Shortly after I crossed the Colorado-New Mexico border, I climbed somewhere over 11 K feet for the last time on the trip. One would say it was all downhill from there and, in a way, it was.
All downhill now
New Mexico means all the big mountains are behind now and impending winter will not be an issue in a normal thru-hiking window. This has a key emotional effect: I’ve started thinking about the end of the trip. In a physical parallel world, you could say so far my visible horizon was the big mountains in Colorado, they were so high I couldn’t see anywhere beyond. Now I can.
It’s like a whole new trip has started. On the emotional side, the focus now is trail’s end at the Mexico border. On the physical side, the scenery has changed and even the weather has changed. In the Continental Divide, the mountains make their own weather and this certainly models the scenery. When New Mexico land rises high, I’m back in the Montana woods, meadows and even marshlands but we’re getting progressively lower and it shows in the vegetation and the whole shape of the land.
The weather is not only warmer and drier, it seems it also gets more predictable. It was just in my latest section that I got a mid-term forecast that was actually correct! And, yes, it does get cold and rainy in the New Mexico fall but it really helps to know what you can expect. I’ll stop packaging extra food now and my shoulders and hips will be happier.
New Mexico landscapes
I personally feel much more relaxed now. My own fears seem gone. I really, really welcome this new stage of my trip on the CDT and I feel like I’m now starting to enjoy the trail to the fullest.
Looking forward to all the rest.
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