CDT 2024 - Day 18, Armijo Road to Joe Skeen, BLM

El Malpais Conservation Area and the Cebolla Wilderness

Departure Morning on Armijo Rd, BLM

It was 30 degrees this morning when we got up and prepped to get Runningbird on her way. There wasn't much to do as we usually get most everything ready the night before. Part of our plan was for me to try and stay close and let Peggy pack a bit light for these first few days back on the trail after the Gila River episode. There were also some things back home happening with an elderly friend that were a bit worrying yet hard to do anything about from so far away. Just praying for now.

Runningbird moving out and getting on up the road. Armijo Road, BLM

On this section it was mostly road hiking, some on dirt but mostly on pavement, and navigating from the main trail to just road walking, then onto an alternate route, and then back again onto the "red line" or main route. The temperatures were not excessively hot but it was windy.

La Ventana Natural Arch, El Malpais National Conservation Area, NM

Leaving our campsite, I slowly made way out and along the bumpy dirt road and onto the main road then head north again, passing Runningbird along the way. I stopped to take a few photos along the way and then moved on to the Joe Skeen BLM Campground. It was free and a really nice boondock spot with well maintained and clean pit toilets. It was a pretty area and there was plenty of room between the ten sites, each one having a covered picnic table. Beau and I were lucky to get one of the higher spots with a great view and somewhat decent cell coverage. I leveled the T@B, disconnected from the truck, and put up the cell booster. From there we ran lite a few more miles to the ranger station where I filled my reserve seven gallon water jug as we were getting fairly low. Runningbird had expressed how much she had enjoyed taking a "bird" bath the night before so best to add a bit to the supply.

Back at the rig I tried to get a gravity feed from the water jug into the trailer with the filter. The jug only had a spout and the inlet for water on the trailer use a garden hose fitting. I was able to fit the spout into the hose with an adapter I had but there was no way to let air escape to keep from creating a vacuum. It took me quite a while to realize I was getting nowhere and the jug remained full. Hmmm, this was getting complicated. Finally, after some time spent just thinking about the dilemma, and I had time, I realized that on the water system I have on the trailer there is a configuration labeled "siphon with water pump into tank". Well, that's thoughtful. I switched the handles, put on the water pump, and there we go. It worked until the jug started to collapse and then I had to loosen the hose every once in a while to purge the vacuum and then carry on. It was finally done in minutes. Clever folks adding a siphon option.

In the mid-afternoon I checked the Spot and Runningbird had been making good time. I drove with Beau down the campground access road and up the highway a short bit and parked. We walked up the road a bit but there was very little shoulder and there were several sharp curves in the road. I didn't like it for hikers and I didn't like it for Beau and I. We went back and stood fairly close to the truck in a pullout and waited.

Beau had been intently sniffing the breeze coming from the south and watching the curve in the road that was several hundred yards away. Can dogs really smell that good? Off in the distance we could see a hiker coming around the corner and soon we could see that it was indeed Runningbird. The tail started to wag and his paws started shifting from one side to the other while pulling on his leash, almost as though he were hiking along as well.

We all got up to the campsite at Joe Skeen and I set up the portable outdoor shower/changing room at Peggy's request and hooked up the outdoor shower and gave her a basin. Today she enjoyed a bit more than a bird bath. The wind was blowing pretty good so I had to stand there and hold the pop-up up shower lest it blow away leaving her.... She could have gone in the trailer and taken a shower but this was her preference.

This was a rough 24-mile day for her. She showed me her very swollen ankle and it was all purple and red. With encouragement she went horizontal on the bunk and we put ice on it and elevated. It must have been all the canted paved road travel. I didn't say so but it didn't look good. She seemed to have her heart set on continuing on the next morning as planned but I think I convinced her that she might miss a lot more hiking if she kept going. I didn't want to think about what would happen if she just couldn't go on any further when she was in the middle of nowhere and I couldn't get to her.

I grilled Impossible burgers for dinner with a bit of salad and we had chocolate graham crackers and tea before bed. And a double dose of Tylenol.

Sunset to the south and west from the Joe Skeen campsite, BLM