GDMBR Tour of Western New Mexico: Hachita to Abiquiu

GDMBR Tour of Western New Mexico: Hachita to Abiquiu

GDMBR Tour of Western New Mexico: Hachita to Abiquiu.

Check out the first days of the trip here.

September!  I have succumbed to the trip update delay that virtually every GDMBR adventurer encounters. Three months late, I've finally gotten around to relating the rest of the story of my early summertime tour of Western New Mexico. 

What a super trip it was. I wrapped up at Abiquiu this year and was happy as a clam to do so. My right Achilles tendon was giving me trouble, it was a relatively easy place to bail out (to Albuquerque), and the monsoon (and accompanying death mud) had caught up to me. Plus, bonus, I was able to join my family for a few days of lounging on the beach in Delaware. So some unfinished business out here but a tremendous adventure out on the trail, made some new friends, and got to experience my gear amid some new (to me) challenges. I left New Mexico energized and looking forward to my next adventure.

Hachita to Silver City: Just coming back to the story started here. I rode from Antelope Wells back to Hachita the previous night along with Eric G. and Dave R., with us riding three abreast most of the night. Of course, the kLite ULTRA Race was the brightest of all of the lights!  In the dark, there wasn't much to report on regarding the topography and we spent most of the time swapping stories and getting the excitement of starting the ride out of our respective systems.

About 2/3 of the way from Antelope Wells to Hachita, we scouted out where the new (2024) Tour Divide route pulls away from the road surface, following the CDT hiking trail. At at that moment, I was unapologetically glad to be following the GDMBR rather than the Tour Divide route.  The moon had fallen below the mountain range and it was as dark as dark gets. Beyond the gate, the trail was a sandy wash and it looked like it was going to be a push fest as far as we could see down the trail. And it was still 80F in the pitch dark. So after that fun diversion, we got back on the road and rode back to the bike ranch.

I had thought I'd keep riding that night, but by the time we got into Hachita, the combination of the travel, the time change, the altitude, and the riding was really was weighing on my eyelids. The three of us parked our bikes in the courtyard and cozied down for the night on the now familiar Bike Ranch cots. It was a fun but hot day at the bike ranch with new riders arriving for the upcoming Tour Divide grand depart. Eric G. and I planned to leave for Silver City at nightfall and Dave R. bravely planned to go back and ride the CDT portion of the trail so that he could remain Tour Divide compliant. 

As the sun waned in the late afternoon, the wind really started picking up and by 7pm, there was a steady wind from the northwest at 25kts with gusts to 40kts. This is the type of wind that precedes the monsoon rains in this part of New Mexico. Out the window, it was a full on dust storm. Eric and I cooled our heels until the wind started to die down. We left the compound around 10pm at 85F to a cacophony of bells and shouting from the crazy crew now assembled at the ranch. The headwind had died to a more reasonable 15kts and there was a lot less dust, the wind died down completely by midnight.

After crossing under I-10, the trip to Silver City covered a series of rolling dirt and gravel roads, with no major climbs. It was a really pleasant ride and again, so dark and clear that we could see the milky way overhead. Most importantly for me, I wasn't overheating, the relatively cool night air was really quite pleasant. Like the previous night, it got down to around 70F just before sunrise. I silently  passed by the spot where I overheated the last time I rode through here and was pleased to have significantly upped my desert riding capability. The kLite Race ULTRA was a perfect riding companion on this route, lots of illumination and I was able to see sandy parts of the trail well before I encountered them.  

Eric G. right after we hit the pavement outside of Silver City. Can't beat that sunrise!!

One of many continental divide crossings on this trip. Water situation: excellent!  Because of my prior experience overheating in the desert, I was carrying 9 Liters of water with me, and by the time we got to Silver City, I was still in possession of three of them. Not too shabby. Riding at night, it takes a lot more effort to find the cattle cribs and other potential sources of water, so I was pleased that my water game was working out at this point. 

