September 29th
(Pics to follow)
The trail again wound through mesa today. Early on there was a not-so-good hiking moment. It was still dark. The narrative said to turn at the “white rocks” which is hard to do with an LED light. Anyhow, I dropped down the hill where the GPS said, but failed to find the trail. Instead, I ended up following an elk trail. Eventually I came out to the trail. I turned around and saw a perfectly good, clear trail up over the top of the mountain I had just wasted 45 minutes circumnavigating. Not sure what the map makers were thinking.
The rest of the morning was neither exciting nor boring. There were some nice views down into valleys where the elks bugled and the aspens fluttered their yellow leaves.
Right around noon, I approached the Cumbres Pass. This is where a vintage railroad still runs. I was fortunate enough to get there just a few moments before the train arrived. Some hikers take the train to or from Chama, New Mexico because it stops right here at the pass.
Later, I passed unceremoniously into New Mexico from Colorado.
I wanted to sleep up high again given the clear weather. That meant pushing through a cattle operation. I wanted to sleep on top of Brazos Ridge. Most of the identified streams were fouled. This was frustrating as I was low on water.
Up high, I did find a spring that ran into a small grove of trees and fizzled out there. Unfortunately, the cows had found this too. Although the “stream” was no more than 30 feet long and there were no obvious “pies” in it, it still tasted like cow turd. I cannot explain it. Also, I cannot explain how I know what cow turd tastes like even though I have never eaten one.
I had the pleasure of following newish trail once up on the Brazos Ridge. While it was rocky, it was clear. I tucked in behind a grove of spruce and found a nice flat spot on which I pitched my tent.
backpacking over the hill 