We wake in a field, where we have all fallen asleep under a starry sky, encrusted in ice and set off again. Our aim now is to reach Zacatecas, as quickly as possible, while travelling on as few paved roads as we can manage. Our maps are all but useless for this endeavour and so [...]
Also tagged camping, dirt roads, dirtbag gang, fish, mexico, mountains, winterI imagine, now that I am on the road to Urique, that it won’t be long before I get there but over fifty kilometres of steep unsurfaced road prove slow to negotiate. I spend the day climbing up and down steep hills, passing through a series of villages. After a particularly long steep climb I [...]
Also tagged copper canyon, dirt roads, mexico, winterLeaving Recowata, Jeff and Jason and I head in opposite directions. The boys make their way back to Creel while I set off towards Urique, 160 kilometres away. I camp alone, for the first time in over a month, near the highway and, in the morning, set off into a cold grey day. The weather [...]
Also tagged mexico, mountains, people, winterThe trouble with mountains in winter, even in Mexico, is that they are cold. We are heading for Creel, which sits at an elevation of around 7500 feet and it has been a very long time since any of us have been below about 5000 feet.
The nights are pretty chilly and it is very hard [...]
The idea of the Gila Hot Springs has seen us through a few cold difficult moments over the past few days so a fourteen mile side trip with a thousand foot climb over a mountain to get there doesn’t deter us at all. We are also motivated by the thought of a ‘hiker box’, a [...]
Also tagged friends, hot springs, magic, mountains, new mexico, winterWe leave Pie Town and head for the mountains with snow and storms predicted for the next three days.
The road seems innocuous, certainly no rougher than many of the gravel tracks I have followed since I left the coast, but within an hour of leaving I find myself sprawled on the ground, tangled up with [...]
The road to Flagstaff winds over 70 miles first through the forest, then across the plains, and finally over a mountain or two. Despite the maps and compass, I get a little lost but it’s a very pleasant two day ride. Once the sun goes down everything freezes instantly. My drinking water is solid ice [...]
Also tagged arizona, desert, winterThe crowds and the idea that the Tioga Road might irrevocably close for the season before I get over it make it impossible for me to relax and so I flee Yosemite Valley without exploring it thoroughly.
I haul myself back up the hill to the turn off to the pass.
The climb out of the Valley [...]