WalkingCarrot

We continued our march across the mesa. The trail is well marked with cairns and posts but there’s very little actual “trail tread”. The ground is mostly rocky, so the footing is difficult

A coyote trots across our path, seemingly oblivious to us, until he looks right back at us.

We skirt the edge of the mesa with stunning view of the lowland canyons below, as well as volcanic rock buttes. When we come to the end of the mesa we begin a 2,000 foot drop into the sculpted landscape below.

Midway down, we watched the afternoon ritual progression of thundershowers during lunch as two strong cells missed us.

At the bottom, a quarter-mile side hike takes us to “Ojo Frio”, a necessary water source. There’s a spring inside a concrete box covered with plywood which feeds a stock tank well-used by cows. Despite bugs (live) living in the box we pump water from it. It’s still better than cow drool from the stock tank and better than trying to make the next 16 miles and an overnight camp, on a quart of water. The water smells of sulphur but is drinkable, so we load up and head out.

We walk across the low tablelands including some deep arroyos. The landscape is punctuated with canyons, cliffa, buttes, and many mesas. Vertical or horizontal lines define the landscape. It’s vast, desolate, unsettled country.

Loaded again with water, and faced with lots of ups, downs, and uncertain footing our pace slowed in the afternoon/evening. We hiked until the sun went down and the full moon began to rise, pulling into a camp with sore feet, shoulders and back. We set up the tent on a prominent point, with sweeping views and some juniper trees for shelter, and made dinner while the stars came out and coyotes howled in the distance.

19 miles