Day 21 - Friday, April 29, 2022 - 26.0 miles - 55,954 steps - MP 431.1 of CDT to MP 13.2 of the Cebolla alt. - Vert Up - 1130’ Vert Dwn - 1613’ - Total Miles to Date - 392.2

It’s so ridiculous it’s delightful. I am walking a two lane dirt road that stretches on forever surrounded by nothing but sage brush, sand and wisps of dead, dry grasses. And I have been doing so for hours. This is the CDT. 

Up at the usual 5:30am. Check out the tent to see Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn are still lined up, although Venus is getting close to Jupiter. Slow motion sky display going on here that I would be missing if sleeping indoors. 

Dallas is a little slower than usual here at the TLC Ranch. I have my tent down and ready to go while she is just crawling out of hers. I need another liter of water for the day so I take my pack over to the porch of the TLC homestead, fill a bottle from the Igoo container on the bench and sit down to clean up last night’s blog post and read the headlines. It is cold, right at the freezing point. So typing is tough due to shivering. I”m listening for Dallas to walk by, but not very intently because as I shiver and type she heads up the road without my noticing. After about 5-10 minutes, I really am oblivious to the time, I get up to see how her packing is coming along and she is gone. Opps. She is out there walking, probably thinking I am ahead of her. I flip on my PLB and start my watch and start after her. The road has a slight bend and some gently rises and falls. Soon, I see her on the horizon, about half a mile ahead. She stops at three miles for a bite to eat, looks behind and sees a figure coming up the road and wonders, “What the heck?”  When I catch up we compare stories. No harm done. 

The road stretches straight for miles and miles. Scrub grass and junipers surround us. I have shunned using walking sticks up to now, but yesterday I found they help add about half a mile an hour to my gait so I am employing them regularly now rather than carrying them. A creeping urge to go to the bathroom is haunting me. I look ahead and see the junipers are disappearing leaving only 18” tall scrub grass. If I want any cover at all for doing my business, now is the time.  Good thing I got that out of the way, the next 5 miles is just scrub grass. 

At 12 miles from TLC Ranch the road forks. We take the right fork and head up toward the hills in the distance, then up into those hills as the road ends at a trailhead. We are actually on trail again!  It winds up gently into the hills and passes an abandoned homestead. The house made of logs and mud bricks still stands as does some of the corral. A cow pond no longer exists, it’s containment dam breached with a jagged gash cut thru it’s face, eroded deeply long ago. I’ve been listening to the book “Collapse” by Jared Diamond. He has been focusing on failed ranches and farms in Australia due to lack of water, poor soils, deforestation, climate change and salinization  of soils. I wonder which of those factors ended this homestead. The locals I have met talk about how dry it is due to little winter snows. hmmm . . .

We reach a water source at mile 17, a cow pond. Faithful readers of this blog will remember my last experience with a cow pond, so you will understand my reticence to consider them a water source. This one is better. Cloudly, but not chocolate colored water. Little evidence of recent cow pies along the shore. Still, I have a liter and then some to carry me to a Solar well 8.1 miles distant. Off we go, heading into another plus 25 mile day. It is downhill and flat for this 8.1 miles. Although tired, my pack is somewhat lighter as I only have the one liter of water on board and only 2 days of food. The ragged and disfunctional windmill marking the well comes into view well more than a mile away. As I approach I contrast the two technologies at play here. The old Aeromotor windmill atop its tower. Below it a solar panel now doing the job of extracting renewable energy and putting it to work pumping water. 

The land within 1/4 mile of the water source is striped bare of vegetation and the ground is blown clear of any loose soil. It is as hard as concrete. I drank my last water 10 minutes ago so it is with great relief I see a 20 foot diameter 18” high watering tank brimming with water.  Motörhead, a thirty something chemical engineer from Bend, Oregon who has been either in front or behind us all day arrives and we begin filling our water bottles. I notice a 2” pipe has a constant flow of water pouring into the tank at maybe a gallon a minute, the result of the solar panel hooked to an underground pump. I fill all five of my bottles, dreading picking up my pack, but happy to have this life sustaining fluid in abundant supply. The wind has been howling all day, so much so that when walking the road it would blow my upwind walking stick in front of my feet causing me to trip. I had to consciously work to keep it out of my foot path. Here at the water source it is no different and the thought of camping with nothing to block the wind is not pleasant. We notice scrub junipers about 1/2 a mile away and head for them with our fully loaded packs. A thick clump allows us to pitch our tents in their wind shadow and soon I am in the desired position of the late afternoon- horizontal on the floor of my tent trying to straighten and elongate my spine back to its normal position. The wind continues to howl until about 8:30pm, then quiets down and quits. After that, I don’t know what happens because I am asleep. One great day after the next. Gotta love this life. 