We rode into Silver City between 7 and 8am and after getting turned down at the Murray (where I stayed last time I was here) on a time technicality--"sir, our check in time is 1pm"--we snagged a couple of rooms at the Comfort Inn. After a quick shower we decamped to the Dennys right next door and then back to the hotel for some daytime sleep. I slept until around 6pm, packed up my stuff, grabbed a bunch of hamburgers from McDonalds across the street, and then headed out of town and into the Gila Wilderness--this time, by myself.

Silver City to Pie Town: 

The road out of Silver City was well paved and had a long, slow climb. The topography had changed from rolling scrub desert to mountainous pine forest. Before long it was as dark as it was the night before. It was Friday night and there were a few carfuls of kids going up the road to camp and party in the National Forest. By the time I made it to the formal entrance, it was evident that all of the partiers had made camp at the informal parking lot adjacent to the entrance. The entrance to the national park was closed--an unannounced closure. The general consensus of the informal campers is that it had been closed because of forest fires. I checked my Gaia forest fire overlay and there was nothing indicated immediately near me, so I rode around the barriers and had the road to myself.

Immediately after passing through the barrier, it became clear why the road had been closed--chip sealing. The road contractors had been working this section of the road with piles of fine gravel over an oiled road surface. The first five or so miles had been completed, with the surface mostly secure and not loose, and then suddenly, the surface was super gravelly and loose. This wasn't much of a problem while I was climbing, but was a huge problem descending. I was really laying on the brakes on the downhills in order to stay in control on the road. I ended up stopping at the next formal campground--probably where the partiers had planned to stop--and resolved to finish out the route in the daytime when it would be easier to avoid the deeper piles of gravel on the road surface. Because of the road closure, I was the only one there and I quickly made camp, ate the burgers, and fell asleep.

It had been one of the driest springs on record in this part of New Mexico, and there was no way I was driving tent stakes into this hard ground. Note to self, a self standing or semi-self standing tent would have been a better choice for this terrain. I was fortunate to have some rocks to guy out the stakes. Note--bear spray is at the ready, more for bobcats and humans than bears in this part of New Mexico. The formal USFS campsite had a concrete pit toilet where I parked my bike overnight--didn't have to offload my stored food.

Entrance to the campsite from the newly chipsealed road (taken on the way out in the morning). 

I woke up to sounds of the forest, birds and squirrels making a racket. I had slept all the way through the night with no disturbances and it was remarkably cold, maybe 50F. I packed up my tent--no condensation, because it was so completely dry--had some packed up snacks, and got back on the road. I had about 4L of water left over from the day before. 

The campground was next to what looked like a raging river on the map but on this day, it was nothing but a dry wash. I was glad to have brought enough water to make it to the next stop. The picture was taken the next morning, it was pitch black when I arrived at the campsite.

I was on the road at first light and had to steer around piles of gravel all the way up the mountain. I skipped the Tour Divide shortcut, the one that mirrors the CDT across the mountain and decided to stay on the GDMBR road route over to Lake Roberts. The chip sealing was fierce and because it was the weekend, it was likely that the road crews had the time off. I had the road entirely to myself, not too shabby considering that the entire descent was finished from a road reconstruction perspective. Stopped at the point below for a quick pit stop. 

The descent into Lake Roberts on a newly chipsealed road surface.

I don't remember exactly when I arrived at the general store in Lake Roberts, but it was closed and I remember thinking that because it was the weekend, it would be a couple of hours until it opened. No problem, I had food with me and was delighted to learn that they had a hose on the side of the store and proceeded to fill up my bottles and my backpack. Back up to 9L!  Of course, I'd be riding past the lake itself, but this way I didn't need to stop and sterilize the water, saving a big step. After the lake, I was back to the Gila Wilderness and the rough riding surface. 

The ride was absolutely beautiful, but at the lower elevations, it was hot again. During the heat of the day, it was back up to 110F and I was doing what I could to conserve energy--and water. Every marked water crossing I passed was dried up and by mid-afternoon, with 3L left, I was starting to get concerned. Finally, after careening down a big descent, I rode across a bridge over small running stream.

