CDT Day 1: Neopolitan Dreams

The Adventure Begins!

It didn’t take long to be thrust right into the trials of the trail. The very last trail shuttle of the NOBO season didn’t drop us off until around 10 a.m., and by the afternoon I was already covered in a combo sunburn and heat rash as well as bug bites. By dusk, I was making audible sounds of pain as I hobbled my heat-battered body through the sand and gravel toward the second water cache. Over 26 miles the first day, not truly on purpose. The final 6 miles were out of necessity, due to a potential cow pond source being bone dry.

Over 26 miles my first day…

I arrived at that second cache at 9 p.m., where I was met by a very talkative thruhiker who’d gotten there an hour prior. While I tried to get some liquids and food in me and deal with what felt like advanced heat exhaustion, he nonchalantly asked me a series of nonstop questions about everything from gear to where I’m from. “Can’t you see I’m trying not to die right now,” I ruminated to myself as I basically just threw all of my sleeping gear down without bothering to even blow up my pad. He asked me if I had a fitness tracking watch and I had to chuckle to myself a little at the thought of caring about a watch when just an hour earlier I’d wanted to just lay down and let the desert take me I was so tired. He was very kind, I had just “epiced,” or way overdid myself on my very first day and craved nothing but silence and water.

Singing songs in my head

The marks on my legs did remind me of a Neopolitan-style color variant with a mix of spring skiing tan, desert heat red, and stark white winter skin. It brought my wandering mind to the song Neopolitan Dreams by Lisa Mitchell. A song about saying goodbye to someone you don’t want to say goodbye to, and not knowing where you’re going but deciding to have fun anyway. I can relate to those sentiments in my own life right now.

“I turn my head up to the sky
I focus one thought at a time
I do not let the little thieves
Under my tightly buttoned sleeves
You couldn’t be a longer time
I feel like I am walking blind
I have no arrival time”
-Lisa Mitchell, Neopolitan Dreams

There’s no doubt I will be sleeping in on day two. Despite the early morning being best for hiking, I will need the rest. For now, the washes and ocotillos keep my mind moving forward towards finishing this section and making it to Lordsburg.