Cuba was definitely our first really good, legit trail town stop of the trip, and we loved it. Not that our other town stops weren’t good (Quemado hospitality was tops Tom and April!), but Cuba felt like trail town time for us.After a short day of 18, we were in town and quickly met the legendary Mrs. Yang and her son Daniel at the Del Prado motel. Not a super awesome motel but they were great, super friendly, and they even took our picture for their hiker scrapbook.
Along with getting caught up on life stuff, we also got caught up on eating stuff. First it was Subway for some fresh bread and veggies. We then hit the store and loaded up. Four cans of veggies, a big can of fruit and fresh bananas, chips with guac and salsa, a box of pasta and a jar of marinara, chips, a Lipton Thai noodle meal, a jar of pickles, a big bottle of OJ, a bottle of V8, and a bottle of V8 fruit juice. We finished all but a third of the salsa by this morning before leaving town.
We also met some hiker/biker traveling types to make us feel more normal. Last night it was LB, a guy trying to mountain bike the Divide, and then this morning it was a hiker named Sagebrush doing the state of NM. We stood in the parking lot and chatted it up this morning, all feeling a little more normal as a result.
Lastly, there was the climb out of Cuba, which included 3500′ of gain and got us to over 10,500′, our highest yet on the trip. While well rested, our packs are heavy with 5 days of food. But it was gorgeous today and the scenery suddenly flipped a switch. We actually had our first flowing stream of the trip after nearly 640 miles of trail! Plus, the trail got green and we walked through lush mountain meadows. While we’re slowing down a bit with our mileage, we’re feeling good and finding our rhythm out here, especially after such a wonderful little trail town; thanks Cuba!