Day: 040
Date: Saturday, 15 June 2024
Start: Cumbres Pass (but staying at Chama, NM)
Finish: Conejos Campground
Daily Kilometres: 35.7
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 1175.6
Weather: Warm, breezy and mostly sunny.
Accommodation: Tent
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Breakfast burritos
Lunch: Cheeseburgers & fries, icecream.
Dinner: Potato chips, Rocky road fudge
Aches: Dave - the usual niggles; Julie - nothing reported.
Highlight: A relaxing late lunch at the Red Bear Haus, a cafe/store in a tiny hamlet, where we enjoyed cold drinks and food knowing we had some two-thirds of our day's miles done.
Lowlight: None really, though paying $28 for a US forests campsite grated a bit.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
Our booked shuttle back to the trail arrived on time at 8am, but the timeliness went downhill after that. The shuttle was driven by JJ, a part-owner of the Chama outdoor store run out of a shipping container near the Post Office. The vehicle was a white van with front seats, already occupied, and a mattress and various pieces of junk in the back along with three other hikers and their gear. We piled in, sharing the mattress, and off we went. But, first, we had to refuel at a service station, and then we had to wait while two of the hikers went and bought themselves coffee and breakfast at a busy bakery. It was probably half an hour before we actually drove out of town, but everybody was laid back and we had a good chat with one of the hikers. Most of them were getting back on the trail after a week or more off, waiting for the snow to melt.
Ultimately, we started walking at Cumbres Pass around 8:45am. We were taking an alternate to the official CDT, which meant we had to follow Hwy 17 for about 23km. This wasn't too bad, given there was little traffic, a wide verge, and excellent mountain scenery. The first half followed a high valley and we stayed at around 10000’ before descending steadily for the last 10km to 8700’.
It was there that we reached the Red Bear Haus and had a welcome late lunch (see above) and chatted to the friendly owner and other patrons.
At the Red Bear Haus, we left Hwy 17 and joined a gravel forest road for about 11km which was quite busy with ATV’s and vacationers. The road passed some dude ranches and fishing resorts as it followed the fast-flowing Conejos River, to our left, upstream. On our right were imposing orange cliffs.
The walking did become a bit tedious at the end of a long day, but eventually we reached the Conejos Campground a little before 6pm. It was nice to have a table, toilet, water and trash cans, but the price seemed a bit steep for two hikers and a small tent. Having had a good lunch, we just had snacks for dinner before a wash and early night. The mosquitoes were a nuisance.
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