Lordsburg to the Gila Visitor Center

[Note: videos 11-19 are now posted to my YouTube playlist for this hike.]

Hello all! Well, some big doings on the trail recently but I’ve not been in any place where I could post updates. It turns out that the weeks of long walking I did locally in Spokane as preparation paid some nice dividends as my trail legs developed noticeably faster than I’m used to. And whereas the desert is notorious for causing blisters- especially at the beginning of a thru-hike- I’ve been spared any significant issues. The only slight mishap I’ve experienced thus far is heat-induced appetite loss during the first few days.

Recently I had the immense pleasure of staying with thru-hiker friends Tie and Solo, who live in Silver City, New Mexico, one of the towns directly on the CDT. They graciously carted me around town to do my resupply shopping and then to mail food boxes to myself for a couple of upcoming resupply locations lacking grocers. I got to meet a number of other hikers they were hosting and it was great to spend quality time with Tie and Solo just before they headed off for a long Alaskan adventure.

Still more recently, I’ve been hiking through the Gila wilderness, notable as a gorgeous river/canyon ecosystem surrounded by desert. This section features many, many fords of the Gila river (easily more than 100). As a result of starting this hike a month later than last time, the weather has been warm enough to render the river crossings refreshing and the current has mellowed enough to be less worrisome.

Ok, this next item is one of the biggest”I cannot believe that just happened” moments I’ve ever had on a trail.
If you followed my first Appalachian Trail SOBO thru-hike you may recall that on my last night on the trail I was interviewed by a NOBO thru-hiker named Kimchi, who was on her first day of the AT after having recently completed the Pacific Crest Trail. Kimchi explained that she was a “trail correspondent” for a podcast called “Sounds of the Trail.” She quizzed me in depth about my experiences on the AT. Here’s a link to that episode: my interview begins around the 47:57 mark. The podcast lasted about three seasons, roughly 40 episodes. Fast forward to a couple of days ago with yours truly standing for about 90 minutes on the side of a lonely New Mexico highway having no luck whatsoever trying to get a hitch to run errands, etc. I’m walking and hear a vehicle approaching so I put out my thumb, but as it approaches I see it’s a truck with some sort of corporate logo, which typically means no ride. I keep walking when the truck stops a good hundred yards up the road. I start running (slowly, with my pack!) and when I catch up to the truck I see it’s a woman dressed in dusty work clothes as though at the end of a long day working. As we drove down the road, she explained she once hiked the PCT and was now an engineering consultant to the mining industry. We’d probably been talking for 15 minutes on a bunch of topics, when she mentioned her trail friend from the PCT named Kimchi and not only did it turn out to be the same Kimchi (!) but when I told her I’d been interviewed for the podcast, she then explained excitedly that her trail name was Gizmo and that in fact the podcast for which Kimchi had interviewed me was actually Gizmo’s own podcast!!

Gizmo and I had never met or spoken together, but she knew who I was as she had edited, finalized and published the episode! Needless to say, I was completely flabbergasted by the unlikely encounter and because I had just made a very large trail-related decision (see below) I chose to see the incident as a positive omen of that decision.

And finally, yes, I have some relatively big trail news, but will let it play out another week or two before I share the details on my blog. Let’s just say it’s pretty big news, but right only my wife and mom know the details, so if you’re in touch with either of them perhaps you can pry loose some of the details. If not, stay tuned!!

Thanks again for following along- the comments and well-wishes from others never fail to motivate!
All the best, Max (at my heapiest!)