take a sick day off work, I still had to walk another 20 miles (and the next day and the next day and the next day…). With the extensive miles, mixed with a gallon of water on my back more often than not, I was starting to wonder who the hell I think I am. I remembered all the hard times on the PCT and SPECIFICALLY remembered saying I wouldn’t do the CDT. Unfortunately, a triple crown sounds really nice and I’m built to work hard, so here I am. I would walk until my feet and hips felt like they couldn’t walk anymore. Then I would remind myself «I can do hard things» and other fortune cookie sayings, go further, and finally take a break when I really couldn’t walk anymore. The wind was whipping and there was no shade.

Somehow I made it through the second day.

…then the third day and with a hotel bed calling, the fourth day. The wind was useful and bad. It kept me awake two of the three nights with gusts so powerful that sometimes my tent would hit me in the face while I was sleeping. Note to self: get earplugs (I always have them, but when I took them on the third day, there was only one empty earplug bag). The wind prevented me from using my umbrella much, which was frustrating, but by the fourth day, it kept it cool enough that I didn’t need it anyway. I basically carry an expensive silver antenna on my back just because it looks cool.

I found myself in a kind of meditative state.

Meditating the way he didn’t have time to think about much more than surviving. Just getting to the next water, the next tree, and the next day was enough for me. I surprised myself every day by getting up before the sun and feeling strong enough to continue walking. I must say that the CDT was much more difficult than I thought.

“Accept brutality”

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