Mileage: 16.8 miles (430.5-447.3)
I want a king size bed. I literally can't describe how wonderful I slept last night in the Travel Lodge's king. I don't just want one back home, but also right now. I'd need about three tents to fit the mattress, but that's another story. You can sleep in any direction and still fit on the bed - it's incredible!
Anyways, after I woke up we had hotel breakfast which for me consisted of four mini bagels with cream cheese, a waffle, a few muffins, and coffee. About an hour later I added two bananas, some peanut butter, and an Entenmann's glazed donut.
Maniac left soon after breakfast want to get a head start. Restless and Karma took off a little after that and I followed last once I finished laying in my bed and talking to Laura on the phone. I got a hitch up to the post office (...since I had already walked that section twice!) but then it turned out the CDT actually cut off earlier. Luckily, the guy who picked me up was actually very interested in thru-hiking and was happy to backtrack some for me ... we even stopped for a shake and fries at Lot-a-burger, which was fantastic. By the time he dropped me off where I needed to be, we had probably spent close to an hour together so it kind of nullified the hitch, but at least I didn't have to walk it!
Right as I was leaving town, a couple on a tandem bike rode towards me. They stopped and we swapped stories. Turns out they were biking from LA to NYC on a tandem, which I thought was pretty neat! The guy was a Brit (who casually mentioned that he walked 3,000 miles from Mongolia to Hong Kong) and the girl was from Hong Kong. Never know who you'll meet on the trail!
I hiked a few miles up the road past the New Mexico State correctional facility and the got a real trail for the first time in about 25 miles. I cruised up to a Mesa and then met the rest of the guys on the trail by about 4:30pm.
We sat and chatted for a bit and then me and Karma walked ahead together for the rest of the day. At a junction we waited for the other two, who finally showed up after about an hour. They'd apparently went looking for a spring that didn't exist.
We all walked a couple miles up trail, found a great camp spot next to a spring. After watching a beautiful sunset over some aspens and eating our dinner we all turned in, resolved to wake up to hike Mt Taylor for sunrise tomorrow. Not looking forward to waking up before the sun in six hours.
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