It was evident that this was likely a raging river at some point of the year, but right now, I was super psyched for the tannish, gross smelling, slowly running water that was flowing under the bridge. After filtering off enough water to fill up all of my water--and using one or more water purification tablets for each liter--I realized that there was a USFS campground just on the other side of the bridge. It was an hour or two until sunset, but I was pretty beat and decided to camp out here and then get rolling around 2am to beat the heat on the next day.

Again, the arid surface compels the use of rocks to guy out the tent. Was glad it wasn't too windy. I set up camp in a leisurely way, drank as much water as I was able to, and refilled my bottles with filtered / purified water for the next day. Dinner consisted of two RecPac 700 calorie add-water chocolate shakes, not exactly gourmet dining but enough to take the edge off. The pit toilet onsite wasn't big enough to hold my bike, so I hung my extra food and snacks in a tree well away from the campsite. The mosquitos that were absent in the arid camp the previous night were out in droves because of the adjacent stream and wetlands. That was enough reason to get inside the tent and cozy down. I was asleep even before it was even dark outside. 

The alarm went off way too soon and I broke camp around 2:30am and got rolling into the cool morning. In the valley, it wasn't as cool as the previous night on the mountain, but it was a reasonable 60F as I set out into the darkness. The kLite was working well and I covered a bunch of ground before daylight. The Gila Wilderness has a lot of relatively steep ascents and descents, not the long climbs that you have in Montana and Colorado, more staccato and given my state of fitness, pretty challenging. I hadn't seen anyone since the cars in Lake Roberts--I literally had this place all to myself. It was transcendent.

The terrain changing again, moving away from the pine mountain forests to more of a desert savanna. No water at all here - everywhere water is noted on maps is dry, I'm really glad I filled up completely the previous night and got a lot of riding in before it heated up. 

I took a ton of pictures that morning and they pretty much all look like this, despite the lack of shade, the more wide open views were really emotionally appealing. 

I stopped here and "enjoyed" another RecPac chocolate shake. Glad I had it with me, it's a really lightweight source of calories, but yuck, this stuff did not get better after the two I had for dinner. Note to self, figure out something better to carry as a lightweight source of calories that does not require heat.

Usually, pictures and videos just don't get across the level of steepness and pain that you felt on a given stretch of road, but I think this one actually does get the steepness across. I was pushing the bike up this one, the Gila was really kicking my butt at this point. No doubt in my mind that New Mexico is the most challenging and most beautiful part of the GDMBR / TD. 

Ah, close to the end of the Gila Wilderness. The road flowed through a relatively narrow valley where there was a modest number of cows grazing and some muddy, disgusting and mostly fenced off water retention ponds. They must be pumping this water up from an aquifer, there are no real streams delivering water to this point. So water, just not the kind you'd want to drink. By this point, I've been riding a while and my water is running low. Where is that Beaverhead Work Area with its cold water spigot and legendary soda machine?

The Beaverhead Work Station!  It's called a "workstation" because this is where federal workers live when they're working in the Gila Wilderness. There are a few dwellings, offices, and workshops behind the security gate, and in front, right where this picture is taken, is a hand pump wellhead with ice cold water, a proper pit toilet with toilet paper, and some shade trees. I was just about out of water when I arrived and with very little shade since coming down off the last mountain, I was pretty darn hot. I had lunch here of snacks and another vile RecPac and about as much water as I could possibly consume. Thinking back, I didn't even bother checking out the soda machine, so I have no trip report regarding whether it was working or not working. Note to self--potential commercial opportunity here!

I loaded up with another 9L of water and headed out, trying to make the Valle Tio Vinces campground before nightfall. All the guides noted that this campground had a well nearby and after camping near a water source the prior night, I was thinking that this sounded like a really great idea. I had travelled through this area the last time I rode in New Mexico and remembered the section for its stunning beauty. It didn't disappoint but unfortunately for you, I spent more time enjoying the trip than I did taking pictures. There is an incredible canyonlands that you descend through and guess what, nary a picture this time. It was amazing.

After Beaverhead, the topography becomes a lot more arid and desert-like. It's hot as hades here but I'm feeling great because I'm well hydrated, have had some food and just spent an hour chillin in the shade. Looking at the picture, you sort of expect Wiley Coyote to come swinging in to the frame with some Acme branded TNT. Wow, what a day I'm having. This is awesome.

