The Trails Will Always Be There, Right…?

I used to always think, well if I don’t get to a certain location/trail/bikepacking route one year, I can always do it the next year. However, with rapidly accelerating climate disasters and pandemics that stymie travel that assumption is becoming increasingly untrue. In that light it feels more imperative all of the time to get to those places now that I’ve always wanted to see more of, not later. Since all National Forests in California have closed again (due to the ongoing fires and lack of resources to battle possible new fires) it was fortuitous that Jesse and I already had plans to escape to New Mexico where temps were at least thinking about dipping down to autumnal levels, air quality levels were reasonable, and we could make the much delayed by Covid visit to his fully vaccinated parents.

We traveled across northern Arizona with two nights of camping in the Flagstaff area. This stop allowed us a long day ride on a segment of the Arizona Trail, to try and acclimatize to the altitude, and to sleep in some beautiful forest settings. We had great weather and enjoyed spectacular scenery in the Flagstaff area.

From Flagstaff we drove through the Petrified Forest National Park enroute to Jesse’s parents in Bloomfield, NM. I haven’t been to the Petrified Forest in years. I have failed to take any photos so far of Jesse’s parent’s “farm” where they fortunately have an irrigation ditch in their backyard that feeds that garden, yard, and fruit trees. We are rich in fresh fruits and veggies here and his parents also purchased a food freeze drier this year and his mom has gifted us so many amazing freeze dried fruits and vegetables for bikepacking: sour cherries, peaches, peas, zucchini, and riced butternut squash.

We had to put all these delicious foods to use so Jesse and I immediately headed out on a week long bikepack trip that integrated two routes from bikepacking.com: the Valles Caldera Explorer and the Chama Ojo Caliente Route. Which we connected with the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) and the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) for what ended up being about 250 rugged and remote miles of (mostly) fun. One of the great challenges of bikepacking can be figuring out how to get back to the start of your route and Jesse’s folks very kindly solved this problem for us! They dropped us off at the start of the route, just north of Chama, NM across the Colorado border on the CDT and planned to pick us up about a week later in Cuba, NM! We are sooo grateful for the assistance. With a late afternoon start we only needed to make it ten miles the first day to water and camping. This went well, but took almost three hours, a hint of what was to come. The CDT is a rather notoriously rougher and and less well marked long distance trail compared to its sister trails such as the Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail. Large swaths of it are quite slow going on bicycle and the trail was quickly living up to its reputation, not to mention we aren’t currently used to breathing the “thin” air of 10-11k. We slept high the first night, knowing it was likely to be our coldest, so I put on ALL my clothes. I only brought my lightweight bag and often sleep in my rain gear as my outer layer for warmth. Camp the first night was beautiful. In addition to having a huge buck elk run in front of me on the trail, we saw several herds in a nearby valley and heard them walk through camp that night.

The following morning we were up and at ’em, hoping to make a camp about 45 miles away; the final water source for awhile. The challenges of the CDT struck again and we only made it to a camp about 35 miles away where we enjoyed using the picnic table in an actual campground to make dinner and then pedaled on a bit further to sleep. The trail had lots of fun bits, but also plenty of slow going hike-a-bike. My low back has always been a challenging body part for me, giving me grief since college; however, the last few years it has not been as much of an issue. About a week before we left on this trip at the top of a local climb I leaned over to pick up my bike and carry it over a bunch of shattered glass – as I have done hundreds of times – and my low back spasmed. By laying low and treating it carefully I got it quickly under control and by the time we left on our road trip I had mostly forgotten about it, but on day one of our bikepack I was lifting my bike over a downed tree and my back gave me another warning shot, not quite as extreme as the one the previous week, but enough to make me nervous on day one of a big trip. As a result, on the second day I was asking Jesse to do any and all bike lifting for me, which definitely did not help speed things up.

