GDT Day 43 - Hunters Camp to Lonesome Juniper Campsite

Thurs Sept. 15, 2016
  Hunters camp to Lonesome Juniper campsite near Felipe Tafoya Land Grant boundary

Start - ~63500'
High pt  ~6XX0'
Lo pt. ~6XX0'
End Elv ~6750'
Climbing ~700'??

Miles ~25.4
Total time ~5:45
Ride time 3:41
Day with BOB 41

Beautiful blue sky and warm morning today.
It is a short day, of 25 miles, as private lands prevent camping for the following 20 -25+ miles, with 2400' climb at the end of that. Better to do that climb in the first half of the day on the morrow.
Therefore, I will need water for today, tonight, and tomorrow. I top off at Ojo Frio spring in this dry country - this is the most water I have portaged on the trip, over 2.5 gallons, and I can feel it. The extra weight makes me feel lethargic, and I am riding slow,  despite there not being much climbing. The road is decent at first but deteriorates with some sandy sections and softer soil.

The mesa, canon, and arroyo country intensifies today. I peddle past a number of named volcanic outcropping, sentinels forever at attention while I transiently pass by. Cerro Cuate, Cerro Parido, Mesa la Azabache, Mesa Cortada, Cerro Colorado, and  finally Cerro Chavez standing guard as I make camp. The names alone evoke feelings of a different place, out of time, out of our modernity. This is only re-enforced by the dramatic and empty landscapes.

I am alone, in these lonely lands, as I have not seen another person since this morning. Few buildings, fewer homes, as most are ruins in testiment to forgotten ambitions, hopes and dreams. My sounds are the only ones interrupting the forever sounds of this place. After setting up camp, I take a short rim walk, finding a good luck antler. I find a place of honor for it in the embrace of lonesome juniper.
After dinner, I sit, back to Lonesome Juniper, and watch the fading light paint ever shifting colors on the mesas and cliffs surrounding me.

All is quiet, even my mind, as the soul takes a deep breath.

I sleep

And dream....