Still pretty arid but this area had a ton of trees with no ground brush. Perfect if you were camping with a hammock. Not sure if this was the result of a recent forest fire or the fact that it's been so dry here that nothing is growing on the ground. Pretty neat either way. I stopped here to refill my hydration backpack and to take a break in the shade.

I love road signs with big numbers on them. This sign indicates that I'm in the middle of nowhere and places I've never heard of are a long way off. Looking at the picture, you sort of get the vibe that there's not much around here. At this point, I'm loving my Da Brim, the wacky visor thingo that makes your helmet look like a cowboy hat. It creates some shade where none exists otherwise.

This road goes on forever! I suspect that this was an open range for cattle but there weren't any around. It's probably been too dry to keep a herd here, not much grass happening on the open prairie. Also, not a lot of shade.

I'm getting there. The campground is up in those mountains ahead. It was at this moment that it occurred to me to check the forest fire map overlay on the Gaia app and see what was happening with the "Antone" fire. Oh snap, the closure area was right up against the designated GDMBR / Tour Divide trail. 

By the time I arrived to the closure area, the sun was already setting over the mountains to the West. The road wasn't closed, but there were some serious warning signs posted.  Even though it had been a really tremendous day for riding, it didn't feel like it was a great idea to ride into the closure-adjacent area as night was falling. I could also smell the smoke.

I rode up to the gate of the national park area and wilderness camped right inside the boundary just off the road. It felt like a safe spot and I figured I'd be able to ride up to the formal campground in the morning, fill up on water, and maybe chat with anyone familiar with the closure. I was really tired and didn't even take a picture of the tent. Again with the rocks to keep the tent up, this was the third night in a row with that. Where's my Big Agnes Fly Creek semi-self standing tent when I needed it!! Super quiet here, I hadn't even seen a car in hours.

It was a thirsty night, I wanted to save some water for the morning. I ran through most of my remaining snacks and cozied right down in the tent--and slept straight through to around sunrise. I awoke to a sore throat--likely from the forest fire smoke--and an achy Achilles tendon on my right side, no doubt from all of the miles and hike-a-bike on the previous day. I broke camp, devoured one of my remaining fig newton bars and scooted up the mountain to the campground and the much anticipated well.

When I got to the top of the climb--the place where the campground was--the area was really quiet, no one was there. And to my great surprise and disappointment, the wellhead was out of order. Ugh, it was going to be a long and thirsty ride to Pie Town. The good news is that while the area was smoky, there didn't appear to be any active fire activity anywhere near the trail. The better news was that I was familiar with the terrain from here to Pie Town and after the big descent out of the national park area,

It was just rolling terrain all the way to the Toaster House. The picture above shows the New Mexico death mud surface without the moisture - just add water and the road becomes completely impassable. It's like this all the way through Pie Town and to the connecting blacktop that heads to Grants. Looking forward to a shower and some pie.

The Toaster House! The last time I was here, there was a live-in caretaker named Jefferson, this time, I had the whole place to myself. I arrived around 11am. First order of business was a shower and the second order of business was washing my clothes. I hung out my wet clothes on the clothesline out back and rode up to the restaurant. After gorging myself on sandwiches, sodas, and pie, I rode back to the house, took a nap for a couple of hours, and did some basic maintenance on the bike while I waited for the heat of the day to pass. Nothing better than packing up clean clothes into the bags. After donating some $ to commemorate my stay, I packed up and headed north to take advantage of the tailwind and some cool evening riding. Sort of a toaster-siesta rather than an overnight.

Pie Town to Abiquiu: 

The road north from Pie Town is the soft soil surface that immediately turns to death mud the instant water is added. No issues on this evening, it was as clear as a bell and I was really rocking the rolling hills on my way to Grants. It was going to be one of the longer days so far on the trip but it made absolute sense to take advantage of the perfect riding conditions.

