After 5 wonderful days off, the trail welcomed me back with a 3,000 ft climb up to above 10,000 ft. There were patches of snow covering the vast meadows that sprang up in between forests. It was cold at such a high elevation, so I kept moving. I was trying to get down to a lower elevation before setting up camp but it began to get dark. The night was cold and I had to melt snow that evening for drinking water. I lazily got up the next morning once the sun hit my tent but I was moving slow and feeling unmotivated. I took a break at a water source and chatted with another hiker. He said he wasn't worried about finishing, he was only concerned with enjoying his time and seeing the area. I took a page from his book and decided to take a nap in the sun for the afternoon. When I woke up, I had to get moving fast to make up the miles for the day. Late in the day, I went to take a break when a large brown creature moved nearby. A huge porcupine waddled out and crossed the road I was walking on, stopping every so often to survey me. The next morning I walked out of the canyons and into a resort called Ghost Ranch. I stayed there while a thunderstorm passed overhead but hiked out that evening. I caught up to another hiker and began chatting with her. Her trail name is Speed Stick and she is hiking all three national scenic trails in a calendar year. Blown away, I asked her a bunch of questions and the night flew by as the two of us hiked uphill and set up camp. I heard her leave early the next morning and I climbed out of my tent to a fresh blanket of snow all over the ground. My tent was slightly frozen so I shoved it in my pack and hoped it would thaw.
The snow clung to my socks and froze my toes as it melted. I kept getting lost that morning down different roads and kicking myself as I walked back to the trail. I came around a corner and saw a fellow hiker laying on the ground next to his tent. I asked him if he was all right and it was pretty clear that he was in a good deal of pain. He was immobile and running out of water but others had run to call for help. I plopped my stuff down, gave him my water, and waited until help arrived. He had thrown out his back trying to pick up his backpack. Three huge suburban Police cars pulled up and watched as I packed up his tent and gear and then helped him into one of the cars. The cops were hesitant to leave me and kept insisting I take an MRE with me just in case. I did accept some water but assured them I was totally fine on food. Minutes after they left me in the dust of the trail, a light rain began to fall and the sky grew dark. The trail popped out on an exposed ridge just as the thunder rolled in. I left the trail and climbed down to a more forested area to wait out the storm. I walked further and further into the trees. I crouched behind a large log and looked to my side, where I saw a perfectly usable toilet in the woods. It looked as though no one had been there in years and that, maybe, only a few humans knew about this secret spot. The thunder subsided so I climbed back up to the trail, never forgetting about the mystery toilet in the woods. The trail climbed higher and higher and I walked faster, trying to get down to a lower elevation before dark. I kept selfishly thinking that I wouldn't be caught up this high in bad weather if I had left before the cops showed up. Though I knew, there was no way I was leaving him in the state he was in. Snow covered the ground more and more as I ascended. The trail opened up into a meadow full of fresh snowmelt so I trapped through the calf high freezing water. Far on the other side of the meadow, I saw a plume of smoke rise from the trees. I quickened my pace as my toes burned with the icy cold. I daydreamed about who would be over there and what I would say when I got there. Walking fast, I looked closer at the plume of smoke. There was no smoke. It was a dead tree, blowing in the wind. My eyesight had manifested a mirage of a nice warm fire to dry my socks and thaw my toes. Coming out of my thoughts, I realized I wasn't even on trail and slogged cross country to get back to it. Another storm had passed overhead but I kept climbing anyway. Finally, it got too dark and I gave into the night. I set up my tent and began to make dinner. My legs shook uncontrollably in my sleeping bag as I tried everything to get warm. I ate my dinner, thinking it would help, but I could not get warm. I did sit ups in my bag, trying to produce some body heat but my upper body began to shake and my heart began to beat faster and faster. I lay down and took deep breathes, trying to calm myself down. I weighed my options. I could hike and try to get further off the mountain but it would take me about 4.5 miles to get down and it was very dark. I could stay in my tent and try to reverse the hypothermia that was setting in but I kept thinking about being found in my tent the next morning, frozen to death. What would my mom think? I stopped shivering and began to feel slightly warm and lightheaded, the second phase of hypothermia. I panicked even more than I already was and began thinking back to my Wilderness first responder training and what I would do if I were a patient. I thought of all of the pieces of a hypo-wrap right as a warm water bottle popped into my brain. Of course! I fumbled to get my stove back out and lit it with some water. A little bit later I threw the hot water bottle in my bag and felt instantly warm. I fell asleep five minutes later, forgetting the terrible places my mind had just gone. I woke up the next morning completely exhausted and weak but alive. I slept in to gain a little strength back and let the sun warm my tent before packing up and heading down the mountain. It was a long day and my body felt the terrible weight of my backpack dragging me down. I walked into a campground later that day and ran into the same Police officer from a few days before who was amazed I had made it that far. I hiked on and set up my tent in a perfect spot to watch the sunset and cook my dinner.
The next morning, I ran into another hiker who had hurt his ankle while postholing. I gave him one of my trekking poles to help him walk out and kept moving down the trail. I was hot on the tails of some other hikers and I had a goal of catching them this day. I hiked late into the evening and got lots of reassurance from locals that I was close. Just before dark, I gave up and set up my tent. It would be my last evening in New Mexico and I was happy to spend it alone, watching the sun go down. I got moving fast and, before I knew it, I heard voices. I had run into the other hikers! We snowballed all the other hikers in the area and a huge group of us walked into Colorado together and got into town. Mile 811
