Day 8 – 4/30/13 – 18.3mi (143.9)

18 miles by 2pm, 18 miles on roads. I can confidently say road walking sucks. Wired left camp early to get to town as soon as possible, the rest of us left at the usual 6:30am.

The first 6 miles were on dirt roads, which weren’t so bad except for the dust kicked up by passing pickup trucks. We took a short break before hitting the asphalt of Highway 90 to read some interpretive signs about the massive Tyrone Copper Mine we were circling around.

The 12 miles along the highway seemed to go on forever. We amused ourselves with a bunch of silliness, such as singing “Rise and Shine”. I discovered a verse I picked up somewhere in my youth was probably not the officially sanctioned Vacation Bible School version:
The animals, they came off, they came off by threesies, threesies.
The animals, they came off, they came off by threesies, threesies.
Must have learned their birds and beesies, beesies,
Children of The Lord.

Ninja and Strider worked on Sudoku puzzles while walking. Liz and I waved to all the passing cyclists. There’s a big 5 day bicycle race, The Tour of the Gila, going on in Silver City beginning tomorrow. There are tons of really fit people wearing Spandex in town.

The highlight of our road walk was when a car pulled a u-turn and 4 guys got out, one wearing a skirt… must be hikers! It was Pepper, Chili, LB, and another guy whose name I’m very sorry to say I can’t remember. They were all veteran long distance hikers and on their way back from the PCT kickoff in Southern California. They fed us some snacks and we shot the breeze for a while. This was the first “magic” we’ve experienced on the CDT, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Feet aching from pounding pavement, we hobbled into town with bellies rumbling. We had a reservation at the Motel 6 on the other side of town, so we decided to take care of eating and resupplying before going there. Folks in Silver City were all very friendly, one man even took our photo for the city chamber of commerce website.

The four of us joined Wired at the Motel 6, where we ran into several other hikers: Sundae, Czech Express, Nicotine, Mark, and Puck. It’s actually pretty amazing how many of us are on this historically sparse trail. We plan to have a lazy morning and leave town late tomorrow, heading into a highlight of the trail, the Gila.

The Daily Ninjups Report
As I’m sure everyone noticed, I forgot the report yesterday. Have no fear, the Ninjups were completed.
Knowing we had a long roadwalk ahead must have made us punchy this morning. After Ninja did her 5 push-ups, Strider and I went for a max out session. I won’t reveal who won.