A whole lotta nothin’

The trail for the first part of the day - 12 miles of it

The abandoned homestead along the trail (real trail)

A little rough on the inside

Another view of the homestead

The cow pond. Doesn’t look too bad but I didn’t use it. 

Old broken windmill with solar panel below operating the well pump. The tank is overflowing. 

Dallas fills her bottles

Day 20 - Thursday, April 28, 2022 - 24.3 miles - 53,936 steps - MP 23.4 of Pie Town Rd Walk Route to MP 431.1 of CDT - Vert Up - 1196’ Vert Dwn - 1190’ - Total Miles to Date - 366.2

This is day 7 since leaving Doc Campbell’s Post where I picked up my last resupply box. This morning we head into Pie Town. It should be a moment to celebrate, but a couple circumstances have dampened that enthusiasm. First, there are two restaurants in Pie Town, the Pie-o-neer and the Uhana. Neither are open. The Uhana is closed for remodeling. The Pie-o-neer is only open Friday through Monday. Bummer. Second, the man who oversees the hiker hostel in town called the Toaster House is sick. This is where I was going to spend the rest of today and tonight, turning today into a 7 mile nero. I don’t want to get exposed to anything that might get me sick and cause me to spend time off the trail. There goes my nero. No pie. No rest day. 

We packed up and walked back to the road from our stealth camp site and began the 6 or 7 mile hike into town. It was another perfect day, blue sky, sun and cold, around 35ish. 

As we entered town it was very apparent this was an economically depressed community. Of the 50 or so buildings that comprise the town most were late model mobile homes in various states of disrepair. Each sat on what appeared to be an acre lot, most filled with junk. Walking down Pie Street we saw a wood frame house on the left. We guessed this was toaster house. As we got closer we saw we didn’t need to guess. There were toasters all over the picket fence bordering the street. 

I entered the yard cautiously, on the lookout for the manager who was reportedly sick. Another hiker was outside putting together his pack, preparing to leave. He called me over. He felt obligated to let us know the manager was sick so we could act appropriately. He introduced himself as Hornsby. 

We stepped into the house briefly to find our resupply boxes, then found a spot in the yard to sort our food. There was a rusty old kitchen cook stove that served as my table. Dallas found a chair and sorted hers on the ground. 

As you can see from the screenshot of the map, there are multiple ways to get to Grants (at the top circled on green) from Pie Town ( at the bottom circled in purple) The red line is the true CDT. The brown and blue are alternate routes. After looking at available water resources we decided to do red-brown-red. It had the best available water and at reasonable spacing. But, this shortened the distance from about 106 miles to 75 miles-cutting off about a day and a half. As we sorted our food we set aside food we didn’t need to carry and when done placed it in the hikers box in the kitchen of the house. 

Dallas was anxious to get on the road but I had things I needed to tend to now that I had good phone signal and a post office. 

Getting your pack weight down is a biggie. I worked at home reducing the size of things, buying new lightweight gear and eliminating unnecessary items, but my pack was still too heavy.  While home, I read the weather reports from New Mexico. They showed temps in the low 20s some nights. I decided to switch out my quilt for my 20° sleeping bag and throw in some long underwear bottoms and a long underwear type top, mittens and a stocking hat. This thru my base weight through the roof. Now I had nearly three weeks of hiking in New Mexico under my belt and could see I could get rid of some stuff. My plan is this. Mail these items to the next town, Grants. If I do good without them until I get there, then bump them to the next town, Cuba. If I still don’t need them by that time, I will just bump them home. So, I needed to organize what items I was mailing to myself and get them to the post office in town, about a quarter mile away. 

Dallas took off. We agreed to meet at the TLC Ranch 16 miles up the road, the first water available along the trail after Pie Town. 

First thing I did when I arrived at Toaster House was find some outside plug-ins and get my battery recharging. I left it plugged in as I headed to the Post Office. Once my box was on its way to Grants, I headed back to the Toaster House. Along the way I called Sally and had a wonderful, long chat. By now it was getting near 11:00am and I needed to get hiking if I was to cover the 16 miles that separated me from the TLC Ranch. I went into the house to fill my water bottle before leaving and found Aaron, King-go and Coney, now named Peppermint. We chatted for 10 minutes or so. When I went to fill my bottle at the sink i saw a half eaten pie on the counter. They said when the pie shop closed down Monday night they brought the pies that didn’t sell over here. FIVE of them!  As I stood talking to King-go I sliced off a thin piece of Mango-apple-blueberry pie and ate it from my hand. To die for!! I sliced off another thin piece, then another, then another. By the time I decided I really had to go I’d eaten 1/3 of the pie. There was another pie sitting on the counter, uncut. I cut out the first slice. Raspberry!!  I headed out the door, checked my pack and saw my water bottle was missing. Of course, I had taken it inside to fill it, got talking and eating pies and left it on the kitchen table. I topped it off and headed down the road. About 100 yards out I realized I had not taken any photos of the house. Dang it. Oh well, I wasn’t going back. I had 16 miles in front of me, full batteries and strong ATT service. I spent 3.5 miles talking to my good friend and climbing partner Ed Thompson. I listened to my book and watched the scenery go but at 3 miles an hour. I got to the TLC Ranch about 5:10pm. Hornsby was cooking his dinner on the “front porch” of the homestead house. 

