The White Gap Slog

We woke up in Hatch with a problem we didn’t really think through the night before – no potty! We were in the middle of town so the normal outback rules didn’t apply. Our host didn’t mention any options so we went for the next best thing by hightailing it to the grocery store after repacking our gear. We also needed to source our lunch and dinner in case we didn’t make it back down to Las Cruces that night. We asked for the restroom at the grocery store but found out that the city had turned off the water for the entire day so we were out of luck. Shopping under pressure was stressful but we got through it and jumped on our bikes to head out of town. I had my eyes peeled for a porta potty and fortunately found one in a field near the airport. Whew! Sorry for the graphic details but this is all part of the bikepacking experience!

We headed down the highway for a few miles before our turn off towards the biggest climb of the trip called White Gap. It promised to be a slog up to over a mile high across some really rocky terrain. As we were cruising down the highway, I heard a loud rushing sound from my back tire and Neil yelling FLAT TIRE! I was riding tubeless tires and the liquid sealant was spewing wildly out of my back tire. We pulled over and noticed that we were both covered from head to toe in sticky white glue but the air was still leaking out of the back tire. Patching a tubeless system is pretty easy though. It really just takes a small fork like poker and a sticky strip of tire material that you shove down into the hole and the sealant takes over the rest of the patch job. It worked perfectly and I used my hand pump to get my tire pressure back up and we were on our way.

The climb up over White Gap was intense. It was a gradual incline but relentless and very rocky. We pedaled as much as we could but spent hours pushing our bikes up the slopes that were simply not rideable. The view from the top was worth it as we stopped for lunch and rested our legs a bit. The backside was all downhill but just as technical so it was even more hike-a-bike down to the rocky and sandy sections for the rest of day. The lower sections were beautiful as the sun was starting to set. But, we were getting really low on water and resorted to a cattle tank. We filtered it through my Sawyer Squeeze bags just in case. Sawyer don’t let me down now!

Our original plan was to camp somewhere around here but we were feeling good and decided to press on to Las Cruces. The rest of the ride was mostly single track but pretty sandy. We pulled into the outskirts of town as the sun went down and we geared up with lights again and chose a roundabout route back to our hotel to avoid as much traffic as possible. Neither of us love rode riding at night – especially on Saturday night, but we stayed close together and our heads on a swivel.

As we got near the hotel, we were both feeling pretty wiped out. It had been another eleven hour day on the bike and the terrain was much harder than expected. I also hadn’t kept up on nutrition and was feeling totally empty by the time we wobbled into the Ramada. We took a quick shower and the Ubered to an Italian restaurant for a huge meal. We had both been craving a big salad after all of the fried junk food we’ve been eating. I felt a little better after dinner and crashed pretty hard with some great memories of a hard day on the back side of the northern loop. The Dangerbird is living up to its reputation.