May 31, 2025
‘Red line’ mile marker 502.3
Hiked today: 24.5 miles / 39.4 km

The first leg of today’s road walking was on flat, unsealed road. Once the sun came up, we could see for miles. Either side of the road had dry grassy fields and we watched a majestic pair of elk jump effortlessly over the barbed wire fence and over to the other side of the road. They stopped and looked at us for a moment, then ran off into the distance. Further along we saw a rabbit at the side of the road, then a large jack rabbit with its much longer ears.

After about 7.5 miles, we came to a junction with a main road and this was to be our path for the rest of the day. To the left of the road we could see a field of lava rock. The amazing formations in the rock a testimony to the volcanic flow many years ago. We were expecting to replenish our water at a cache along this road. What we did not expect, was to meet Jen who was restocking the water from her car. She also had a cold can of coke which we shared and very much enjoyed as the day was heating up.

Moving on in the heat we made use of our sun umbrellas until a strong headwind threatened to blow us off route. As I turned to wrestle with the umbrella, a police car slowed beside us to ask if we were OK. We didn’t need any help, but it was good to know that helped was around if we got into trouble.

We plodded on, marvelling at the massive sandstone cliffs on one side and the lava rocks extending for at least 20 miles along the other. There was a conveniently located picnic spot where we stopped for a lunch of dry crackers and chips. In the shade of a small shelter we managed a shut-eye but, despite being in shade, the heat was oppressive.

We had more miles to another picnic spot at the site of a huge arch in the Jurassic dated sandstone cliff. There was a water cache hidden behind the toilet block, and we made use of the picnic tables to cook up a very civilised dinner before moving on to find a suitable tent site. This was harder than usual with barbed wire fences on either side of the road, and, anyway, the soil was too sandy for our tent pegs to hold. It was a few more miles until a trailhead where the official CDT met our road, and we found a spot to camp.