Friday May 21, 2010

Camp 20: in a canyon, heading towards Bonita Canyon

It feels great to lay down. We hiked through El Malpais today.  At first it was awesome to be hiking through an old lava flow, but the mood quickly changed as the black rocks soaked up the heat from the sun at 2pm and the trail was brutal on the feet.  There is a lot of history in the area.  The Acoma-Zuni trail we hiked today had cairns that had been there, marking the trail for the two tribes of Pueblo, for 700 years! After a long walk through the lava we got to a parking area by the road.  I tried to yogi some water from a man that pulled into the lot, trying to quickly tuck his shirt in and zip his pants...more than  a bit odd.  Unfortunately, he looked at me like I was the strange one and rolled the window up in my face.  Not knowing where the next water source on the trail was, we hitched a ride with a guy in a pick-up truck down the road to a Forest Service office.  The building was closed but there was a hose outside with running water.  The water tasted like the hose, rubbery and disgusting, so we unhooked the hose and got water directly from the faucet.  After a candy bar break we walked across the road and through a gate hoping the forest service road would hook us back up with the trail.  The roads are a maze out here but we always seem to work things out.  We are in a side canyon right now that leads to Bonita Canyon and eventually into Grants for resupply.  We saw a huge heard of elk tonight as we were winding down the day.  My feet ache and I'm nursing three blisters right now  There are actually blisters underneath blisters which is really hard to treat.  Anyways, time for dinner and sleep. 

“Remember to take everything in moderation, including moderation.”