Day 8 (5/4)

Up with the sun. I should make it to Silver City by tonight if all goes well. Here's hoping the trail goes through.

Trail up here is very easy to follow and well marked. Only seen one set of tracks though. Another brave soul!

More pretty pricklies...

A good sign that the trail may be completed, at least to the highway.

More positive signage. There should be water at Grassy Flats, it's a riparian area.

Trail signage ended abruptly about noon. Ended up following this 4 Wheeler trail for a couple hours but it eventually lead to a road.

Back on track, water should be up ahead shortly. Have not seen any water sources since Mud Springs yesterday. That liter the day hikers gave me really helped me get through. I still have about a quarter liter at this point but been rationing/conserving since about 10AM.

I found the watering trough and filtered a few liters so I would have enough for the road walk to Silver City. About two more miles to highway 180 and hopefully a hitch to town.

These last few miles felt like forever. I could see the highway and cars going by but could not get there fast enough. After a short highway walk, I caught a ride with a counselor from a local school on her way to the dentist in Silver City. She was nice enough to drop me off at the post office. Post office had a long slow line but it was nice to be inside where it was cool. I made a stop at the grocery store and a local college student recognized my backpack in the checkout line. He is planning to hike the PCT after he graduates this fall. He gave me a ride to Copper Manor Motel where my brother had reserved a room for me. There is a big cycling race in Silver City this week and everything is booked; I got the last room here. Planning to zero tomorrow and head out on Friday. The next leg has multiple route options and I still need to decide which one to take. And I'm about 14 days from Grants, the next large town, so this seems like a good place to rest up. 13.6 miles, 6 hours hiking.

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