March 1, Day 1. Mexican border to AZT mile 10.5

Wednesday, March 1. Day 1. From Montezuma Pass trailhead, Mile 1.9, to Mexican border Mile 0, elevation 5908, to tent site at Mile 10.5, elevation 8330. Walked 12.4  miles - 4964 ft up, 1770 ft down. 

Dear Trail Friends,

I am exhausted but more importantly it is cold and my fingers are numb. So this will have to be short. (But thank you - when I told you my fingers were numb it reminded me to put my water filter inside my sleeping bag. If it freezes it no longer works as a filter). 

I've seen estimates for the low tonight that vary from 22 degrees to 36. But for sure it is already cold. I have on all my layers. I think I'll be fine tonight. My only concern is packing up especially taking down my tent and packing it, with numb fingers. 

Today went very well. It was sunny and beautiful with just a hint of a cool breeze. I sweated a lot even so and I am so glad I chose to hike early and risk snow rather than 100+ desert temperatures and water scarcity.

 As I hiked up past 8500 ft and saw only a few drifts of snow on the trail I began to think the report of 18 inch snow was exaggerated (or that it had since melted). Then I summitted the highest point for today, 9100 ft, and started down the north slope (because the sun is in the south til the equinox the north slope doesn't get as much sun). 

And there was serious snow. I even put on my micro spikes for traction - after carrying them all through the Sierra and putting them on only once for about 5 minutes. This time I think I wore them a half hour or 45 minutes. Photo 1 shows what it looked like. 

 

As you know I was very worried about my adjustment to the elevation. But in fact I did fine - very minor elevation symptoms, mostly just feeling exhausted. I was also impressed by how well this first encounter with snow went. 

A difficulty I had not anticipated was that the tent site at Mile 8.4 (described in the guidebook) where I had a panned to stop seemed too rocky - the one good area was half covered with a snow drift so one could neither put a tent on the snow nor on the ground. 

I ended up going on and feeling scared - I was so tired and what if I didn't find a site before dark?  I was spoiled by my PCT gps app - it told me where tent sites would be and I didn't have to find them for myself. I ended up following a group of guys who actually know how to read maps and figured there would be sites at a large level area ahead - but on the way we went by a site big enough for one, and I decided to stay. But I am going to have to learn to find tent sites and also how to guess based on the map where they are likely to be. 

Ken the shuttle driver picked me up at 6am and got me to the parking lot at the trailhead at 7:30. I knocked on the door of one of the border patrol trucks (these are fancy trucks with cameras on top of tall antennas that scan in all directions) and asked if I could leave my pack there while I hiked to the border. The border patrolman looked uncomfortable but it turned out to be just because he had a shift change coming. He said yes and it worked fine. And it was great to do those first  3.8 miles - 1.9 miles, down and then back up (on the return)  600 ft elevation change, with no pack. They call that "slack packing." First time I've done it.  Photo 2 is a picture Ken took of me just before starting my hike. 

 

My friend Judy gave me a small green stone that shines in the dark to leave on the trail. I left it at the border, a ritual prayer for refugees and immigrants everywhere - as they endure the "betwixt and between" - that they and all the people they encounter emerge out of the darkness (in which people fail to see one another and so fail to treat one another with consideration and respect) into the light (in which it is possible to create peace. )

Photo 3 is me at the border holding the green stone. (That's the border monument on the left behind me. ). Photo 4 is the stone beside the barbed wire fence that runs along the border.  

 

Doesn't it give you a hopeful feeling seeing it there? As if somehow we can emerge from the dark. Of course in leaving it I broke the sacred commandment of hikers "leave no trace. " But I have been a Quaker long enough to believe that I should always follow the law - except when a higher purpose contradicts it. 

Photo 5 looks way down at the tiny parking lot where I started my hike, from several mikes (and a lot of elevation) into the hike. See if you can find it. 

 

Hint: follow the curvy road up to where it widens a little. That's the parking lot at the trailhead. 

Lastly, photos 6 and 7 show some other thru hikers who started today. I didn't expect to see a lot of other hikers but by the end of the day seven hikers had passed me. Photo 6 is Bear Tripper, who hiked the PCT in 2015 and noticed my PCT bandanna. He got his nickname because he scared a bear and it tripped on a log and fell flat on its face. Photo 7 is "Let's go" and Reed, a couple from Alaska who work in the tourist industry and so work seasonally. They had been staying with Carrot Quinn - a hiker rather famous for her blogs, who has made at least one into a book. They didn't even know about her writing. 

 

 

The trail really makes people happy. You can see it in their faces. 

That's all. I'm going to put on mittens and snuggle up into my sleeping bag. Thank you for walking with me.