We arrived in Albuquerque at 12:30 midnight and the Uber got us to a Comfort Inn. We slept until around 7:00 since we had friends from Dallas who had moved to Albuquerque and were going to drive us to Cuba.
We arrived in Cuba and stopped by the True Value hardware store for a fuel canister and then we started walking through the desert.
We passed a sign offering water and drinks for hikers. Gatorade and a place to sit.
We then hiked on.
The trial kept ascending until it was forest. On the way through we stopped for some water and a siesta with lunch.
We passed a trail crew, and another trail crew.
We got our water for the night and as we got to the campground we saw the trail crew we had seen before.
They offered us snacks and watermelon and drinks (and beer—though I passed on the beer since I don’t drink) and great company.
Happy fixed freeze dried spaghetti for dinner and we sat with the trail crew to socialize.
Tent had a perfect pitch. Happy set it up early. I treated water with chemicals and filtered a couple liters and pumped up the sleeping pads.