There was a table and chairs! After days without a chair you really appreciate them!  The water jugs were also on the porch. I stopped in dropped my pack, made and drank a liter of Propel, then pulled out my stove and pot and also made dinner. Dallas came in about that time and also made dinner. Aaron soon arrived and joined in. 

Belly full of Mtn House and chocolate pudding I set up my tent in the persistent wind and setting sun, visited the composting outhouse and was soon happily horizontal. My non-nero day had come to a close. Instead of 6-8 miles it was 24. All in all - great day!

The “trail” here is a dirt road with a 50 mph speed limit

A road grader fixes the “trail” for me

Entrance to the TLC Ranch

The inside area of the ranch. Abandoned water tanks and such. 

Day 19 - Wednesday, April 27, 2022 - 19.3 miles - 43,483 steps - MP 15 to MP 23.4 of Pie Town Rd Walk Route - Vert Up - 722’ Vert Dwn - 2578’ - Total Miles to Date - 341.9

Our campsite was at 9500’ on a ridge emanating from the top of Mangas Mtn. The wind blew all night, beautiful white noise to sleep by as it flew thru the pines and firs. In the morning I could hear wild turkeys gobbling in the distance in two directions about 90° apart. The temperature wasn’t bad, but the wind  made it feel quite cold. But something else was radically different. There was a solid, slate grey cloud cover, the kind that makes a Western Washington boy like me run for a rain jacket and umbrella. But, this is New Mexico and clouds don’t necessarily mean rain. There was none in the forecast. Still, after nearly three weeks of clear, blue, cloudless skies, it was a shock. 

The route today was nearly all downhill. Pie Town lay about 25 miles away, just a little too far to my liking. At about 11 miles is a place called the Davile CDT Rest Stop. That was our second destination of the day. The first was the spigot along side the road with which to refill our water bottles. 

Every step of this section is road walking. It was a rough piece of road with tons of loose rocks, but a truck with good ground clearance and 4WD could negotiate it. 

About 4 miles from where we camped we heard a truck approaching from behind. As he passed the driver asked if everything was okay. We said yes, but then I asked if he could take my garbage. I was still carrying the Gatorade and water bottles plus the coke can from the drive by trail angel from 3 days before. He looked surprised but said sure. He opened the back door of his truck and I dropped all my accumulated garbage in a box he had in his back seat. We chatted for 5-10 minutes about NM life, hunting-he runs a guide service-and his 20,000 acres he owns. He drove off and we kept hiking until we reached the faucet. Sure enough, right along the road as described in FarOut there stood a faucet. We only had about 6 miles to get to the Davile Ranch rest stop. I topped off and we continued on our way. 

At about 11 miles for the day a small sign on the right side of the road announced the CDT rest area. 

We walked through the junipers to find a grouping of small interconnected metal sheds all set up for hikers. One had a rack of canned goods, three propane stove burners, an assortment of pots and pans and silverware. There was an outdoor sink, an enclosed toilet room, a shower room and a room with a fridge, two washing machines and two dryers. In the fridge we’re about 6 dozen eggs, 20 pounds of potatoes, onions and garlic. Also, there was WiFi and electrical outlets. We immediately plugged in our batteries, phones and PLBs, then I changed into a pair of gym shorts I was carrying, striped off everything else, grabbed all clothes from my pack and did a load of laundry. I had been wearing the same clothes for 9 days straight, sweating in them 10 hours a day and they needed a little washing. With batteries charging and clothes washing, I grabbed four eggs from the fridge and scrambled them. Once eggs were consumed I tried to upload my blog posts, but the WiFi was so poor I could not. 

The owner came by, checked to see we were okay, went through a quick check of the place, garbage levels not bad, still plenty of food - normal maintenance stuff. Then he sat down and talked with us for well over an hour. I asked why he built this little paradise for hikers. He said his daughter and he did it because they were tired of seeing hungry, filthy, exhausted hikers staggering up the road. He drilled a 600’ deep well to provide water, had an electric pole put in to bring electricity, installed a toilet, hot water tank for the shower and laundry, etc. what a kind and generous man. Everything was free, although he had a donation box out and signs saying how to donate via PayPal or Venmo. 