On the third night we camped near a spring where Jesse had to jockey for position with cows and a big old bull to get at the one and only water source available for many miles. After a great night’s sleep we were excited to only have 20 or so miles of riding, with lots of downhill, to get to the Ghost Ranch, an education and retreat center well known amongst CDT travelers as a place to rest, eat bottomless plates of delicious food, and get a shower!! The first of the morning’s miles went very fast and Jesse and I were both harboring secret thoughts that we might even, by some miracle, make it in time for second breakfast! The CDT proper crosses the highway north of Ghost Ranch, but there is also a CDT alternate route that descends directly down into the Ranch. I had read somewhere that the alternate was not bike friendly and had proposed that we pedal to the highway and then into Ghost Ranch along the road, but the morning had gone by so quickly that the direct route (alternate) started to sound tempting and I thought “how bad can it be”? Famous last thoughts, right? Well, after the bumpy road suddenly ended in a cliff side, followed by dragging our bikes down a steep rocky gully, refinding the trail, eventually trying to gently skirt our way (walking and twisting, and easing our bikes) through a narrow unofficial trail winding its way through a tight cactus field (why yes, I did end up with cactus spines in my butt! ), creek crossings and more boulder drops we *finally* made our way to The Ranch, with 15 minutes before the end of lunch hour to spare!! I was stressed by the physical challenges, recall that my back had given me trouble on day one and this was 100% torqueing on my body, as well as worried about route finding and being on track, all of which lead to a dearth of photographs. While the descent was stressful and I definitely would NOT recommend it, we were descending through a gorgeous box canyon and huge cliffs.

In between two huge delicious meals (it only takes a couple of days on the trail for salad to start to taste like the most amazing dish in the world!!) we took showers in the campground, which also means washing your clothes, woohoo!! The following day after we made to Abiquiu for resupply, we had a famous 30 mile climb of the Palvadera on the GDMBR. Temps had remained high at these low elevations which necessitated a pre-dawn start carrying lots of water. The climb actually went reasonably well and quickly, a good reminder that road miles, even bumpy tough ones, are not the same as trail miles. This lead us into the Valles Caldera which was stunningly beautiful, but in a very different way than the high alpine on the outside of the caldera. The Caldera is also an elk reserve and we were treated to beautiful vocalizations, as well as a visual show of watching a herd of elk come down to the meadow in the evening. It was absolutely enchanting.

In the Caldera we were already one day behind our expected trip duration and I was definitely feeling a bit beat down. In addition to the regular physical challenges of a trip like this my allergies were off the hook; this meant that at night I couldn’t breathe through my nose and my already dehydrated body was gasping for air and getting drier, my lips more chapped and cracked, and my nasal secretions more bloody. I was definitely at my grumpiest low with burning sinuses. Instead of taking the direct way across the Caldera on hilly dirt roads of unknown quality we took the fast smooth highway for a good handful of miles to the next resupply instead. Following lunch at the burger cart (yay, for a Beyond Burger option) we started a hot afternoon climb toward the San Antonio Hot Springs. Since it was a Sunday, we knew they would be busy, so instead pedaled about a mile past the hot springs to set up camp and chill by the river until closer to evening.

That night was unexpectedly the coldest of the trip – that’s what happens when you camp in a river drainage – and I had not employee my towel hat, brrr…. The last couple of days were much more mellow with fairly high quality dirt roads, an inexpensive night in an official campground, and pavement into Cuba to wrap up our trip. Without fail, when you stay in a campground people are curious about you, and generally extend some kindness. We had run out of caffeinated tea, so the camp host set us up for our final morning and another camper offered us a fresh tomato from her garden. Upon reaching Cuba we were very excited to have second breakfast (first breakfast had been a sleeve of Fig Newtons), but that proved more challenging than expected; none of the open diners had outdoor seating and we try not to hang out in indoor spaces with groups of people, some of whom are probably unvaccinated. So we got our breakfast to go and found a nice shady picnic spot with a peacock roaming around to eat while we waiting for Jesse’s folks to drive over.

I can’t stress enough how helpful it is to have the luxury of a drop off and pick up like Jesse’s parent provided for us. Following the trip we settled in to their house for a few days of recovery, visiting, and food, but now it is time to hit the road again. In two days I will drop Jesse at the Albuquerque Amtrak station so he can make his way back to Santa Barbara and I’ll stay on the road in the Southwest, wandering about, for another month or two. Even though Amtrak requires masks, with Covid numbers being what they are I still worry about Jesse using public transportation; hopefully he will arrive home uninfected. Meanwhile I worry about anyone having an accident and not being able to get timely treatment in a hospital due to all the unvaccinated people harming the system and society. This was Jesse’s biggest bikepack trip and of course he took to it like a champ, he is so strong and capable, but much more importantly he is constantly filled with joy and awe. I love traveling with and loving this man!