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The Narrows Rim Trail Alternate
Day 25
Date: 18.05.2022
CDT Mile: Mile 446.8
Miles hiked: 24.5 Miles / 40 km
The morning started of with a 5 miles dirt road walking to the next water source, a solar well again for a cattle through. Again, we don't wanna be there too early, so we don't have to wait till it starts operating (enough solar power), but as it is gonna be a long day hiking, we also wanna be there as early as possible! We arrive at the water source at nine, and apparently the well just started working about 15 minutes before. Trailbrain, Kiernan and Kyra (the K2) are there too. The K2's are here already for a while, waiting for the solar well to work but then had enough of waiting and took water out of the cattle trough. Worst decision ever - that water is horrible! The cows come and stand in the trough, slobber, pee and poop in it! Even after filtering, the water tastes aweful! The poor K2's filtered their water out of that trough and just when they finished, the solar well started working! Changing the water now with fresh water from the well still didn't help, as the bottles and filter seem to stink now! They will have to exchange all the bottles in the next town🤣 only with a lot of drinkmix they are able to drink that water🤣 and sadly for the rest of the day, there is no other water source! We fill up our water from the solar well, having no issues with bad tasting water. Filling up all my bottles, I carry 5 Liters of water for the rest of the day, making my pack really heavy again.
After the water source we are now back on a paved road (highway) for about 30 miles till Grants. A ranger station in about 15 miles is where we plan to stop for the night, as there is also a water spigot. The only water source between here and Grants. In 5 miles there is an alternate, the Narrows Rim Trail, a 6 mile hike up to a cliff which cut's off 4 miles of the road walk but adds 2 miles to the day. I don't mind 2 additional miles if that means less road walking and it is supposed to be a beautiful short hike. It is actually designed as a loop hike, where you return to the starting point, but there is a (rather unofficial) little trail down a steep rock scramble, so we can continue our hike and do not need to return. Sounds adventurous and I am already looking forward for the downhill hike! Patches however is hurt and got a hitch to the parking lot from where the Narrow Rim Trail starts. He can barely walk anymore, we hope it is shin splints and not a stress fracture. He will try to get a hitch to the Ranger station and wait for us there. Also Simple is in pain, but still he wants to hike the road, however decides to skip the alternate. Longstride, PlusOne, Dogbite and me are hiking the alternate. While they are still breaking, I hike on, getting a water refill from a driver from Silvercity. So I am back with 5 liters again!
This alternate is really beautiful and it is an actual trail! Sometimes sandy, sometimes very rocky. As I gradually climb up the cliffs, I am being rewarded with beautiful views over the malpais lava field's. Never ending lava fields, as far as the eye can see, are covering the landscape below me. And I can also see the highway leading to Grants below, looking never ending too!
At 1 pm, when reaching the turning point of the trail and the Arches Viewpoint, I stop for lunch, crawling under a tree. Shortly later also the K2's and a little later also PlusOne and Dogbite arrive. We enjoy this beautiful spot and eat lunch, when later also Longstride passes by. He decides to hike on, as he eat lunch at the parking lot already. The K2's are moving on shortly later too. About 30 minutes later we get back on trail. The cutoff for the downhill trail is marked by cairns, however they can be missed easily. Looking around for the downhill trail, I spot another cairn behind a tree. And yes it is a very steep rocky and sandy scramble, but I love it! There are cairns to lead you the way, but there are many little trails you can follow. I take the shortest one, just straight downhill normally😁 and in no time we make our way down to the valley and caught up to with the K2's, however longstride is still on its way. Down at the parking lot we are being welcomed by trailbrain, who made it here before lunch and is now taking some time off to rest. Also she got goodies such as fresh fruits, more water, chocolates etc. from drivers stopping by and is enjoying this unexpected trail magic a lot😁 we wait for longstride, who did not enjoy this downhill section much (he got lost and has no water left. Luckily I carry a lot of water, also getting the refill before the alternate and am happy to donate water and getting rid of some weight!). Longstride is on a mission and hikes on, the last 10 miles of the day to the ranger station. We had the idea to ask for beer while hiking along the highway (it's fun and makes a road walk much more pleasant) and are currently redesigning my sun umbrella🤣 the K2's love the idea and in hope to get some beer along the last section, they hike on with us. And really, only 5 minutes back on the road, a car is stopping, handing 2 big cans of ice cold beer! Sadly, that was the only luck we had getting road beers. Some drivers cheered us with their beer in the car, they must have missunderstood our message🤣 and about 3 cars stopped getting us more water. We can't deny these offers but we got so much water, we can't drink it all anymore. So we took the water, and when they left we just emptied some of our filtered water🙈 However it was a very fun and pleasant roadwalk over all, trough a beautiful valley with unexpected nice views!
Arriving at the ranger station we cooked dinner and set up camp. The ranger station is actually closed, and we are not sure if we are allowed to camp there, but we can't hike any further. And just when get ready for tent, a couple of more hikers roll in. One of them being Apache, an Australian hiker, I hiked the last couple of weeks with on the PCT in 2018, together with the trail family then! I knew shortly before I started the CDT, that he is hiking it this year too and we will run into each other, but I definitely didnt expect to meet him at 10pm at a closed ranger station!
the absolute worst water I ever came across was at this solar well, just undrinkable!🐒