This is a really fun hike. With a trek this long, we zoned out for miles at a time and it felt meditative at times. The gulch up/ down is a bit tough at times.

There was a stretch of a few miles through land with a herd of cows, and they were acting strangely. I’ve never had an entire herd of cows stare us down the moment we came into view, and stop everything they were doing to walk toward us. Most of the herd, on our return through the same area hours later, stampeded toward us and then up the hill to occupy the trail where we would be in about ten minutes. We kept our heads down and kept walking without making eye contact. Meantime down below, another large cow mooed loudly, ran toward us and followed us closely about 300 meters, which was frightening.

We brought about 7.5L water which was just enough. If you start anytime after 8:30 am and are doing this through the end of the year, consider bringing a headlamp.