I busted it on that dirt road out of Pie Town, riding pretty hard and taking advantage of the 30kt tailwind. You could tell that weather was coming, this was the monsoon coming from the south with the winds. A few pickup trucks on this road, including the waitress who served me lunch at the place in Pie Town. Yeah, I'm a proper mayor when I'm riding out here.

It was dusk when I got to the paved road that runs into Grants, in the picture above, I'm maybe 45 miles out from the city. I could smell the forest fires and you can see the smoke plume just over the hills in the background. I checked the Gaia app and again, lucky, this road was on the boundary of the fires. 

The road surface was really quite nice and because of the proximity of the fires and the lateness of the day, there was very little traffic, maybe three cars all the way to Grants. Below, the mighty kLite ULTRA race illuminating the night road. 

The GPS overlay was really helpful in building confidence that I could make it to Grants, but there were a few points along the way where the smoke was really thick and it was obvious that the fires were progressing further than shown on the electronic maps.

Cough, cough!  Fortunately, this was a brief interlude and I was through the worst of it in a couple of miles. My average speed on the road was pretty high, I had the tunes pumping and I was cranking the rig at around 16MPH, which seemed really fast given my pro-slow attitude so far.

Almost all of the hotel rooms in Grants were sold out, apparently to out-of-town firefighters who had travelled into the area to help battle all of the forest fires. I snagged the last available room at the Super 8 near the interstate. Funny story, I stopped at the traffic circle that divides the old Grants downtown from the bypass to the Interstate to call around to hotels and while I was calling, the lawn sprinklers turned on right at Midnight. A nice surprise to be sure, and I took the water spray opportunity to clean off my bike from several dusty days out on the trail. After checking in and dropping the by now dry bike in the room, I walked over to the 24 hour Denny's next door and had a late dinner. Fine, but not as good as Pie Town.

Didn't bother setting the alarm but I did remember to put the do-not-disturb sign on the door handle. I was up and moving around 11am and moving was a charitable description because my right Achilles was really giving me trouble. I resolved to make it a zero day and after having breakfast at the Denny's, headed over to Walmart to resupply my snack cache. I also bought lunch / dinner all in one stop. Headed back to the room, took a nap. Fortunately, woke up before sunset and had the opportunity to cruise around Grants for a couple of hours.

Grants sort of feels like the town on which the movie "Cars" was modeled, the downtown area has a lot of faded glory from the days before the interstate. Got my fill of sightseeing and headed back to the hotel. Wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to sleep because it was going to be another hot one tomorrow and wanted to leave by 2am to get the most of the trip to Cuba. I was going to take the Chaco bypass because of fire activity on the off-road route.

i really did head out early and of course, no pictures from the departure through Grants in the dark. The kLite system worked flawlessly as I cut through the dark and increasingly cold morning. The picture above at sunrise and by then, I'm wearing two pairs of gloves, a long sleeve shirt and my GoreTex raincoat, and some leg warmers. It was around 40F at sunrise and by the heat of the day, back up to 115F.

I had made some decent distance by this point and it was starting to heat up. The Chaco alternative is 125 miles from Grants to Cuba. Much has been written elsewhere about this lonely stretch of pavement, so I won't dwell on it except to say that it was beautiful, the day was long, and the two convenience stores along the way were very much appreciated.

Not a huge breakdown lane here but the traffic was very light. 

The sun directly overhead at Chaco. Not pictured: my grimace from the brain freeze arising from the rapid consumption of an off-brand Slurpee.

With all of the extra time I had in Grants, I had booked a reservation at the "Cuban Lodge" a motel in Cuba where I stayed last time I was through here. From what I remembered, it wasn't much to write home about but it was next to the Dollar General which made for an easy resupply. It's right on the edge of town when you pull in and after a long, hot day, I was looking forward to a shower and some air conditioning. Upon my arrival, I found that the owner had ghosted me--and a bunch of other prospective guests. We were all hanging out in the parking lot, waiting for her to return. There were a ton of folks looking for hotels--firefighters and people displaced by the fires. I gave it until around 7pm and then went in for my second choice, camping out behind Theresa's Beauty Salon on the other side of Cuba. She runs an informal RV park and tent campground behind her place and if you spend an extra $5, you can get access to a bathroom with a shower and hot water. 

