CDT mile 471, miles hiked 30.5 (1.5 miles was for water gathering at sources off trail)
Freefall crossing a burned area of the mesa
We set off for the first water supply Los Indios spring 10.5 miles from camp, we strolled along the road making great time. We arrived at the springs at 10:30 am and decided to have an early lunch.
I used the opportunity of fresh piped spring water to clean up and do some LNT laundry. My socks from the past few days and my boxers were so coated with sand and salt from my sweat it was like sandpaper rubbing against my skin. Out here our biggest fear isn’t bears or wildlife it’s getting chaffing so bad of your nether regions that it’s hard to hike. Lately, I have been dealing with a great deal of nipple chaffing from my shirt. Buttercup informed me it is because I have what they call in Germany “beer titties” fitting since I do drink a fair amount of beer, we explained to him in the US we call these moobs. Luckily with a good washing and the nipple butter, I bought in Grants the chaffing seems to be getting better.
One sure-fire way to avoid the dreaded chaffing that will give you a strange gait and day of hiking hell is to try to stay clean. My good friend Disco had a great way to do this, bring a blue sponge and use some water in a ziplock to wash regularly. So as we ate lunch I did just that and have myself a good scrubbing and put on clean underwear, it really is the simple things in life that bring great pleasure.
A new type of trail marker along this stretch
We climbed back to the trail from the canyon and continued across the Mesa to the next water in 13.5 miles. The pace was fast today and at 1:30 we took in a view of where we were goings and decided to push as long as we could.
We descended the Mesa to an amazing canyon area, each step taking us closer to a classic western landscape. We arrived at Ojo Frio Springs where we filled up for another long water carry. Since we would be dry camping we all loaded what we could, 6 liters for me and we set off to wrap up the day. As we worked our way across this plateau we were amazed that you could even navigate such a crazy landscape. As dusk fell we tucked in behind some hills. Even though the sky was threatening all day most of us have decided to cowboy camp, let’s just hope it stays dry tonight.
My view from camp tonight
