Days 14-16: Dirt Road Walking to Pie Town

It’s been a lot of walking on dirt roads since we left the Gila. It’s hard on the feet, especially after the abuse our feet took walking through the river, but at least it’s usually fast walking. We’ve been climbing higher as well, going over 9,000 feet several times. The nights and mornings have been chilly, definitely dropping down below 40 degrees. I’m glad I brought my gloves.

Day 14: 29 Miles

We had a chilly morning road walk up over 9,000 feet before rejoining the official CDT. From there we finally got back on some real trail, and it was up and down the rest of the day.

We’re back to the land of no water, with a murky pond to carry us through most of the day. In the evening we followed the trail blazes only to look on GPS to see we were off trail by half a mile. We must have gotten on a section that hasn’t been completed yet, so we turned back to the previous junction to follow the mapped track. We are camped near a large water tank, ready for another long water carry tomorrow.

Day 15: 27 Miles

Although we just got back to the official CDT, we headed out on another alternate route today. Via the official route, there is a 50 mile stretch with no water, including a 10+ mile road walk along a paved highway into Pie Town. Via the alternate, we have a 40 mile stretch on dirt roads into Pie Town with water about halfway through.

It was an easy choice, and we were surprised by a few water caches along the way as well. We had a big uphill today, reaching 9,600 feet before we descended again. We’ve got just 14 miles to Pie Town tomorrow, and we can hardly wait for a shower. And laundry. It’s so dusty out here. We passed 300 miles this morning!

Day 16: 14 Miles

We got up this morning eager to get to Pie Town. The entire day was along a dirt road, bordered by barbed wire fence and “No Trespassing” signs. We made it to Pie Town around 11:30 and went to the Toaster House, a free hostel for hikers and bikers.

There are quite a few people here, and Paul and I were lucky to grab a private room. We then went for food. There’s no market in this tiny town but there are three restaurants, and of course they all serve pie. I had a New Mexico Apple pie, which is basically an apple pie with green chilies and pine nuts. It was pretty tasty.