Day 26: Early wake up to Cuba

Mileage: 15 miles (523.7-538.7)

Maniac woke my butt up early, about ten minutes before 4am so that we could get into Cuba, NM for breakfast. It was a fifteen-mile hike and we wanted to get in there early so we'd have the entire day in town.

Maniac was totally fired up and basically started by jogging down the trail ten minutes after four o'clock in the morning. Stuffing poptarts in my mouth and trying to guzzle some water, I struggled to keep up, not to mention I still wasn't really awake. On town days, Maniac gets this crazy look in his eyes and you know how he got his trail name - don't let that southern charm fool ya!

Unfortunately, it turned out to be one of the harder fifteen mile stretches we've seen on the CDT. Almost immediately, we began a very steep ascent up a mesa in the dark (I guess all mesa ascents are steep, but...) The upside was that Maniac's pace substantially slowed and I was able to keep up much easier. He led up the loose rocks because his headlamp was much better than mine and he could make sure we went up the trail, instead of off a cliff.

As we climbed we heard donkeys and cows crooning in the sunrise, almost like roosters on the farm. This got us singing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" EE-I-EE-I-O and all as clambered up the rocks. If someone had come upon us, they would have thought we were both insane - but now that I think about it, that would probably be the case a lot of the time on the trail.

We topped out on the mesa just before the sun reached the horizon and were treated to a beautiful morning. The great thing about hiking up mesas is that once you get on top they are totally flat, which makes for easy hiking after you get up.

We kept pushing the pace until we reached the road about ten miles later, struggling through stretches of mud, but it was mostly smooth sailing. At one point, I heard Maniac screaming at me from a few hundred yards away, but I couldn't make out what he was saying because the sound of the road. All of a sudden, I turned around and realized about 40 cows were basically running at me from all directions. Luckily, they stopped about 20 feet short and just stared at me. I figured they thought I was going to feed them - either that, or they just loved my pandora station - and I told them I didn't have any food, but they should escape while they could and that Bessy was never coming back.



 By the time we got to the road, Maniac's feet had really started to bother him (so much for that jogging!) and he was really slowing down. After he attempted to hike in sandals, he asked if I might carry some stuff in his pack to lighten his load. I offered to just trade packs, as I was pretty sure mine was significantly lighter.

He about jumped for joy when he put my pack on, exclaiming, "What the hell? How is this thing so light? I could run in this thing!" I, on the other hand, was like, "What the hell are you carrying in here, lead weights?" By the time we reached town, I had started to get shin splints from walking on the road with his heavy pack, but I was happy to help him out. Though, I did offer to help lighten his load in town (...it wouldn't be too hard considering he had an extra fleece blanket, an extra large sleeping pad, and so on).



We immediately ate at the first restaurant in town, the Cuban Cafe, and just gorged ourselves on pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns, coffee, and chips and salsa. We then headed to the post office, where I picked up my bounce box (and computer!) for the first time.

Note: a 'bounce box' is a package with a bunch of supplies for along the trail that you can forward (aka 'bounce') to yourself as you go from town to town.

Hanging with the very friendly Cuba, NM post office ladies!

After eating, we split a motel room with two beds and just vegged out the rest of the day. Karma showed up a few hours later and we all felt like new men after showering and doing laundry. For the first time, I had town clothes from my bounce box, so I didn't even look like a thru-hiker any more besides my beard. On top of that, I was sitting with a laptop computer, an iphone, and kindle on my bed and it really seemed I'd entered a whole new world. It was just my old world, but it felt different now. Almost uncomfortable after being out for a month, but incredibly convenient to have things like google and wikipedia at my fingertips.

A yard sale outside our motel room ... actually all my gear drying out from a wet night before!

With the TV blaring in the background and sharing a few beers, we whiled the night away just shooting the shit and snacking constantly. Just another day on the trail.