For some reason my hike preparation feels more compressed this year. I think this is because I spent most of the winter unsure of whether or not my shin would be healed enough to attempt a hike of any serious distance. It also might be because time just seems to pass faster these days. I have heard that this phenomenon is correlated to the span of one’s lifetime. When we are young, we have not lived for very long, and therefore a summer in between school years feels like a long time. Later in life the length of a summer is much shorter in comparison to the amount of time we have been alive, and therefore feels shorter. If this is indeed true, I wonder what a day felt like to my grandfather when he was 103!
Nevertheless, my pre-hike preparation is coming along nicely. At this point, I’ve made my gear decisions and I have a general idea of the routes I’d like to take through New Mexico. One of the great things about hiking New Mexico twice is that there are quite a few route options. It’s really nice to be able to check out some new routes. The area I am most looking forward to is the Black Mountain range in the Aldo Leopold wilderness.
I think something like 99.5% of CDT thru-hikers take the Gila alternate between Silver City and Pie Town. I took that route in 2019 and it was easy to see why it is so popular. There is abundant water supply, so it is a nice break from the dry desert through which hikers have been tramping. The canyon walls and rock features are stunning, and there are natural hot springs along the way. One can also take a slight detour and go see the Gila Cliff Dwellings, which are not to be missed. Other than hiking with wet feet all day, it is quite the dream. So, why not just hike that route again?
I considered hiking the Gila again. I would like to see Jordan hot springs, which I missed last time. However, there is an allure of the unknown when it comes to the official CDT route through the Black Mountain range. The official route is about 70 miles longer and banks east away from the Gila into the Aldo Leopold Wilderness. Only a handful of hikers take this route each year, for a few reasons:
- It is very remote – resupply is possible about halfway through, but requires hitchhiking into a small town on what is reported to be a pretty quiet highway (potentially long wait for a ride).
- Water is scarce on much of the route, potentially 30+ miles between sources – hikers have to carry larger amounts of water long distances.
- Because not many hikers take the route, current information on water and waypoints is scarce. The Farout map app (formerly Guthook) is less likely to have current comments on water sources.
- It is about 70 miles longer than the Gila alternate.
The well-deserved popularity of the Gila alternate along with the factors above seem to have created a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby people don’t hike the official CDT route through the Black Range because there aren’t a lot of people hiking the route. Reports on this section of trail that I have managed to find have been mixed. One person commented that it was the “hidden gem” of the CDT. Another said that it was “overgrown and painful,” apparently dealing with aggressive regrowth of locust plants after a forest fire.
There is no real way to know what it will be like. I have spent hours looking at maps, plotting out potential water sources, and speaking with some of the rangers that patrol the wilderness area. I now feel comfortable that, while it will be tough, it will be doable. It also gives me comfort that people do hike the route each year, even going southbound in the fall when the trail is probably at its driest. So, right now my plan is to hike the official route through the Black range instead of the Gila. I’ll mail a resupply box to myself in the tiny town of Winston, NM, that I will pick up about halfway through. I expect it to take me 5 or 6 days to get from Silver City, NM to Winston, and then about 6 painfully dry days to get from Winston to Pie Town.
Of course, things can change, and I might discover information about the route that causes me to change my mind. I can always call and bounce that food box to another post office if I need to. But, right now hiking the official route through the Black Range is the plan, and I’m really excited about it. If this does indeed come to fruition, I plan to document the route as best I can, with the hope that future CDT hikers will benefit from greater visibility into its nuances and perhaps feel more inclined to give it a whirl.
I plan to take a few other new routes as well. For example, heading into Grants, New Mexico, I’ll probably take the official CDT through lava fields, rather than the Cebolla Alternate I took last time, which passed by the natural arch called La Ventana. I may skip Ghost Ranch and just take the high route between Cuba and Chama, simply to see what’s there. Some of these choices will mean I need to carry more food, or more water, but I’m ok with that. And, of course, I can always change my mind. Hikes never go as planned, and the CDT definitely will NOT go as I plan! I learned last time that I need to be really flexible. I suppose it would be easy to sum up my plan like this: I’ll probably take some new routes, including the ones mentioned, and I will plan accordingly knowing that I may need or want to change my plans as I go.
Now to switch gears for a moment, or more aptly, to switch to talking about gear. A lot of my gear will remain the same from my 2019 hike. I’ll still use the Zpacks Plexamid tent, Zpacks Arc Haul pack, and Enlightened Equipment quilt for my “big 3” core staples. You can view my full CDT thru-hike gear list on Lighter Pack. It provides a breakdown of everything individually and by category, its associated weight, and links to where you can research and purchase items if you are interested.
