Continental Divide Trail – Day 31
June1, 2023
Miles Today/ Total: 14.5 / 607.0
I was up on on the trail early wanting to make it to Ghost Ranch around mid-day. The trail continued down through Chama River Canyon and I stopped about 2 miles in an filled up my water bottles at a spring fed stock tank. It would be about 13 miles until the next water at Ghost Ranch
I reached the Ghost Ranch alternate, crossed the Chama River Bridge (the river was flowing very fast), and turned up the gravel road toward Ghost Ranch. I met Professor there and we walked down the road together.
The trail map showed a turn off the gravel road, but we did not see anything that looked like a trail. The area was covered in cactus and brush. Die Hard showed up while we were trying to find the trail and made a suggestion to go up and catch a jeep road that would intersect the trail further up. We followed his suggestion and were able to connect into the trail after about a mile.
The trail came out on Hwy 84 and crossed the road into the parking lot of an abandoned museum. With the large expanse of pavement a drying out party ensued and soon there were tents, sleeping bags, and other hiking gear strewn about the pavement drying in the sun.
As seems to be normal in NM a thunderstorm began building overhead and as gear was being gathered up it began to sprinkle. We had 3 miles to Ghost Ranch and headed down the trail hoping to beat the rain. And we almost did – it began raining about 1/2 mile from the ranch. I donned my rain gear and finished the hike in a moderate rain.
Reaching Ghost Ranch I was glad to see a huge covered porch out front and we set our wet gear down outside and went in for our resupply boxes. There were a lot of new shoes and food supplies received by the group. The rain subsided as we went through our gear and ate lunch. We then headed for the campground and selected a few sites near each other and the bathhouse.
I showered, wash clothes, and got dressed for a trip into Abiquiu to get some dinner. Seven of us made plans to catch a bus leaving the Ranch at 4:30 and returning at 6:30. Plenty of time to each and pick up some additional food. On the way to the Bus Stop a pickup truck stopped and asked if we wanted a ride and took us all the way into town.
I had tacos from a taco stand and cold beer for dinner. I grabbed another beer for back at camp tonight. The bus returned us to the Ghost Ranch gate and we walked the 1.5 miles back to the campground. We spent the rest of the evening visiting and enjoying each others company, turning in about 10:00 pm
