Northwest New Mexico is showing off. The tablelands I’ve been walking on since Mt. Taylor dropped into a valley of monuments, canyons, and carved mesas. After some 2,000 feet of elevation drop, I navigated the washes and canyons. My excitement and curiosity for the next sight around every feature kept me weaving the cairns; time felt irrelevant.
Some features previewed extra-planetary scenes. There was some fun rim walking and technical canyon bottom-to-rim transitions. I was entertained today.
| 🗓️ Date | May 7th |
| ⇢ Mileage | 31.0 |
| 📍 Trip Mileage | 545.7 |
| ⛅️ Weather | Calm morning, 75°F and windy out of southwest through end of day |
| 🏞️ Trail Conditions | Dirt road to extensive cairn-led cross country travel |
After about 27 miles, I reached a road intersection. Multiple vehicles, tents, an RV camper, and a large white party tent dotted the dirt around trail before the highway. “Hiker! Get under the tent and off your feet,” a woman yelled at me as I walked in. I was greeted by an armada of people, welcoming me to Camp Oasis. I was quite confused. Three people started preparing me food and grabbing me a soda. I sat at a chair under the party tent with maybe ten other individuals — two of them fellow hikers, the rest volunteers. Supposedly, the director of the CDT for New Mexico came to an Albuquerque adventure and hiking group ask them to sponsor hiker support. The group was rotating individuals in and out daily with a few main characters who stuck around full time. The encampment would operate full time from May 4th to the 27th. I had never seen trail magic organized with this much force, and it was especially surprising for the less trafficked CDT. I was feed two rounds of salad, chili and baked potato, and sausage and peppers accompanied by multiple soft drinks. I met so many volunteers that I scratch my head to remember any names. I regretfully always forget to take photos of such events too.
After chewing the fat with the folks around the table for sometime, my legs felt good for a few more miles, and I wanted to catch the New Mexico sunset. I headed out on the dry, final stretch to Cuba.
I’m parked in a small grove of junipers, with a fine view of the stars. A bat dive bombed my shoulder with some droppings as I was getting in my sleeping bad. I am crossing my fingers this won’t be the start of Covid-23 Lucky for me, I can do laundry tomorrow.
Signing off,
Zeppelin
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