The wind was howling that evening, gusting to maybe 40kts. I scored a nice flat spot on some grass and was able to properly stake out the tent for the first time on the trip. There were a few RVers around, including some firefighters who were staying there instead of local hotels. The best thing is that it wasn't a party spot, it got really quiet as the sun set. The night was cool and I had an awesome sleep after what had been a pretty long day in the saddle.

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I got up right around the sunrise, packed up and made two stops on the way out of town--first at a gas station to get a couple of sandwiches for later and then to the McDonalds for breakfast. It was still pretty windy, again, the wind coming from the south, bringing the annual monsoon rains. The sky was partly cloudy all day, which was a relief from the beaming 100% sun the previous day. The climb out of Cuba was pretty hard but I was in the national forest within an hour or two.

New Mexico is amazing with all of the micro climates and terrain changes. The mountain forest was a big climate change from the scrub plains of the Chaco alternative. Traffic was light, but there were a fair number of folks who had come up from the city and were holding down some of the prime camping spots accessible from the forest roads.

Amazing, so glad I was able to capture this blind corner on the climb. This road sort of felt like it was going to go on forever.

 Little puffy clouds! 

Stopped here around noontime and broke out those sandwiches. What was really interesting about this area is that the forest service has leased out areas along this road for cow grazing. That's how different the climate was up here, enough rain to support grass and grazing. I believe the trail elevation was as high as 10,000 feet at one point.

Another view of the lunch spot. The road surface here was amazingly smooth and fast.

The day was going really well and riding at the top of a mountain in conditions like this is pretty much a dream. What could go wrong? Turns out, a bunch. Shortly after the picture above was taken, the toad terrain changed pretty dramatically, as pictured below.

This slowed me down quite a bit and at this point, I was seriously reconsidering my decision to skip the suspension fork. I had been bombing along for a couple of days now, really making time and riding at a solid pace, and the bumpy terrain was a real change. The terrain was different because this area of the mountain had been impacted by the forest fires two or more years ago. There were a bunch of dried up flash-flood washouts and the wind had pushed a number of fire-dead trees over and across the road.

I had been hoping to make Abiquiu by dark, but the slow going had me thinking I was going to be staying on the top of the mountain tonight. I had enough food and water to be comfortable overnight. As the day progressed, it had been getting progressively cloudier. Right about sunset, the sky filled with storm clouds and it started to rain. I hadn't been able to outrun the monsoon. I had just made the corner where the trail started the descent into Abiquiu, and at that moment, I was convinced that I'd be able to bomb down 20 miles into town--something like a 5,000ft descent--and avoid the risk of tree deadfalls, flash flooding, and lightning by staying on top of the mountain in a storm.

But this descent was way tougher than anticipated. Between the rain, the trail roughness, the growing darkness, and the death mud, I slowly picked my way down the mountain, mostly pushing the bike and periodically working the mud off the bike with my death mud scraper. i had the entire mountain to myself and the lightning and rain continued to chase me down the hill. Trees impacted by the previous year's forest fires continued to fall from the wind and I had to cross a couple of waist deep flash flood streams--this was starting to feel like a life or death situation. And of course, by the time I got to the bottom of the climb and out of the forest--where the road was more or less flat all the way to Abiquiu, the road surface had turned to death mud, completely impassible by bicycle or car. 

The rain stopped about halfway on the hike-a-bike from the forest entrance to Abiquiu, but that didn't make the surface any more passible. I alternated between pushing the bike on the road and on the grassy prairie surface, with the road requiring mud scraping every 25 yards or so and the undulations in the prairie surface coupled with the dark causing me to stumble. The good news was that I was generating enough heat to keep myself warm and moving forward was a lot better mentally for me than bedding down as soon as I exited the trees. I made it to Abiquiu by 3am and have rarely been so happy to see a convenience store.

