Day 4- Deming

Day 4 brings us to our second town, but the first one that we actually stopped in. We've hiked 56.4 miles in the past 4 days, and two of those days have been 6 mile days. It hasn't been the slow start that I had in mind. Thru-hiker life isn't dictated by many things, but water is one of those forces so our mileage has been higher. Miles come easy enough out here when on trail--which by trail I mean road (Jeep, dirt, or paved). When going cross country its a little slower and I have to focus more. It's still early, but going cross country is fun. I like picking a point and aiming towards it and then discovering all the obstacles in the way. Desert looks flat, but the section near the Florida Mountains was rutted with dozens of gullies that we had to climb into and out again. It made for slower going, and we were hot and tired, but not a bad experience. On the other side of the Florida Mountains I was aiming towards a speck of Jeep road on the shoulder of the mountain. That was a little hard to set a course for--dodging cacti and loose rocks. It was a wonderful thing to hit that road--we were on road from there into Deming (about a whole day of hiking). Picture posts make my life a little easier, but they don't seem to capture their promised thousand words.  .  They don't show the jackrabbits or the wild boar we saw.  Or the campsite that we passed twice early on our third morning.  They don't capture that clear water from a holding tank taste...green.  Or the joy of climbing our first mountain--if only the shortest part of it and admiring the view. .  There's nothing in  my photos of the miles of road walking. Nothing that conveys how wonderful the bench in the shade at Rock Hound State Park was. There's no way to convey how much my pack hurt my hips for the first two full days of hiking. Photo post miss all the little things--even writing long post like last year's missed so many of the details.