Day: 004
Date: Friday, 10 May 2024
Start: Coyote Hills
Finish: Lordsburg
Daily Kilometres: 44.4
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 142.3
Weather: Cool early with some high cloud and then warm to hot and sunny.
Accommodation: Motel
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Pop tarts
Lunch: Trail mix
Dinner: Hamburger & fries, ice cream.
Aches: Dave - totally exhausted and a few niggles; Julie - nothing to report.
Highlight: The last ten kilometres to Lordsburg by the light of the setting sun, knowing we would have cold drinks, junk food and showers tonight. It has been a hot, sweaty and dusty first four days on the CDT.
Lowlight: For Dave, the last kilometre down the paved road to our motel when every muscle in his body wanted to stop. Meanwhile, Julie was gadding about getting sunset photos.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
We got up at 5:30am, but didn't leave camp and the water cache until 6:50am after stocking up with water to see us through the 31km of desert to the next water cache. We decided to carry three litres each.
Most of the morning hike was across a broad, mostly scrubby, dry plain on winding single track. It is cattle country, and we did see a few cows, but the vegetation is so meagre, the land supports very few. We also saw quite a few bones of cattle that presumably haven't survived the harsh conditions.
We had some light cloud cover which really lowered the air temperature, making it pleasant for hiking.
It wasn't so easy in the afternoon as the sun blazed down and the trail climbed through the Pyramid Mountains, mostly on rough 4WD tracks. There were more cattle around in these mountains, but still not many. Despite the conditions we continued to make reasonable time and began to contemplate hiking 10km past the water cache and getting to Lordsburg and a motel for the night.
We left the final decision until we got to the water cache at 5:00pm and decided we could make it before dark and Dave called the motel to confirm (we were already booked in there for Saturday night, so now we will have a day off tomorrow).
Coincidentally and happily we arrived at the water cache to find two of the hikers we started out with already there and, while we were chatting, Tim, our shuttle driver from Tuesday turned up to check the water cache stocks, so it was like a little reunion. Generously, Tim gave us each a very welcome cold Gatorade.
We left the cache around 5:30pm.for the remaining 10km to go, and, although scenic country, Dave was a little chagrined that the biggest hills of the trip so far were left for this last 10km of the current leg. He soldiered on with encouragement from Julie and we made it to the motel in Lordsburg at around 8:15pm. While Dave checked in, Julie went to the nearby convenience store to get some cold Cokes then, after a quick shower, she visited the nearby McDonald's to get some very welcome dinner.
We are looking forward to a lie in tomorrow and a lazy day. These first four days, physically, have gone as well as could be hoped for Dave and he is feeling a bit more confident of surviving the trek …. but it's still early days.
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