Day 50: Another slow day on the trail....

June 9: Once again, I slept in particularly late since I was in no rush. I was taking my time, not planning to arrive in Chama until Friday, so I didn't get hiking until about 8:00am--just as Splits happened to be passing by.

Hopewell Lake

So Splits and I hiked together for several hours, until we stopped for lunch by a water source. I took a long, relaxing break, but Splits took a short one. His plan was to get into Chama by 3:00pm tomorrow in order to catch a bus to Santa Fe. I don't remember precisely why he was in such a rush to get to Santa Fe and I didn't write the reason in my journal, but I think a visit to REI featured prominently in his planned off-trail adventures.

Eventually, I continued onward, alone with my thoughts. The terrain had become quite green and forested, and I felt more like I was in Colorado than New Mexico. It was as if a part of Colorado had leaked out into New Mexico. And the day's hiking was generally easy-going. There were no big climbs or drops.

I stopped for another long break later in the afternoon next to a creek, and after an hour or two, Wi-fi caught up with me--which was a huge shock since I thought he was more than a week ahead of me and I'd never see him again. "What happened?!" I asked.

Wi-fi unexpectedly shows up from behind me on the trail. He was supposed to be more than a week ahead of me!

 

He explained that his leg was hurting him. I'm not precisely sure how it was hurting him. Shin splints or something, I guess. But in any case, he had taken 10 days off trail to recuperate and had only returned back to the trail today. So we caught up a bit and walked together the rest of the afternoon. I joked that he'd leave me in the dust again, never to be seen again, but he said no, he planned to take it slower so as not to injure himself again.

We'll see..... *nodding*

He also reported seeing Evenstar at Hopewell Lake at around noon when he got back on the trail, so I now had definitely confirmation of her location with a timestamp and that she was only about half a day (or less!) behind me. With my long breaks, perhaps she'll catch up soon! =)

Late in the afternoon, mosquitoes started coming out. They were particularly thick or bad, but they were an annoyance so we decided to find somewhere to dry camp, perhaps in a somewhat open location that would allow a small breeze to keep them at bay.

So we camped at the edge of a meadow near the edge of a ravine. It was a lovely campsite with plenty of green grass to sleep on, but the mosquitoes continued to pester me. They didn't bother Wi-fi as much since he just went into his tent, but I only had a tarp which are useless against mosquitoes--so I cowboy camped. But the mosquitoes were a big enough annoyance that I pulled out my head net for the first time and used it to keep them off of me. That, combined with thick clothing covering the rest of my body allowed me to relax the rest of the evening.

And that was the end of another nice day of walking..... =)