My freedom is traveling nomadically, one destination to another, exploring, discovering and learning. (MJL)
In April I attended the 2018 Continental Divide Trail Days held on the Campus of Western New Mexicos University in the town of Silver City NM.
The quaint little town is situated at 6000-feet above sea level and is an escape from the summer heat of the arid southwest desert. The towns college and artist vibe coupled with the wonderful live music in several locations will leave you with a good feeling of the town being a quaint place to visit.
I discovered a wonderful coffee house called The Javalina Coffee House with great pastries soft live music and a general vibe of tranquility. The town is laid back and is bicycle friendly matching its people with a population of around ten-thousand.
The nearby north and south Continental Divide Trail is available for hiking and mountain biking providing high desert scenery and forested trails into the Gila National Forest, and the ever impressive Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.
PS: Don’t tell too many people about this beautiful town. 🙂
The Continental Divide Trail days was my first-time attending a trail days event which is also held for the Appalachian trail usually in May and the Pacific Crest Trails days held in Aug of this year, which I plan on attending. All three are considered the long trails of the US where people from around the world attempt to through hike (Walk continuously) from beginning to end the iconic long-distance trails.
All three are considered the long distance hiking trails of the US where people from around the world attempt to through hike (Walk continuously) from beginning to end.
Completing all three is held in high esteem among the hiking community known as the triple crown of long-distance hiking in the US. There is hope for the establishment of the Great Plains Trail which would be a north and south trail across the plains of America between Canada to Texas.
The Continental trail days was filled with two days of speakers covering every aspect of the hiking community, to include its ecosystems, bicycle packing, women long-distance hikers, navigating fire on the trails, and the efforts to increase diversity in the National Parks, Monuments, and National Forest across the US.
On Saturday partnered organizations associated with the Continental Divide displayed their products for sale and information for all in attendance.
Saturday evening keynote speaker was Cam Honan a hiker, backpacker, and author who spoke about the various aspects of his hiking journey he wrote a novel about describing his 12- long hikes across the US and Canada.
My love of hiking and backing is a constant lure taking me away from writing and reading, but its the beauty of climbing a forested or desert trails to look out across a mesa or into a valley always provides me creative inspiration for writing and poetry.
Hopefully, this blog post inspires you to get out to hike and or backpack trails near where you are.