Break time!

  I am writing this post far away from the trail on the beach in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Last fall my family planned a vacation here so when we were planning our hike we factored in a flight back east.  It's been a very relaxing few days so far; swimming, walking and relaxing at the beach- the perfect break from the trail!  But it was no easy deal to get to the beach. This winter when we booked our flight we booked it from Durango, Colorado and we were not as far north as we thought we'd be last week when we were getting off the trail. So we had 165 miles to travel to Durango, and we did it by hitch hiking! We started at 9:00 am and seven rides later we found ourselves in Durango! Needless to say it was an eventful day, we met lots of very interesting characters and had a beautiful drive across northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado.
  Since I last wrote in Grants, the trail has been absolutely beautiful.  We have been hiking through beautiful pine forests at the top of 10,000 foot mountains with an aboundance of springs and mountain streams, then hiking through the dry desert again and over and across beautiful mesas.  The landscape has been phenomenal, with amazing rock formations everywhere.  Before our hitch hike, we got to Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu, NM and spent a day there relaxing.  The ranch is a presbyterian retreat center set on beautiful land with a farm, campground, cabins, cottages, museums, hiking trails, a dining hall and a variety of other buildings...it is a very peaceful place.
  When we return to the trail next week we will be just about four days away Colorado.  From the reports we've gathered from other hikers there is still a lot of snow in Southern Colorado, so our time off the trailbreak from the trail was timed well!  I am looking forward to Colorado, we got a small taste of it on out hitch hike, and the mountains there are enormous and breath taking.
   Below are some more photos from the last section, and I will write again soon.
Happy trails!
 -Jetpack

Hike up Mt. Taylor

Mt. Taylor

Summit

Near 10,000 ft, still snow around

Mesas near Cuba, NM

Near Ghost Ranch