If you want to see a visual walkthrough of my gear, check out my CDT thru-hike gear overview video on YouTube. I had fun with it in my own weird way. Most of the gear I’m taking are things that I have grown to love over time, but there are a few new pieces that I want to discuss.
Backcountry Bidet
I don’t know why it took me so long to get on the bidet train, but ever since I started using this last fall, I have not looked back. The backcountry bidet is super light and fits into any standard-sized bottle mouth (Smartwater, Lifewater, soda bottle, etc.). Once you attach it to your water bottle, a simple squeeze will shoot out a pressurized stream of water that you can wash your bum, or anything else with. The main benefit of the bidet is that it makes it much easier to stay clean on trail, but there are other benefits as well, depending on how you utilize it. For example:
- Stay cleaner after doing your business
- Use less, or no, toilet paper
- Makes packing out any used toilet paper much more pleasant
- Use it to help wash off salt deposits from sweat
- Have a more controlled manner for administering “micro showers” on trail from your water bottle
Some people don’t use any toilet paper with the bidet, and instead use their hands and a little bit of biodegradable hand soap to finish the cleaning job and still keep it sanitary. The method is: rinse, wipe with hand, rinse, wash hand with soap, use hand sanitizer. I still bring toilet paper to finish up. I don’t need much after using it, but I prefer this for several reasons:
- I still haven’t mentally gotten to where I’m comfortable wiping my butt with my own hand. It’s a personal weakness (in my opinion – judging only myself here!), but you know, everyone has their thresholds. I think I can get there eventually, but not yet.
- Water is scarce on the CDT and I probably won’t always have enough to use the bidet.
- I also use a bit of toilet paper to clean my pot after eating each night, so I will have it with me anyway.
One of my favorite applications of the bidet is an easy way to rinse the salt off my thighs and crotch area when it is hot. I will often do this when I take a short break for lunch, or siesta during the mid-day heat of the desert. If all of this has sounded a little shocking or gross, well, thru-hiking is just one of those things that sends one right to the basics of life pretty fast. I have very little filter left!
Modified Sun Bandana
I’m pale skinned of Irish descent, so I really need a strategy when it comes to managing sun exposure. The CDT has many sections, not just the desert, where there is little or patchy shade. The desert section known as the “bootheel,” between the Mexican border and Lordsburg, NM, is particularly exposed. Some hikers use a reflective sun umbrella, but I like to use my trekking poles and I take a lot of photos. Adding an umbrella would give me too much to juggle in my hands.
In 2019 I used a $1 cotton handkerchief and just tucked it up under the brim of my hat. That allowed me to completely cover my neck and most of the sides of my face. I used a safety pin to pin it shut below my chin. Unfortunately, because it was not SPF-rated, I still got burned through it. I ended up needing to use sunscreen under the bandana to prevent this, which was not ideal.
This year I purchased an SPF 50+ Coolibar Sun Bandana. This will allow me to use the bandanna alone without sunscreen under it. On a visit back home, my talented mom helped me to sew two velcro tabs to the corners of the bandana so that I can affix it around the top of my hat brim, and also two small pieces of velcro about halfway down that allow me to attach the two sides together under my chin. This really gives me full cover for my neck and the sides of my face. It does limit my peripheral vision a little, but this did not bother me last time so I expect it will be fine.
I could have used my buff instead of the bandana, and the optimizer in me wanted to do so, but I resisted for three reasons:
- I wanted some airflow under the bandana – the buff feels very suffocating pressed up against my skin in the heat.
- I would have to pull the buff up over my mouth and nose – also suffocating.
- I like to sleep in my buff, but probably wouldn’t after sweating through it every day.
I think this sun banana is going to be great. I’m also bringing sunscreen for the tops of my hands and my legs. I have to re-apply regularly throughout the day, but I prefer this to wearing pants and sun gloves. Air flow provided with shorts helps prevent chafing, and I just don’t like wearing gloves.
Opsak Hermetically-Sealed Food Bags
I used Opsak bags last time, but I will be relying on them more heavily this time. Hanging food is difficult on the CDT, at least the sections I have hiked. It’s not possible in the desert, and there are very few suitable branches. The best strategy, in my opinion, is to contain food odors as much as possible. That’s what the Opsak is for. My only beef with these bags is that the ziplock opening must be handled with care. I find that they break too easily if I do not open them gently. That’s why I typically still bring my Zpacks DCF food bag. I put the Opsak inside it to help protect it. Then, when my Opsak eventually breaks, I can use the Zpacks bag to help hold it together until I can replace it. If Loksak (company that makes Opsak) could work on the durability of their ziplock openings, they could really take their product from good to great.
