October 12th, 2024
Mile Marker: Mount Taylor Alternate
Miles Hiked: 30
We woke up this morning around 6 AM to chilly temperatures. I slept much better last night than the previous so I actually found myself awake around 5:15 and just rested until Twilight got up.
I felt ready to take on the day, I knew it was going to be a tough one with a 25 mile water carry.
We had gorgeous views of the sun coming up and I was glad it felt colder longer than yesterday.
We arrived at our first water source after 5 miles that was a half mile off trial. When there is no other choice, we take it. I was so happy to see running water from this spring.
We took a long break eating snacks and filtering water and then decided we should head out before we spent way too long here in this beautiful spot.
We started back out and walked on a gravel road for majority of the day.
I was thankful for the road as it made for easier travel with 5.75 liters on my back. That’s almost 12 extra pounds. 🫣
I made it around 4 miles and stopped to take a shoulder break. My traps were on fire and my hip/butt pain kept shooting through and making me jolt. My body was not happy.
The road definitely had a basin feel and we moved along as best we could. We decided to stop and take breaks in 5 mile increments. I liked this. We didn’t always hike together but if I stopped eventually someone would come into view and/or I could look ahead and see someone and turn around and see someone so I never felt too alone.
The big decision for the day was how far we wanted to go if we wanted to hike Mount Taylor, which is our last climb up over 11,000 feet. Part of me just wanted to be done with it but part of me was intrigued. Then Aster decided she wanted to do a sunrise hike which I wasn’t so sure about. There were four of us and all of us seemed to want to do something different. I told them all that I didn’t need to decide yet and would when I needed to. I wanted to see how my body felt. It was taking a true beating.
I missed Journey. I missed having my partner in crime who was always hiking right behind me. I could make decisions with him and no matter what, we would be together. I felt myself tear up. I felt like I was conforming to whatever others wanted to do for a fear of being alone. I was okay compromising when it was with my partner. It hurt my heart how much I missed him.
I promise I won’t be soppy every post, but I want to be honest with how it going. It’s hard to go from spending every second with your partner on this adventure to being alone.
Eventually around 2 PM we could see a big mountain in the distance and could tell it was Mount Taylor. It didn’t look terrible so I felt a pull for hiking it.
We stopped every 5 for the next 15 miles and at the last 5, Whatever decided that he was going to take the red line and camp sooner. His feet were toast and he wasn’t wanting to do a climb early morning.
I decided the other way. That I would do the sunrise hike up Mount Taylor since I haven’t done anything like it since. One last hoorah.
Once we turned on the alternate I was quite surprised, it was nice easy cruisey gravel road, the entire time to camp.
I figured if it’s like this all the way to the top, that it wouldn’t be so bad at all.
We got to our camp area where the spring was said to be and after a little search in the dark found our trail.
Once down to the spring it smelt terrible like a dead animal so we hurriedly filled our bottles and headed back up. There was a man nearby camped out as he planned to hunt in the morning. He had a nice fire going and I wished he would invite us over.
Instead we went up the road a little to a meadow and are currently cowboy camping. I kind of wish we set up my tent but I’m hoping for no condensation.
Tomorrow is going to come quick so I better get to sleep.
Night Night!
Iz and Oz
Izzy + Ozzy 