The first woman to walk more than 8,000 miles in one year

This morning I turned up pretty early when the alarm first went off. I squinted and could see a really beautiful sunrise in the making. I was camped right in this open spot with some protection from trees. The sun was rising right in front of me. But I just couldn’t get up. I ended up boiling water and making some coffee. But then I kept putting and putting.

I finally started packing my bags. I was wondering if the other hiker I had passed last night would stop by. But I think even when I start the day really late, it’s probably an early start by a lot of people’s standards. If I didn’t have this internalized imaginary time limitation, I’d probably be doing the same thing. The mornings are so cold! It would be very nice to sleep until the sun fully rose and you could warm up. It’s funny though, even with the pressure up, I still put pressure on myself every day for no reason.

This was a section of the trail that I definitely remembered fondly. I actually traveled to this area before touring the CDT when I lived out of my vehicle. That’s why it’s nostalgic in many ways.

Sometimes in the mornings I do calculations of the previous day’s mileage. I count the daily mileage and the total mileage for the year. I add those stats to my blog post every day. So it wasn’t until this morning that I made a big discovery. Last night I surpassed 8000 annual miles. It’s official now! Without a doubt, I have logged more miles in a year than any other woman. In 2018, Heather Anderson walked about 7,800 miles. Definitely less than 8000. Which means I’ve officially broken that record. It’s crazy to think that no woman on earth has walked more than 8,000 miles in a year so far. I spent much of the morning sitting with those thoughts.

This morning was really neat as it was surrounded by unique rock formations.

I finally got going and continued on dirt roads for the next few hours. Honestly, I’m going to be on a dirt road most of the day today. At least intermittently. The place I camped last night is actually only 10 miles from the watering hole where Syrup and I flooded last year. So quite early in the day I will begin my walk down memory lane. We were in that depression for the night and camped there. And then all the miles that followed were left in darkness. We walked from 9 at night until the sun came out again. And then we didn’t stop there.

I took a short break, sitting in a corner of this cliff.

Time passed quickly in the morning. And it felt really good when the sun started to come out and warmed me up a little. It was a very pleasant and calm start to the day. Then, just before 10am, I ended up passing another tent. It was obvious that the person was inside and packing his bags. I was incredibly jealous that they were still at camp after 9am. Now that’s living! But once again I feel like I only walk past people when they are in their store.

About an hour after that, I passed by the area where Syrup and I had experienced a flash flood. The crazy thing is just being able to look around and see that environment. It’s just not the kind of place where you would expect to experience a flash flood. It is not the lowest land in the area. There are no very high mountains directly in the area. It’s just not a place where I would have expected that to happen. And yet it was so. After walking through that area I knew that I would continue through the section that we only did at night.

I briefly spent some time hiking in a wooded area when I reached the top of my previous climb. It was nice to be less exposed to the sun.

It’s funny to think that the next 20 to 30 miles of the trail I have never seen in daylight. And now I can walk most of it during the day until the sun sets tonight. I’ll probably end up doing something in the dark once again. But it’s good to change things. It was also interesting to see what the terrain was like and try to imagine being there in 2024.

There are always so many bones along the CDT.

After passing the cow water trough, I started climbing almost immediately. It would continue for 1 or 2 hours and take me to the top of this table. The good thing was that I knew that once I reached the top, the trail would level out. I wouldn’t have significant elevation gain again until some time after Grants. The climb was well level and went quickly. I felt really strong and full of energy.

Then once I got to the top, everything leveled out. I was walking mostly on a nice flat dirt road for the rest of the day. We were very lucky last year with the area where we experienced flash flooding. Being able to follow flat roads and easy-to-follow trails was a great luxury. We could have flooded anywhere. So for this to happen on an easier section of the trail was really cool.

Continuing down the road as the sun began to set.

Although at that time these dirt roads were not so pretty. It had rained for two days in a row and the roads were covered in thick mud. It was the type of clayey mud that stuck and accumulated on the soles of shoes. Until after a while, you had over 3 inches of red mud connected to your plants. My ankles hurt from trying to lift my heavy feet. And even if you kicked all the mud away, it would harden again. That was definitely one of the most exhausting parts of the flash flood experience. The mud was crazy and went on a lot of the time.

