Day 001 - Continental Divide Trail - Crazy Cook to Big Hatchet Mountains

Day: 001

Date: Tuesday, 07 May 2024

Start:  Crazy Cook 

Finish:  CO Road C119

Daily Kilometres:  27.2

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  27.2

Weather:  Cool early then warm to hot, sunny and windy.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Hotel Continental buffet 

  Lunch:  Trail mix

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals

Aches:  Dave - exhausted and the usual niggles; Julie - cruising and nothing to report.

Highlight:  A beautiful desert sunset over the Big Hatchet Mountains that overlook our campsite.

Lowlight:  In strong winds, trying to put up our new tent which, although light, is of complicated design, at the end of a long day.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We woke at 4:30am and took advantage of the hotel's early Continental breakfast put on especially for thru-hikers, before walking the mile down to where we were to get our shuttle to the border.  Only five hikers, including us, with only 27 more booked to start the CDT northbound this season.  We were allocated CDT rucksack tags indicating we were the 328th and 329th hikers to start this season.

The other hikers on our trip were two Americans and a Russian who lives in the US.  All are experienced thru-hikers and very friendly and we saw them several times during the day.

The trip to the border took three hours with the last half along rough 4WD roads.  At the border, we were told to legendary, but not validated, story about how it got its name when a ranch cook killed a ranch hand with an axe nearby when he complained about the cooking.

Counter-intuitively, the roads on the Mexican side of the border were in good condition and there were green fields, apparently farmed by Mennonites, in contrast to the desert on our side.  The border itself was understated with an open gate that Julie used to temporarily visit Mexico.  No Trump wall here, or any sign of border patrol.

We set off walking around 9:30am after the obligatory photos and the balance of the day was spent gradually ascending to a pass in Big Hatchet Range and then gradually descending the other side.  The trail was mix of single track, 4WD tracks and dry creek beds.  The latter were the toughest because of the soft gravel.  But, we were surrounded by awesome mountains and solitude.

As expected, Dave had a very tough day and was very glad to finish, but dreading the stiffness and soreness tomorrow will bring.