"Jemez NM"

Day 15 "This morning I left town [Albuquerque] abt 8 am after about a mile I got a ride through to Bernalillo 18 miles from there I got another ride to San Ysidro where I had lunch. I started off from Jemez Hot Springs and after 5-6 miles I got another ride to the Springs, all together I have come about 60 miles today. ... I have passed a couple of Indian pueblos and met a lot of the Indians, they all seem happy y contented y most of them have a piece of [unintelligible], they all wear a red band around the head. I have made so good progress today y it was so cold y wet that I took a room in a hotel tonight. People say there is too much snow north of here for me to get through, but I will try it tomorrow."

 Parsons passed through Jemez Pueblo, the ancestral home to members of the Jemez people. Today it is home to members of the Jemez and Pecos Tribes.

 As Barney Mann writes in "The Swede who showed America how to hike," in Parsons day there was no Continental Divide Trail, only the next ridge or pass to cross.* "Parsons pieced together prospectors' trails, old mine and timber tracks, railroad rights of way, long lengths of cross-country, and road-walking on two-lane highways. He was capable of 30-mile days and strung many together." Long before thru-hiking was a thing, his goal was to get there, if it meant taking a ride made the journey a little easier, so much the better.

 *Backpacker, Jan/Feb 2020