Quite a backdrop.

This time the dirt roads were pretty perfect. I just kept my head down and continued. Stopping every now and then to grab some snacks or put on and take off a coat. Today I managed to stay in my alpha for a long time. On some of these colder mornings, I feel like I only take my Alpha off for a few hours in the afternoon. Then when 4-5pm rolls around, I’m adding layers once again. The timing of the days has felt very strange. It’s always strange to be on the road when winter approaches.

I loved the shadow that the sunset cast on these cliffs.

As night approached once again, I finally bundled up again. And I stopped to get more snacks so I could have easy access to things as I walked into the darkness. Today I’m trying to go about 40 miles. That would make my day at Grants tomorrow closer to 30. It would be really nice to log in at a reasonable time and have a chance to do some editing.

I’m going to miss this more than anything. It feels so bad when you live indoors and can’t see the sun rise and set every day.

I also thought the weather would be pretty good on the dirt roads. And that walking into the darkness would be, overall, a little easier. I never saw another hiker over the course of the day other than that tent this morning. But of course, once he started walking into the darkness, he would have to see someone. And lo and behold, I did it. At some point between 8 and 9 pm, I was continuing along the dirt road and saw a light inside a tent.

I truly believe you can only get colors like this at a New Mexico sunset.

The person inside must have been listening to music or something. They didn’t seem to hear me approaching. Then suddenly they sneezed and I responded audibly. «Health». I wonder what made them think that. Just after passing the store site, I passed a jug of water. And I desperately needed some water! I drank a lot for tonight and tomorrow. But if I wanted to make hot coffee in the morning, it would have been nice to get a little more.

In the course of this entire path that I walked today I saw a lot of water jugs. Usually only one to four at a time. And they were just those smaller 1 gallon jugs. I don’t know if it’s Trail Angel or ATV people. Maybe people go out for the day and bring water and decide to leave it with whoever is there next. This particular water jug ​​was not listed on any type of map or commentary. And there was only about a liter left in the bottle! But that’s all I needed.

It was a pleasant surprise and set me up well for the night. I then continued on the dirt road for the rest of the night.

Some time after this, an ATV also passed me. I get a little scared in the dark when vehicles pass by. Just because these dirt roads have very little traffic. This was literally the only person or vehicle I had seen all day. So watching it happen in the dark was a little disconcerting. A couple of hours later I passed the campsite where the ATV was parked. They had a motor home and other vehicles there. But by then it was quite late, perhaps between nine and ten at night. I wasn’t planning on going much further during the day, but I was trying to walk quite late. It would be good to go about 40 miles. That way I can line up the mileage a little better for grants tomorrow night. Another town on the trail passes by.

An hour after passing that camp, I decided to leave it myself. I had ridden about 41 miles a day and it was ridiculously cold. I was worried about having to stop and put away the water filter while walking. How cold it was! I could see my breathing as I walked for the last two hours. And even with the Alpha layers on and the wind gear I still felt pretty uncomfortable. I ended up putting on my raincoat to insulate myself a little more. But I probably could have had another layer comfortably. I wasn’t climbing much anyway.

The cold weather had also prevented me from setting up camp earlier. I wanted to find a spot with a decent amount of tree cover to try to keep me a little warmer. If you camped in any kind of valley or open field, you would probably experience a lot of frost and condensation during the night. So I walked until I found a large group of trees and then headed towards them to see if there was any flat spot. There are always perfect spots within the clumps of trees.

It was very cold when I started setting up my tent. I really wanted to get in and be comfortable. I stayed on my phone for a while. I had pretty good service all day today. It was a shame not to be able to prepare a hot drink. But the only thing I drank was coffee. Although I actually made some dehydrated refried beans. I realized I had some packets of mayonnaise and sauce. And I was craving some calories and something hot. After eating that and doing my stretches, I called it a night.

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