I generally just sleep with my food in or just outside my tent in New Mexico and southern Colorado. Farther north I plan to swap out for my Ursack bear resistant bag. At that point, I will start storing my food away from my camping area. As I get into grizzly country, I will also be eating dinner an hour or two before getting to camp to avoid having any food odors tied to where I am going to sleep.
New Power Bank and Charger Combo
Because I am bringing a camera to document this hike, in addition to my Garmin Inreach Mini for emergencies, my rechargeable headlamp, and phone, I purchased a higher-capacity power bank to keep everything charged.
While I wasn’t initially thrilled about buying another power bank, I realized that as technology has advanced, I could now get one that would completely recharge much more quickly. My old 15,000 mah power bank from Anker took 8-12 hours to completely recharge. This meant that if I did not want to stay in town overnight, I had to spend hours hanging around town recharging it before I could head back out. I usually did this by sitting for hours at a restaurant near an outlet.
Since I had to buy a new power bank, I decided to also replace my wall charger so that I could get a setup that delivered enough power to recharge my battery in optimal time. I ended up purchasing the Nitecore 20,000 mah power bank and an Anker 750 wall charger. I can now completely recharge this setup in 3.5 hours, which is a significant time reduction over my previous setup. The Nitecore power bank is incredibly light for a 20,000 mah bank, at 11.45 ounces (324.6g). The wall charger is not the lightest at 4.5 ounces (127.6g), but as explained above I feel that the speed benefit is worth it.
I have not used Nitecore’s battery banks before, but so far so good. I did test the recharge time and it was 3.5 hours on the dot for me with the Anker charger. I use a Nitecore NU25 headlamp that I absolutely love, as well as a Nitecore camera battery charger that is equally as good, so I expect (hope) the quality on their power bank will be top notch as well.
To close out my discussion on gear, I am definitely taking some items I would put in the “luxury” category. For example, I don’t really need flip flops. However, I love having them, and on every hike I don’t bring them I usually end up purchasing them at a dollar store somewhere. I could just bring an opsak and leave my outer Zpacks bag behind, but I probably won’t. I could use my buff instead of my sun bandana, but I already explained why I won’t. I could also get rid of some of the stuff sacks I use for items and just pack them loose in my bag, but I like having compartmentalization. Hikers inevitably must make such choices, and I find that they differ for everyone. There is no right or wrong way; there is only the combination that optimizes the experience of the individual in question.
I think this post is long enough for today and sums up where I am on route choices and gear preparation. Next I need to prepare a few resupply boxes that I will mail out prior to leaving, as well as a box with my winter snow gear to send to myself in Colorado. I’m using the same winter gear this year (ice axe and microspikes), minus the snowshoes. I decided that if the snow conditions were bad enough to warrant snowshoes, then I would just flip up to Canada and hike south. It appears that snow levels are normal this year, so this should not be an issue. I am unsure whether I will need the spikes and ice axe, but most likely will hike with them in case and ship them back when I am through the San Juans.
Don’t worry – I’ll get into the story-telling soon enough. My pre-hike posts are somewhat necessarily full of logistics. These decisions and tasks are what I need to focus on now. Soon enough, I’ll just be walking, my mind a wandering. I’ll leave you with one of my small joys. At our apartment complex in Wilmington, there is a small pond about a quarter mile in diameter. Most days, a flock of geese and some ducks come to visit. I often walk there in the evening for sunset. The other day I took a short walk and discovered that we have our first goslings of the season! There are four in total. I love birds, and while geese aren’t everyone’s favorite, I still appreciate them for who they are. The goslings, on the other hand, are adorable. I could not get close to them because every time I walked by, the parents would usher them into the water with a few quick squawks. You can imagine how annoying it must have been for them. I can walk a quarter-mile circle pretty quickly. Each time the geese would get the kids into the water off the banks, and as soon as I was away, they would float back over, only to have me come around again and the process would repeat. Imagine loading your kids into a car seat, pulling them out of the car, and doing this over and over again…. I don’t have kids, but I have witnessed this process and don’t think I would want to do it. With that, until next time, here’s a picture of our newest neighbors.
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