Day 19: Had breakfast and a caramel apple pie with the kiwis and Rob before heading out this morning. Long road walk ahead. A large group of hikers left Toaster House today, I should see some on the road today.
This is an old Post Office a few miles before Thomas Mountain Ranch with an interesting story behind it. (The Thomas's provide water for hikers and bikers about 12 miles north of Pie Town.) Mr Thomas explained to me that in the 90s, investors had purchased large sections of land north of Pie Town and subdivided it into 20 acre lots with the intention of creating a community. After several years of nothing really developing, everyone who had purchased a lot either tried to sell it by owner or gave it back to the investment company. There was land for sale everywhere out here and some really fancy gates but no houses. The Post Office was built for the community that never developed.
I got some water at the Thomas's and spent some time chatting with them. (They had driven to Pie Town earlier that day to check on hikers and I saw them twice on the road.) Mr Thomas told me about how his wife survived cancer and it was definitely encouraging to hear after the rough weekend Boaz was having. It's amazing the people you meet!
Fueled by pie, I kept heading north so I could camp on National Forest land. It was a long straight road for most of the day.
Saw this guy in the evening, still hadn't found the National Forest. I must have passed everyone who left before me today. No tracks on the road since it rained last night.
Hiked past sunset today. The credit goes to the pie I had this morning! I made camp a few hundred yards from this sign. Looking forward to exploring the area tomorrow. 30.7 miles, 9:20 hiking.
Day 20: Back on a trail. Time goes by faster when there is a trail for some reason.
An old adobe? brick cabin. Nothing inside but there was a man-made pond nearby.
More road walking today but this was definitely enjoyable. This is Sand Canyon, spent several hours getting through it.
Found Patience getting water at this windmill. This was the first windmill that actually used wind power to pump the water, all previous ones had been converted to solar. It was so fun to watch, I made a video of it. Patience had passed me early in the morning and was waiting for Jacklin and Burnie/Joe who were further behind. She decided to hike with me for a while.
A view of the lava field we will be crossing tomorrow, part of El Malpais National Monument.
Hiked a "Rim Trail" and had to scramble down to get a view of La Ventana Arch.
Tomorrow's adventure awaits! The gracious Mumms have a water cache along Hwy 117 at this trailhead. We stocked up and made camp shortly thereafter. Alex and Brian caught up with us on their mountain bikes after taking a zero in Pie Town on Sunday. They camped near by and the four of us had dinner together. 26.3 miles, 8:55 hiking.
Day 21: Through the Badlands. Definitely like nothing I had ever seen before! Crazy stuff!
Patience and I really had to watch our step. This 8 mile crossing was very tough on my ankles, not a flat place to stand anywhere.
Even though it may look impassable, the trail was marked well with cairns and we made it through in a few hours.
Our reward: a bathroom and trash cans! Talk about hiker heaven.
Some weather moved in and it rained on and off for much of the afternoon.
It was reported that this was a great water source but the windmill was turned off. I climbed up and turned it on but the wind was not cooperating. By the time fresh water was pumping, we had already filtered what we needed from the trough and were so wet and cold that we had to move on. An adventure nonetheless.
Almost to Grants. This canyon started to get really narrow along the road so we camped a ways from Grants with the intention of taking a nero (near zero) tomorrow. 23.0 miles, 7:55 hiking.
Day 22: It rained most of the night. We woke up to this and forecast says 80% chance of rain today so we will rest up in Grants and head out tomorrow.
Leaving Cibola, back on pavement for a few miles into Grants.
Welcome to Grants, NM. I passed several parks and monuments on the way into town. I had some errands to run and then met up with Patience, Jacklin, and Burnie to share a room with them. We pretty much just ate all afternoon. No wifi here which is disappointing, I'll have to update my blog on Cuba. 10.1 miles, 3:00 hiking.
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