South from Cuba

by Gillian Larson | posted: May 11, 2018
taking in the view

I spent the 9th doing chores in town, then on the 10th I drove up to Cuba, NM, where I stayed in the fairgrounds. This morning I departed from fairgrounds and drove a couple miles outside of town to place where I could park the truck at a trailhead. A local rancher nicknamed “Bird” saw me and said to give him a call if I needed help, which was great because I was going to need a ride in a few days to get back from fairgrounds to pick up my truck after I finished this section; I was planning to drive Tuna Can back up from Grants and then leave it behind at the fairgrounds in Cuba while I drove back to L.A. i Bombshelter for a brief break to let the snow melt in the mountains north of here; when I come back again, my mother will be with me and she will help me throughout the summer before she has to return to teach again in the fall.

At the edge of the mesa

This was a very scenic section, riding south on the trail back towards Grants, and one of the prettiest days on the trail for a long time. One challenging part, however, was that the trail dropped straight off a mesa and was glad I was going down, not up; I could see the borium on horses’ shoes leaving marks as they were sliding on the sandstone. In the afternoon the wind got hideously strong and it was all I could do to keep my head down to avoid dirt in my face. I also started encountering fences without gates for stock to pass through, so I dropped down to a nearby dirt road with cattle guards and gates that I could use to get the horses past the cattle guards. We rode through the wind and on that dirt road for about 10 miles to the camp spot where I had left a water cache the day before as I drove up to Cuba.

#2018CDT


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