I stayed a couple of days at the super-fancy Abiquiu Inn, right next to the Georgia O'Keefe center and worked to figure out my plan for what to do next. After a 30-minute session with the garden hose and a replacement of my brake pads, my bike was back to new and ready for more adventures. My Achilles heel, not so much. The 20+ mile hike-a-bike didn't do it or my feet any favors. After limping around Abiquiu a couple of days, it was clear that riding out of there wasn't going to be in my best interest. I called Kevin Spitzer and scored a ride to Albuquerque for the next day. I spent the rest of the day gently shuffling around Abiquiu, seeing the sights and icing my right leg.

Kevin arrived promptly the next morning and took me to Albuquerque in his pickup truck. We stopped at the Trek store and scored a bike box. As quickly as that, I was at the airport and the trip was over.  

Preparation and equipment wrap up:

Really minor problems along the way. Lost a cleat bolt at some point, of course, had an extra onhand, so no impact to the trip. Could have gone with a 32 or 30 tooth chainring in the front instead of the 34 that I've been rocking in the flatlands of the mid west--this could have avoided a bit of hike-a-bike through the Gila Wilderness where the roads were really steep. I'm a tent rider, not a fan of the bivvy approach, and in the desert terrain, a semi or fully free standing tent would have been a lot better than the Zpacks Altaplex I was running with, but I love that tent and it worked pretty well with the rocks propping up the tent peg points. No flat tires. My brake pads were toast by Abiquiu, but I suspect that the 20+ miles of muddy descent / HAB did a number on the surfaces and that they would have lasted a lot longer had I had more normal conditions. I had a spare set onhand and another in a post office cache in Colorado.

My 9L hydration approach to the long distances worked really well and given my size and consumption pattern, I would have been hard pressed to do as well with less capacity. I had two 1.5L bottles on the fork, a 3L backpack, and a 3L bladder in the frame bag--along with filtering capacity and purification tablets--both of which came in handy along the way. There are some long distances in between water stops in New Mexico and I was well prepared.

My food / snack setup was also pretty good on this trip, with the only flat spot being the taste ick from the RecPac drinks. I was super glad to have them, though, and they are a very high-cal, lightweight way to carry food out on the trail. On this trip, I stayed away from stoves and boil-in-a-bag meals because of the weight and because it was forest fire season.

I get really bored of eating the same snacks and knowing this, I started out with a wild diversity of different things to eat and then added to that diversity at the various stops along the way. The surprise snack hit of the trip was the 25 pack of individually wrapped 3 inch Slim Jim snacks--40 calories each with a ton of salt. I'm generally not much of a beef jerky fan, but I picked up a box of these when we stopped at Wal Mart on the way from the El Paso airport and then resupplied them at the Wal Mart in Grants. Yum! It's just the pick me up I needed with the all-day sweat fest in the desert. The downside--corralling and packing out all of the wrappers. I had a special spot in the zipper pocket of my frame bag where I kept waste like this to pack out, and I made it a point to deposit it properly when in town. Most federal land is pack-in-pack-out with no provided garbage cans.

I went with a minimalist toiletry kit on this trip, mostly for reasons of weight, and the kit included some hotel-sourced razor kits and a short toothbrush from garage grown gear. Looking back, I probably would have brought a rechargeable electric razor and a proper toothbrush. Not a big weight penalty for what would have been a much nicer setup on a daily basis. I was surprised how lame the short toothbrush felt, not something I'll likely compromise on again. The shortie will be seeing action on the next tour as a chain lubrication tool.

On the rest of the bike, really nothing much to report. The tubeless setup was perfect, the SRA AXS / Garbaruk drivetrain was perfect, the kLite dynamo charging and lighting system was perfect, and importantly, my GPS game was spot on. I was using a Garmin 840 for primary navigation and that was working like a champ. I used an iPhone to handle GAIA (for the forest fire layer) and the Adventure Cycling Navigator for GDMBR waypoints. Finally I had a Garmin inReach Mini so I could keep in contact with my family. For the last 30 - 40 miles between Cuba and Abiquiu, I could have used my suspension fork instead of the Firestarter rigid carbon fork that comes with the Fargo Ti, but that's a small quibble. For the majority of the trip, the rigid fork was perfectly fine.

Looking forward to the next adventure!