Day 027 - Continental Divide Trail - Cibola National Forest to Cerro del Ojo Frio

Day: 027

Date: Sunday, 02 June 2024

Start:  Cibola National Forest 

Finish:  Cerro del Ojo Frio

Daily Kilometres:  38.6

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

Total Kilometres:  805.5

Weather:  Very warm & sunny

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts 

  Lunch:  Trail mix 

  Dinner:  Noodles & chicken/Rehydrated meal 

Aches:  Dave - very tired and the usual niggles; Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  None really.

Lowlight:  It was disappointing to pass through such magnificent high plains country today, lightly forested or grassy plains, and see no wildlife bar a hare early on and some bear tracks later.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We were hiking soon after 6am on yet another perfect morning with the sun slowly rising and illuminating the landscape around us.

For the first half of the day we followed a 4WD track across a plateau that was part grassy plain and partly lightly forested with pines.  It was beautiful country and we felt like we had it all to ourselves, though we did meet the female hiker from yesterday a few more times today.  She is a talkative elfin 71-y-o, with the trail name "Sticky", and is section-hiking and planning to finish at the next town.

Water was again a challenge today, with all sources some way off the trail.  In each case, Julie went on ahead as we neared the source and collected the water to help save some time.

At our lunch stop, Julie had to hike down to a small canyon to get the water from a spring which seemed so clean we did not filter it.

After lunch, we continued through the same magnificent country, but this time on lovely single-track trail.  The walking was easy and we made good time.

The last 5km of the day, however, was much slower as we descended 2000’ from the plateau with great views to the north of craggy bluffs and mesas.  Dave found the loose stone trail very slippery and sat down once near the top, making him even more cautious for the rest of the descent.  It was hard work at the end of a long day.

Near the bottom, Julie went ahead to get water again and, when Dave arrived at the trail junction, he set up camp.  A great spot, but very dusty and, as usual, just as we set up camp the wind begins to blow making everything more difficult.