Great Divide (NOBO) - Day #1 Antelope Wells, MM to Hachita, NM

July 11, 2022

Great Divide (NOBO) - Day #1
May 27, 2022
Antelope Wells, MM to Hachita, NM - 47 Miles
Start 4:43 PM Finish 8:03 PM
Total Duration 3:17
Moving Time 3:07
Stopped Time 9:59
Ascent 656 Feet
Descent 817 Feet
Details at: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/91436975

After a long day, I finally arrived at the Antelope Wells border post between the Mexican state of Chihuahua and the US state of New Mexico. It was a quarter to five PM and I was at 4,665 feet elevation. Jeffery helped me to document the tour start, and even did some no-handed drive-by’s as I pedaled north. Soon he was gone and I was on my own. I was surrounded by desert and was in the middle of nowhere. Jeffery had mentioned that mountain lions and cougar roamed this area. The wind was strong out of the south west. My first heading towards the northwest had a strong cross wind, but the road eventually curved straight north. I had an amazing tail wind, which gave me a strong boost. I was wearing my Merino wool t-shirt, shorts and liner, sandals and helmet.

I rode back by the Antelope Wells original location, a small ranch with a large windmill and water tank. Border patrol agents were out looking for footprints along the side the road. It’s a terrible humanitarian crisis, and I feel horrible for these desperate human beings. Jeffery mentioned that before the wall, Mexicans would cross the border for a day’s work, and then return home. The wall has fueled criminal activity and human smuggling. The migrants who managed to get work here, want their families along side them. Are white Americans going to do the restaurant, construction, and agricultural work that these poor hard-working people are willing to do for sub human wages? I stopped and talked to a Border Patrol agent who was clearly Hispanic. He was resistant to provide detailed answers to any of my questions, like how many migrants do you find on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. He asked me if I had enough water and told me to be safe.

The tailwind was incredible as I cruised 17 miles an hour north. Because of my gearing, 20 mph was my top speed. A tumbleweed blew across the road. There was no motor traffic. I was riding through the Hatchet valley. The Continental Divide ran along the ridge to the west. I was surrounded by dried-out grass and scrub, with barbed wire fences to both sides of the road. There were puffy clouds in the sky. By 6 PM I had travelled fifteen miles, and had thirty miles to go. At mile marker 30 I crossed the tour’s first cattle guard. The bars went across the road, side to side, American style. I rode around the northern end of Big Hatchet Mountain and stopped to flip my map. I removed a pebble from my left sandal that had been driving me crazy.

I passed three large ravens sitting on a fence. I was ten miles out of Hachita and it was 7 PM. I saw a dark large dog-sized animal in the middle of the road ahead. As I got closer I realized that it was a Javalina. It resembled a wild boar. There were two more that ran off into the scrub to the left of the road. I was passed by a semi-truck headed northbound at mile marker 30 and then two Bureau of Land Management pick-up trucks at mile marker 37. Other than that the road was quiet.

I came to a section of open range and there cows and calves to the side of the road and even in the middle of the road. I moo-ed at them, which startled them and they ran away. A Border Patrol passed me going south at mile-marker 40. I crossed into Grant County, having started in Hidalgo County. I could spot the water tower in Hachita from three miles out. Jeffery explained to me that it had been built for steam locomotives on the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Two miles out of Hachita I passed a border patrol surveillance operation. I stopped in town and took photos of a beautiful old stone constructed church. I came to a T and took a left on State Highway 9 heading west into the sunset. I passed the Community Center and noticed a cyclist sitting out front. Northbound cyclist Rob #2 was aiming to start out of Antelope Wells tomorrow. He had just arrived in town. He mentioned that there were five additional cyclists staying there in the Community Center tonight. We talked about the extreme heat and the need to get an early start in the morning. I rode back to the Bicycle Ranch and startled Jeffery who was out in front of the main building. I told him that I had gotten a ride back in a pick-up truck and that I was going to bale on the tour. Would he be able to drive me back to El Paso tomorrow? NOT!

I went inside and started working on this report. I wasn’t used to working on an iPad and it was driving me crazy. Fortunately I had a six pack of cold Dos Equis. Jeffery made me tatter tots and chili with chips. I was too tired and full to touch the pie he had bought. I took a nice shower, plugged in my devices, and went to bed.