The first 8 or so miles were on a gravel road which followed the Rio Chama for a ways before turning away into the desert and ascending a gentle plain. I managed to miss a turn off and had to walk an extra mile or two along the highway to get back to the trail. The trail turned into a weird and confusing mess after crossing Highway 84. It went through some sort of abandoned nature trail/museum, then into a wash that was filled with small trees and bushes, then across a suspension bridge that had barbed wire strung across it, and then followed a horse trail to Ghost Ranch. I noticed that Guthooks showed the trail as being several hundred feet north of us. At one time I hiked over there looking for it, but I couldn’t find it and returned to the horse trail.
An unfortunate accident occurred about a mile before Ghost Ranch. Link was walking up a hill on the trail and coming over a rise. A woman on a horse was doing the same the other way. The horse saw Links hat/head coming over the rise and reared up in a panic, sending the woman off the back and onto the ground. A long fall. Nothing was broke but she was apparently in a lot of pain. Link felt terrible even though it wasn’t his fault. He gave her some ibuprofen and called Ghost Ranch for her. They came and loaded her into a pickup and drove off.
Ghost Ranch consists of many adobe buildings in a beautiful canyon with Cottonwood trees. I retrieved my resupply package and hung out with Open, Caroline, Link, Raps, Carmen and others as they all tried to figure out what to do about the ridiculous amount of snow to the north of us. This has been a record year for snow in Colorado and nobody is getting through right now.
After Ghost Ranch the trail climbs to 11,000 feet and stays there for most of Colorado so anyone who tries to get through at this time will need to deal with postholing, avalanche danger, cornices on the passes, extreme cold, etc. I wanted to tell them that Judy was coming to pick us up and maybe we could give a couple people a ride, but it’s not my car and this has caused problems between Pat and me before.
Pat and I had lunch in the huge dining building. As we emerged, Judy drove up (perfect timing!) and the three of us drove to Golden, Colorado where Pat lives. Our tentative plan is to head up to the Basin in Wyoming next since it is supposed to be snow-free. I’m really disappointed that my hike is getting chopped up, but the crazy amount of snow in Colorado this year requires some flexibility.