Sunday, May 31, 2026
32.4 miles, 2090′ gain/2671′ loss.
Max altitude: 9000′
Since I got to bed so late, I let myself sleep in a bit this morning. I was up at 6am and hiking by 6:30am. As I packed up, I saw a group of turkeys wandering around nearby. The hot water from yesterday had cooled off in the night and was more pleasant to drink this morning. My next potential water was a cache 6 miles away. The trail transitioned to a double-track woods road and then onto an exposed dirt road.
I passed by the cache around 8:30am, taking a bit less than a liter, anticipated scoopable water in 10 miles and then off-trail water another 8 miles after that. Unfortunately, the day heated up very quickly, hitting 95 degrees in the sun, and the dirt road had no shade of any kind. I was sweating a lot and burning through my water fast. I got to the place others had reported scoopable water around 12:15pm to find that all of the water from this season had dried up. But there was a canyon with a cow pond there and I had no more water left.
So I took the time to find a way to climb down into the canyon and carefully picked my way around the pool. The water was the color of creamy matcha, smelled horrible, and was covered in black flies. But I didn’t have much of a choice – I scooped 2L of water and climbed back out. I then filtered 1L with my brand-new filter and by the end of the liter, the filter was completed stopped up. I had to backwash the filter 4 times, with bright green gunk coming out, before it would flow again. Even with water flavor added, the water tasted disgusting. I swear I could still taste the hooves and horns. I decided to carry the unfiltered 1L, since I wasn’t sure what the next water source 8 miles away would look like.
The sun beat down on me, roasting me as I walked the many miles of open dirt road. I was walking on that hot dirt road for more than 20 miles today. The warm cow water tasted so bad, I could barely drink it but drink it I did. As I walked, I did get to see my trip’s first prairie dogs, which was a nice distraction for a little while. I just tried to keep moving in the heat of the day, trying to survive until 4pm, when the temperatures started going down.
I arrived at the side trail for the off-trail water around 4pm. I met my first CDT hiker of the trip, heading north as well. We chatted for a few minutes before I dropped my pack and took the 0.3mi 250′ descent down to a lukewarm but clear metal cattle trough. I filtered a liter and drank it immediately and then filtered another 3L before hiking back up the way I’d come. I did a few pack chores while taking with the older hiker, and then kept hiking. Thankfully, the trail started winding among 6′ bushy trees, so I had a bit of shade now and then. I hiked until 7:30pm, where I stopped right before a long descent into table lands/desert canyons.
The water carries today were difficult, especially given how hot it was. I didn’t know that tomorrow would be much worse, and be my hardest day on trail for this trip.
Transcending Mountains 