CDT 2024 - Day 8, A Pick-up and into Silver City

Hiker Girl comes off the trail and into the City

One of Beau's shade trees with some really nice rock work along the canyon.

Woke up to sunshine again. I like these cool nights and sunny, warm days. I was slightly concerned about Runningbird as her tracker never showed her arriving at the night's camp spot we had discussed and I never got a check-in. Her tracker did show her last in dense trees so I wrote it off to that. This morning I did see a start check-in and she was again making tracks. No worries, I keep trying to convincing myself. It's not that I don't have complete confidence in her, it's all the outside factors that concern me. And I can come up with a lot of those. If only I could use my imagination in a more artistic or creative way.

I took Beau out for his morning walk and a police officer came by and very politely asked if I had heard any commotion in the last 5-10 minutes. He was responding to a woman in distress. I told him no and he went on patrolling the lot and up into some trees behind. A few minutes later an EMS vehicle drove by and went up into the trees. Too much action too early in the morning for me. Again, I think I'll avoid the Walmart parking lots at night. This particular store actually has the only Subway sandwich shop in town. And there are no Starbucks here.

I got myself together and then went into the Walmart for a couple more things and then to the in-store Subway that opened at 0830 to get Runningbird's usual veggie foot long. Back in the truck, engine running and ready to roll, I received a phone call from the girl. She was requesting a slightly different meeting spot that would be a little further up the dirt road where I was to meet her. It was a better place as it had a larger turn-around for me to maneuver the trailer. Although she wasn't do for a couple hours I gave her a "roger, wilco" and got on my way. The pick-up was about a 30-minute drive and as I moved along the highway I thought about how horrible it would be to hike this particular section. It was hot, no shade, a two-lane highway with a 60 MPH speed, heat oozing up from the asphalt, and very little shoulder. Yuck! Where I pulled off the highway at the original spot was right off the highway with very little space to turn around. I proceeded up the little road, which was deep soft dirt that left a good amount of dust cloud despite my slow progress and then I passed through a wash-out and then the road went to washboard. I arrived at the appointed spot which was indeed a large turn-around area at the entrance to a canyon and parked the rig. The FarOut app showed a gate at this point but it was actually a cattleguard.

I hitched up Beau and we headed up the canyon trail to meet with Runningbird. It was hot and after a while I regretted not bring water for both Beau and I and for not putting on sunscreen. We passed several cows with their calves and then we found the bull. He was a big fella with a face that looked like he had run into a truck more than a few times. There was a cow standing on the trail in front of us just staring. Other cows were moving quickly along to the sides of us, babies scampering behind. They were all mooing loudly throwing a fit. Beau and I stopping walking and just stood there waiting for the cow to move along. All; the mooing was echoing off the canyon walls making things sound much worse than they were. At least to me. Finally Smash Face crossed over and gave the dumb girl a big nudge and they both moved off to the side. Beau and I moved on being sure to keep one eye on the big guy. Further up the trail there were a couple of big willows casting their shadows on the trail. Beau decided to lay down in the cool dirt in the shade and now I really wished I had brought water and worried how I would move his 85 lbs. if he didn't want to go any further. But then, oddly, I heard singing and it was Runningbird. She came around the corner and Beau was up. We had a nice greeting and she poured some of her water on the lid for Beau to lap up. Back at the truck a hiker we had met a couple nights before at the water cache was waiting but the rig. Runningbird had offered "Build-a-bear" a ride into town with us so he wouldn't have to walk that section of highway.

After dropping Build-a-Bear off in old town we drove to the KOA on the other side of town and got settled, had showers, and then went out for dinner. We went to a really neat place called Whiskey Creek Zocalo that serves beer, wine, pizzas, tapas, and deserts. The found and atmosphere were great. The place was covered with neat trinket type things as if it were an oddity shop. Off the back deck they had a corn hole game, ping-pong, lots of space for kids, and a plant nursery. It was cool! We got back to the KOA and made a plan for the next day, a zero day, and got to bed early. Not sleeping at the Walmart parking lot and having a Guiness Stout and a whole pizza had done a number on me.

Whiskey Creek Zocalo, Silver City, NM