Mexico to Silver City, NM

The morning of April 17th we gathered at the EconoLodge in Lordsburg. Then hopped in the trucks and off on the two hour drive to the border at Crazy Cook. There is just a small barbed wire fence that shows you where the border is. After a few photos, the drivers head back to Lordsburg and the hikers start to walk north. 

Sometimes the trail follows a two track jeep "road"  other times you are looking ahead for a sign post through the ocotillo, creisotebush and honey mesquite. All the plants are out to get you, my legs have scratches all over from bushwacking through the desert.

Apart from lizards, a few snakes, birds. I have seen the most cows. The cows also like the big shade trees. There were 5 cache boxes of water between the border and Lordsburg. The other times we had to get water from solar and wind powered wells and if you were really desperate from tires and tanks  that had a healthy layer of green algae growing.

Checking in at the EconoLodge passing back through Lordsburg. Michael, the manger told us to bring him our laundry and he would wash it. That has never happened to me before! Everyone there are super hiker friendly.

Stay tuned for my adventure up the Gila River!
~MountainSpice

Trail Days and Exploring New Mexico

After getting off the train in Lordsburg, NM HDMama and her husband RickAngel picked me up and we drove to Silver City. I spent the weekend meeting hikers and learning about all the cool places that the trail pass by, abandon villages, well holes, hot springs.

On Sunday a group of us headed out to work the trail. Trimming the overgrown trees and bushes, fixing the trail where it was washed out. There was a cloudy and there was a cool breeze a perfect day to be on the trail.

On Monday, I explored the cliff dwellings. Incredible.

Goodbye Vermont

The last week Vermont was giving me a very typical New England Spring send off. There was snow, clouds, mud, rain, sunshine, more mud, piglets, lambs all in the last week! We like to call it mud season.

In The News

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/life/green-mountain/2015/02/27/vermonter-hike-triple-crown-long-distance-foot-paths/24129319/?fb_ref=Default

FOOD!

Over the past few weeks I have started to gather food. Snack food, breakfast food, dinner food, sweet food, salty food, drink food, energy food. Basicly all kinds of food. Thing I have realised over the miles is that

1) I eat a a lot of food and 

2) food is heavy!

Today I stared sorting and dividing it out into my resupply boxes. I always worry if I packed enough or not enough I never know how much and what I am going to want to eat three months from now on a trail I have never been on.

I would like to give a shout out to LS Natural Foods(Stonewall Jerquee) for supporting me on my journey and sending a box of jerquee. Thank you!!!!

Maps

I am spending this snowy morning planning out my mail drops and the places where I will be sending my maps.

Who is MountainSpice?

I am a 29 year old that is addicted to long distance hiking. I grew up in a small town in Vermont. My parents took me hiking in the White Mountains and the Adirondacks as well as the green Mountains, our back yard. It wasn't until 2010 when I thru hike the Appalachian Trail(AT) that I had finally found what makes me happy.  In 2012 I went back and hike with a friend I met two years before and re-hiked  some of the AT. It was hard to stay away. Over the summer of 2013 lots of my friends were talking about the PCT(Pacific Crest Trail). Three years ago I would have said "have fun, tell me all about it". But in 2013 I was asking about maps, and the desert and bears! I had not done much hiking on the west coast and did not know what to expect. In April of 2014 I found myself in the desert of Southern California walking north to Canada. Over the years, I have meet wonderful people from all over the world, hiked in cold rain for days, seen countless sunrises, ran out of water in the desert, climbed Mt. Whitney, had mice eat my food, been taken in by complete strangers for the night and I have loved every minute of it. This April I will be setting out on my third big adventure: the CDT! (Continental Divide Trail).

Stay tuned to see what wonderful and not so wonderful things happen on the CDT.