Day #27-When the winds change. Miles hiked: 27.7

When we woke up this morning, there was a faint smell of campfire drifting through the forest. Unfortunately, it was only a reminder that there are many wildfires burning throughout the southwest right now. In light of the current situation and continued dry weather, rumors about forest closures have been spreading like wildfire as well. Nonetheless, we continued into one last desert section complete with towering mesas and cows.

I’ll miss the desert and want to come back to visit (and there will indeed be more desert when we enter Wyoming), but I won’t miss the sun beating down on me all day.

After climbing the final mesa, we did get enough service to ascertain the final details of the pending national forest closures. Santa Fe, Gila, and Carson National Forest were ordered to close by 8 am on Thursday. It was Tuesday night and we needed a plan. Using mesa cellphone service, we decided that even though hitching would be easier and faster for getting around the closure, we value our continuous footpath so we’ll walk 40ish miles of highway to get to Chama.