Day 31: Zero at Ghost Ranch

Mileage: Zero

So, I've officially hit one month on the trail - woohoo! Since I'm a geek, and have nothing better to do at Ghost Ranch on my zero, here are some statistics from the first month...

Miles walked: 591.5 miles

Average miles per day (w/zeros): 19.08 miles

Average miles per day (w/o zeros): 21.91 miles

Longest day: 34.7 miles

Double rainbows seen: 2

Wilderness areas: 6

Hot springs: 3

Hotels: 2

Hitchhike rides: 7

The third plate of all you can eat lunch, which in total included seven tamales, three burritos, and two plates of salad.

As I said yesterday, Ghost Ranch is an amazing desert oasis. It also is full of history. Georgia O'Keefe made this place her home in her latter years and many of the landmarks she painted are visible from the ranch. Her rich oil paintings and watercolors of flowers and desert landscapes adorn many of the walls and postcards in the gift shop. Their library (which is awesome!) also has a ton of books and movies about her.

Karma, Restless, and Maniac arrived this morning, just in time for lunch. At first, they all wanted to move on after lunch but I convinced Karma and Restless to stick around. This place is just too peaceful to leave in just an hour. It's also amazing because they leave all the facilities open all night so you can peruse the library, get on wifi, or cook food whenever you want.

Everyone here has been really friendly and already knows that we are CDT hikers. We asked them if it was the smell or the beards. Most have been polite and said the beards. Anyways, I've already had two showers so I don't stink anymore!

Visiting the Ghost Ranch Paleontology Museum. Many Coelophysis dinosaur fossils was discovered here from the Triassic period.

I met a nice lady who does yoga and massage therapy here at the ranch and she invited us to come to her yoga class in the morning. I might also get a massage, but it isn't cheap, so not sure. She also offered to grab us some beers from the monks who grow their own hops down the road and we definitely took her up on that. Only problem is she isn't bringing it back until tomorrow morning.

Movie night.

We finished the night watching movies in the Ghost House, which is equipped with couches, a TV/DVD player, and even a gas heater. We stayed up until midnight (really late for us!) and Restless even sang a few songs with a girl who was hanging out with us. It was raining hard when we got back to the tents, but we all fell sound asleep.

You can see Pedernal in the distance, a mountain that Georgia O'Keefe painted over and over again.