Day 34 Chama Zero

0 trail miles, still a few miles getting about town.

A full day off is just what I needed after some really long days leading into Chama. The town setup is not ideal for those on foot. Long and spread out over around 2 miles with no public transport or taxi services it is a pain for thru hikers with several essential places scattered from one end of town to the other. Less fortunate than yesterday everywhere I went required walking. Not ideal on a day off but I limited my trips.

After breakfast at the motel I went through my food bag and made a list of replacement items required. It should only take 3.5 days to Pagosa Springs, the next stop. Although its a low snow years there is still snow ahead and I needed to pick up some extra gear. This is Colorado where snow is measured in feet, not Australia where it’s measured in centimetres.

I made the trek to the far end of town to tick off 4 seperate tasks. I say a real cafe serving real coffee on my way into town yesterday and definitely needed to stop bye. Next was a visit to a hairdresser, no barber in town, as the old white head of hair was getting out of control.

Next it was off to Tumbleon, the outfitting business run by Tumbleweed who picked me up yesterday. It is a small business operation run out of a shipping container on an as needs basis. Luckily they stocked new socks as the ones I have with me have been on multiple long hikes at home and were well past their expiry date. I was also in need of a better mid layer and these guys make their own from Alpha Direct fabric, the latest and greatest material in the hiking community. And last but not least I needed at minimum either an ice axe or micro-spikes. In a typical year I would be picking up both but given the low snow year it has been and I’ve seen numerous videos of hikers ahead to get and appreciation of the conditions ahead, opted to only go with an ice axe.

Many of the southern faces are snow free (opposite of the southern hemisphere) with many snow drifts able to be negotiated by walking around. For snows that do have to crossed micro-spikes might offer some reassurance with footing but only if the snow is frozen solid. At the moment is only happening occasionally, and mainly very early in the morning, quickly starting to soften in the early morning sun.

The bigger risk is the unavoidable, long sections of snow traversing across really steep slopes. Micro-spikes won’t do much in this situation but an ice axe will save your life with a self arrest.

Thru hiking is difficult for the international hiker for situations like this as it means purchasing a piece of gear for use for maybe several weeks, rather than having an axe shipped from home like our local counterparts can. Perhaps some additional forward planning on my part could have avoided this situation like I did on the PCT where I had friends in the US loan me and have mailed to me one of their ice-axes. It’s not an item that I will just leave behind once I’m done with it. I’ll end up mailing it home. In all reality I probably won’t even use it other than to slow some speed when glissading down chutes on my butt rather than walking down.

The final task in the far end of town was to mail some unused items home. The post was opposite the outfitters and I bumped into Hulk there as he was picking up some packages. He is planning to head back tomorrow as well.

Wow, this seems like a long post for a day off.

Finally back on the opposite side of town I hit up the supermarket to restock my food bag for the days ahead and invest in a healthy lunch and dinner for tonight.