We had two days left till Silver City, and spirits were high. It’s much easier to hike when following a trail. Just follow the path, note the occasional trail marker, and enjoy the color-layered cliffs and cacti-studded hillsides…right?
If only.
The morning was flying by, and we had our sights set on reaching a small creek by lunchtime. The trail wound up and down, cutting through the occasional dirt road. We reached a semi-confusing intersection, but quickly figured out where to go. A CDT sign a short while later assured us we were on the right track.
“I’m going to check how much further to the creek,” I said to Britta, getting out my phone. I pulled up the map, and then stared in confusion. “We’re off the trail.”
“What?!” exclaimed Britta. She leaned over my shoulder to see for herself. The small blue dot pinpointed our location as almost a quarter mile away from the trail. There was nothing to do but turn around and go back.
“I was sure this was the trail. Oh wait…” my voice trailed off. A conversation from days ago nagged at my mind. “What if this is the point Radar told us about? I thought it was a bit further on though.”
Back in Lordsburg, Radar (a hiker who now manages the water caches from the border into Lordsburg) had warned us about a part of the upcoming trail. “It’s where they’re building the trail,” he told us. “It’s not complete yet, so if you follow the markers and don’t take the turnoff, you’ll reach a dead end.”
“We were even warned,” Britta groaned.
“At least we caught it fairly soon,” I said. “It could have been a lot worse.”
We retraced our steps back to the turn off and took the correct – though unmarked – route. It led down to a gate, and we entered a canyon area on the way to the creek.
We hadn’t gone more than 25 yards when, around a bend, we came face to face with a cow. Not just a cow, either, but a young bull by the looks of the stubby horns starting to poke through. It stared at us for a long moment and then moved towards us, eyes glowering. There wasn’t much room in the canyon to escape. Just a few giant boulders near one side, which Britta and I raced to climb.
As Britta scrambled for a higher foothold, she asked aloud, “Cows can’t climb rocks, right?”
It was in this moment I knew, irrevocably, that I was a terrible role model for my sister, who had started the hike with no preconceived notions about cows. I would have laughed, but I was too busy escaping with my life.
The young bull moved on and we quickly continued on our way to what turned out to be a fantastic tiny creek. We ate our lunch and refilled water before resuming walking.
The following day (yesterday) we made the long road walk into Silver City. We’re setting out today towards the Gila National Forest, and depending on cell service this blog may be rather quiet for the next week and a half or so. We’ll see!
I know we didn’t talk much at work, but I really do look forward to checking in on this blog and love reading your posts. Continued luck on your journey and be safe out there!
Thanks! And thanks for reading!
I spent most of the day yesterday wishing I could have gone on this hike with you. Pretty used to cows, so I think I’d have been okay there, too. lol So glad (and envious) for all the experiences you’re creating for your life’s journey. And, like Jenn, I look forward to each of your blogs. Hope cell service is better than expected!
It’s definitely been an adventure so far! If you were here you could just scare away all the cows for me…Although I think the cows and I are learning to coexist. Maybe. And while there’s no cell service, we stopped at a store with WiFi. Yay for WiFi!
I can’t tell you how amazing it is to read your adventures! I love the photos too. I wish you both the best. I looked up some cow safety techniques that may come in handy.
– Make yourself as loud and big as possible
– Punch the cows on their noses (obviously this is a last resort since you’d have to be close to the cow)
Those safety techniques are the best, thanks for looking those up for us. I’m going to hope I never have to punch a cow, because that would mean it was far too close. Thankfully we haven’t seen any cows since Silver City.