Day 11 - Double Zero in Silver City

Date: Sun April 28

Start Mile: NA

End Mile: NA

Total Mileage: NA

Highlights: R&R

Today we spent another full zero day in Silver City. We originally hadn’t planned to come into town until Saturday and, even though we ended up coming in Friday night, we decided to stick to our original plan and stay in town through Monday morning, a double zero for us.

And so, while yesterday was a day of errands, today was mostly a day of rest. We “slept in” (anything later than about 5:15a is sleeping in for us) and generally did a lot of laying around other than leaving for meals.

Elixir of the gods.

For breakfast, we walked up the main street to Roxy’s - a greasy spoon serving up a small menu of classic American and Mexican breakfasts. In addition to the breakfast, we just enjoyed sitting around and drinking several cups of coffee, a town day treat for us.

We watched as small groups of locals filtered in and out of the restaurant, most of them greeted by name by the wait staff. A very small town vibe. Outside, the downtown was much quieter. After all of the excitement  of the Tour of the Gila criterium circling the downtown yesterday, it seemed everyone was taking a quiet day at home - or maybe church. Many of the local shops were also closed on Sundays.

We can vouch that these items do indeed go hand in hand.

After making one last stop for a few more groceries we needed, we walked back to the hotel. En route, we ran into four other hikers eating breakfast on the patio of another local breakfast joint. Two of them were Scout, who had started the trail on the same day as us, and Snooze, who we had met yesterday morning. The other two were The Kid and Boomerang.

We all chatted about the previous section and which route people were taking for the upcoming miles. There are two routes out of town tomorrow - the official CDT runs to the west while the Walnut Creek Alternate is slightly east. The Walnut Creek alternate is a few miles shorter; both routes include some road walking. Based on comments, the official route sounds a bit better and we plan to go that way - “follow the red line”, as we say, as the CDT route is red on our mapping apps. Snooze is also planning to take the red line and leave in the morning, so we’ll likely see him on the trail tomorrow. The others may not leave until Monday evening.

In every town, the deck of hikers reshuffles a bit. Each hiker sets a different schedule in each town. Some may come in, take care of basics - like resupply, showers, and laundry - and head back out again. Some may take a zero, a double zero - or even more time if necessary, especially if nursing an injury or tending to other personal matters. Everyone’s schedule is different. And so, each time you hit the trail again, the group of hikers you are around is a bit different. The deck of cards is reshuffled. Having taken two zeros, we will likely see a fresh set of faces through the next section.

We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon in our room, relaxing and watching more of A Gentleman in Moscow. Side plug: If you’ve never read this book, I can highly recommend it. The storytelling and crisp writing make it one of my favorite books. Even if you aren’t interested in the book, the series is also excellent. /End plug.

In the early afternoon, I decided to stretch my legs a bit and walked just up the next block to the Silver City Museum. Set in a house built by silver miners in 1881, the rooms of the home had simple exhibits about the town’s mining history, the floods caused by the denuding of the mountain sides for the mining industry, and the ethnic and cultural history of the area. While many mining towns became ghost towns over the years, Silver City has thrived.

In Lordsburg, there was no discernible main street. A highway ran through town. Of course, this is from an outsider looking in, but there was little sense that there was a common meeting space. Somewhere for people to bump into each other or foster community. Lordsburg is not alone in this way, of course.

But Silver City has fared far better - surrounded by the Gila National Forest, the Burros, and other wilderness areas, the area attracts nature lovers of all stripes. The downtown thrives with a vibrant arts scene, galleries, quirky cafes, knick-knack and antique shops, and atmospheric restaurants. The woman who had driven us into town on Friday had told us about several annual events held in the area, and just last weekend there had been a joint Earth Day/CDT Trail Days festival in a local park (of course we had been dragging ourselves through the baking bootheel, so we didn’t attend). You could sense a lively community here, one that had a place to gather.

After my museum visit, we walked up the main street to an old-timey ice cream shop for “lunch”. A very large double-scoop of lunch.

Why do you do this, America? No one needs an entire field of potatoes as a dinner side. Not even a thru hiker - at least not for another month or so.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, reading up on the upcoming trail, and watching TV. After an early dinner back at the brewery down the street, we’re early to bed. It’s back to the trail in the morning.