About the Author, Yvette Beetley “Mtn Minnie”: I am a 45-year-old, single woman who loves the outdoors, gardening, my dogs, photography and wine! I have lived in New Mexico for a majority of my life and recently discovered that I need to adventure more around my own state! I have one son (25 yrs old) and two dogs – a Pomeranian (8 years old) and a Chocolate Lab Mix (4 months old).
To see more from Yvette, click her name above!
Today is the day to shine! I posted about feeling defeated and in pain and as always our hiking community was awesome, supportive and encouraging! We got up early, had some breakfast and coffee and are now on our way to mile marker 25 to start close to where we were picked up. Weather looks favorable! Yey!
It was a hot and sunny day….thank goodness I brought an umbrella because it was my savior today. We chit chatted about this n that and kept on moving. My new trail name is Hot Mess. I am a mess on trail! My nose is running, my leg is tore up by mosquitos, I have to stop and adjust my pack, I need my umbrella, never mind I’ll use my scarf, now I need chapstick! Well, shit! There goes my nose again….hot mess!
I slipped going down a rocky hill…why New Mexico? Why are you so rocky? No injury! On we go!
We stopped for some lunch under a tree in an area where the water made its way through. Today is a good day!
We found our way to the windmill for a water refill. We were told that there is a spiggot to refill from – we are getting tired and cannot find it. Getting a little irritated looking around and not finding it we start thinking we need to get moving to the next water source that is about 8 miles away. When….hallelujah! The water starts coming out of a pipe protruding out of the ground. We frantically fill our 4 liter bottles and feel a sigh of relief. We then start looking for a place to set up camp…. Pickings are thin as we are trying to get out of the general water source area to avoid animals. We find a decent spot and start setting up our tents. As we are doing this…we hear a coyote howl….it’s close. Then his pack quips back and we count about 6-7 in the pack. Shit! We are too close. We get a little tense with each other trying to decide to stay or move further away. Our decision is made seeing a “scout” run around to the left. We were packed up and heading down the trail faster then you could say…Go! Our adrenaline kicked in and we hiked over 1.5 miles away before we both felt comfy.
Camp is set up and we are in our tents. I never knew that wipey “baths” could feel so refreshing! 8:11 pm- coyotes in the distance and cows just scared the crap out of us. We had reached the windmill about 6pm – 13 miles from our drop off point.
Now, let’s see if we sleep!
