First steps on the CDT. We started at Crazy Cook, the border is just a few feet behind us. We were so excited to get started the heat didn't bother us too much the first day. This was a 15 mile day..
Lou hiking through a "forest" of blooming desert plants one of the first days on the trail. There really wasn't a trail, just a combination of CDT blazes, cairns, and large posts to mark the way.
We have seen a great many horny toads on this trek, and they are just as cute now as this first one we saw in southern NM.
Although we were in the desert, hot, dry and without shade for many days there were still a lot of flowers to look at.
The southern desert of NM was actually more enjoyable and interesting than the middle of the state. In part because of the blooming cactus in the south and in part because we weren't walking on roads in the south. Road walking is no fun at all!
YEAH, a functioning windmill! Windmills have taken on a whole new meaning for us, they mean water and in most of NM water is a very valuable resource. Our whole hiking day was based on where water was, how many miles to the next water, and how much water we could carry.
The temperatures would reach over 90 degrees during our first two weeks on the trail. To stay healthy and sane we took long afternoon breaks in the best shade we could find between 1 and 5pm. The photo above is of one of the not so shady spots we stopped at. Jaz is hiding from the sun under our silk sleeping bag liner.
This is one of several types of snakes we have seen hiking through NM. We got pretty familiar with the reptilian daily cycle. We didn't see any in the morning when we started but by 11am they were charged up and moving around. By 1pm the reptiles were all super charged and racing to and fro across the trail/roads.
Our first break from the desert was Gila National Forest. We had been told about homemade ice cream at this little store along the trail by Rawlings and Mickey (incredibly kind & fun folks we stayed with in Silver City). The last 10 trail miles coming getting to the store were filled with much talk of ice cream and imagining what flavors there might be. To our very big disappointment we arrived at the store 30 minutes after it closed. No ice cream! our hearts sank. Lou looked longingly in the window and to our surprise a man came to the door. He asked what we wanted and Lou told him ice cream. He responded with a stern "We are closed". Bummer. Two minutes later he opened the door again "Has to be cash" he said, we nodded "OK, what flavor?" We picked three, all very yummy. 
We reached the Gila river two hours before the sun set. Here Lou is crossing the Gila for the first time. By the time we left the Gila River we had crossed it nearly 100 times.
The Gila is in a deep canyon with beautiful rocky spires on both sides. It was a wonderful place to hike.
Lots of cool pilars along the Gila.
Sometimes getting back and forth across the river was a little less than straight forward. Here Lou is scaling some low rocks between river crossings.
For this trip Lou made our tarp tent, and Joan sewed the bug net (THANKS JOAN!) Here it is set up at one of our camp sites along the Gila. It is very versatile, and spacious AND it only weighs two pounds. We really love this new shelter.
Found some very large tadpoles in the slow moving side streams and eddies all along the Gila.
Jaz is making a face here because the river water is not so warm at 8 in the morning. In the afternoons crossing the river was a wonderful relief from the heat.
This is a banded lizard we saw during our walk across the Malpais on the Zuni-Acoma trail. The trail we walked on was used by natives hundreds of years ago. Some of the cairns that mark the trail are the same ones they used way back when.
In New Mexico we often had to scatter cattle along the trail or when we arrived at a water source. This time they were really pushy and gathered around as we turned on the water to fill up our bottles.There are many many more stories and photos to share from New Mexico. I wasn't able to get up any photos of all the wonderful people we stayed with along the trail, and they were a large part of our New Mexico memories, so those will come another time.
We are almost 1,000 miles into this trek of ours and still having a wonderful time. It was really exciting to walk across the border of New Mexico into Colorado. At that point we felt like we had completed the beginning of the adventure, we are really doing this thing.
We love Colorado so far, and we have had visitors too. Alison and Trinity spent 4th of July weekend with us. They showered us with incredible trail gifts, a watermelon and wine! Marie and Christopher left us today after 6 days on in the San Juan over the 4th of July as well. It was great to share our summer home with all of them, photos later. I know I keep saying that, but I really mean it. Keith met up with us yesterday and will spend the weekend on the trail. Emily joined us 6 days ago as well and has another three weeks with us. Colorado is full of trail guests so there will be a lot more stories to share as we trek north from here. I hope to be able to share some of them on the blog in the near future.
