Finished!

On Tuesday, November 17th at 2:45 pm, sixteen (let me repeat that) sixteen thru-hikers arrived at the US-Mexican border to complete their odyssey on the Continental Divide Trail. I was honored to be a part of that group, which included Luna, So Far, George, Tooth Fairy, Mike, Patch, Brett, Bree, Panda, Valley Girl, Chance, Brian, Brenda, Samurai Joe, and Hell Fire.

I did it! My dream of hiking the CDT has been realized, and now I join the ranks of those who have hiked the triple crown: The Appalachian, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide Trails. All that said, I still have a short, but remote and daunting, 30-mile section to complete on the PCT, so my claim to be a triple crowner will not fully be realized until I hike those last few miles. Trust me, I will make it a high priority to finish the PCT.

Arriving at the Mexican border was somewhat of anti-climactic experience. There were a lot of cars entering and leaving the United States at this seemingly busy port of entry. Also, I was warned about tight security at the border, and that the border patrol was not going to put up with any shenanigans, which of course elevated my anxiety level. Finally, there was a freaking Family Dollar right at the border. It's not often that an long distance adventurer finishes his rugged, scenic hike next to a Family Dollar, but I guess that was the choice I made. If I could have chosen differently, I would have preferred a finish at the more remote Crazy Cook Monument near the Hatchet Mountains. I've been thinking that I might do that section in the future. Who knows?

Regardless, I had a great experience through the Florida Mountains between Deming and the border. On my first night out, Tooth Fairy's aunt and her friend, Chris, drove a vehicle out to camp, and delivered brats, hot dogs, smores, salad, etc., which made for the best on trail food that I have ever had. The second day, So Far and I crossed the rugged Florida Mountains on a precarious cross-country route, where I slipped often on loose rock, and was stabbed in the legs by agave and yucca plants. Although a fitting scenic, adventurous trek, I might hesitate to advocate the route through the Floridas, because it was borderline dangerous. Finally, the third day was a short, relaxed hike to the border to complete the hike.

I am hanging out in Deming, for a couple days, and then I will head up to my sister's place for Thanksgiving. I look forward to going to her place for a few days. I have certainly grown tired of trail food and restaurant meals. It all gets old after a while, and I really miss home-cooked food. I told my sister that I cannot wait to get to her place to eat what she makes.

With all the traveling coming up, I plan to work diligently on updating my trail journals site - look for updates. I have uploaded more pictures to Flickr, and I plan to upload a couple video to my YouTube channel tomorrow, so look for that.


I am also thinking about continuing this blog as a part of a larger project to create a site called hikethecdt.com, which will be the primary on-line resource for helping a prospective hiker get started on planning a CDT hike. Expect changes in the future. Until then, I will continue to post items about my post hike journey and all the fall out from taking five months off of work. Happy trails!