Cactus butt. Day 37

Today we only had to hike 20 miles to get to ghost ranch. I love how now 20 miles doesn’t seem too tough! We only left camp at 8:30, which was a luxury! Sleeping in until 7:30.

I had a super chilled start to the morning, not feeling like I had to rush so I let the rest of the group go ahead while I stopped to filter some extra water next to a river. It was so peaceful that I stayed a bit longer and snacked on the power bars my incredible friend Ashley made for me. (They’re incredibly good Ashley so THANK YOU! so much!)

We had some incredible scenery walking through a canyon of rainbow rocks. It was incredible.

We reached the Chama river today and  walked alongside it for a while. It was tough watching all those people rafting and kayaking down the river while we had to walk alongside it! 

The guys at this point rushed off because they wanted to make the dinner at ghost ranch which starts at 17h30. Us girls took our time and got rewarded with some trail magic in the form of Lara bars from a passing motorist. We had about a 7 mile stretch of road which was incredibly laborious which is where my cactus butt title comes from.

After about 5 miles of road walking my feet were killing me and it was indescribably hot. We saw one tree off in the distance and aimed for it to take our break. As we got closer we realised it was more of a shrub than a tree and didn’t offer that much shade. After wondering around it for a bit we finally decided it was better than nothing and I promptly dropped my pack and sat down, into a huge mess of thorns. I must’ve looked like a cartoon character with the speed at which I bounced back up with a howl of agony! Nuthatch and burning calves spent about 5 minutes picking thorns out of my butt for me! What great friends I have! Now I will check the ground before I plop down!

So on a much sadder note, today was the last day we will be hiking with burning calves. Her mission on this trip us to hike the first 1000km of each of the 3 big trails. Today marks the end of her 1000km of the CDT. It has been very emotional and sad for all of us. We love hiking with her and I know I’m going to miss her a lot!

Tonight we are in Ghost Ranch campsite and have all taken showers. It feels like luxury! Tomorrow we’ll have laundry, WiFi and breakfast!