We probably stayed 3 hours charging and washing, then packed up and headed down the road with the intent of getting 5-10 additional miles so as to be within 5-8 miles of Pie Town so we could get to Pie Town early the next morning.. The post office is only open 8:30 to noon, although Magic Mike had grabbed our resupply boxes from the post office yesterday and put them in the hiker hostel called the “Toaster House”. 

When we were about 6-7 miles from Pie Town we stepped gingerly over a barbed wire fence into a field with brown grass and junipers and stealth camped for the night below the branches of a big juniper far enough from the road as not to be seen (although this wasn’t really necessary as I had only seen two cars (trucks) go by in the past seven miles of walking. 

The wind was blowing heavily as we each crawled into our tents and “got horizontal” to rest and relax the rest of the evening away. Another amazing day of meeting kind people. Want to see people at their best? You don’t see many, but the ones you do are top notch. Come hike the CDT. 

The spigot along side the road. 

Lots of road walking-it all is in this part of the CDT

The cooking area at the ranch 

The various buildings at the Davile east area

Even the kitchen sink. 

The shower

The laundry

The guy who built all this for those starving, exhausted hikers straggling by his property each day. 

Day 18 - Tuesday, April 27, 2022 - 16.5 miles - 39,937 steps - MP 1 to MP 15.0 of Pie Town Rd Walk Route - Vert Up - 3037’ Vert Dwn - 908’ - Total Miles to Date - 322.6

When I worked as a hiking and climbing guide with the Boy Scouts back in the late 60’s and 70’s there would be days when it seemed impossible to move. Every step a chore. A sort of malaise overtook your body and refused to leave. We called it “Acute Mountain Lassitude”.  It would pass, maybe lasting only a few hours or half a day. Most times we could not figure out what would trigger it. It just came of its own accord. 

Today, I suffered Acute Mountain Lassitude, but I knew the reason why. 27.4 reasons why. Yesterday I really pushed. I had a good night’s sleep after the long day, but 11 hrs rest is not enough to fully replenish. Yet, today I would have to push through AML to cover the 21 miles to the spigot, our only source of water. Last night I had filled all five of my one liter containers. In the process of cooking dinner and rehydrating myself I consumed three. Waking to only two liters and 20 miles to walk I knew I had to go back to the Aragon Water tank and fill one more bottle. Bird and Grit were camping about 40’ away so I filled an extra bottle in case they needed water for the day. Last night after filling bottles I stripped off my shirt and used my pan and some Dawn dish soap to wash my body and hair. It was way too cold for that this morning. There was ice in my two water bottles. I filled two -one liter bottles and walked back to my tent. Bird was up. I asked if needed water. He said no, he was on the phone to a shuttle service to come pick him up and drive him to Rincon so he could resupply. I didn’t ask, but I assumed Grit was going also. Dallas was good for water, so I poured a liter out on a thirsty looking shrub and finished packing my pack. We were a mile from the trail near the Aragon water source. There are a number of dirt track roads through the area and we negotiated them back to the actual trail, right where it crosses highway 12. Some trail angel had left a half a dozen 16.5oz water bottles laying near the trailhead sign post. Rather than carry it on my back I chugged one of the bottles to “camel up” for the morning ahead. The water was super cold and I got a brain freeze for my actions. 

Again today there was the CDT and an alternate. The alternate had the spigot at 21 miles, the actual CDT had a cow trough fed by a windmill at 18.7 miles. We opted for the alternate for a couple reasons. (1) after the cow trough there is no other water on the CDT until you hit Pie Town. (2) There is a 13 mile highway walk on the standard CDT (3) at mile 25 on the alternate the Davile family ranch has made a CDT “rest stop” right on the route that has showers, washing machines, toilet, food, stoves, WiFi and more. Plus, it is about 7 miles shorter. The only down side is it is all 100% on roads, dirt roads. 

At first things went well. The AML was at bay and the ground slipped by at the normal 3 mph on the flats and 2 mph on the uphills. As the morning moved forward, walking became more of a chore. 20 miles seemed just too much, but it was a must. We had to get to water. However, there was a possibility of an alternate plan. One of the shuttle drivers had reportedly left a cache of water at mile ten. I had read about it in the comments on FarOut. If that was there, we could camel up, refill to three liters and only hike 15 or 16 miles and dry camp for the night. 

The cache was near the intersection of two gravel roads. There was also a primitive campground at the corner. When we got there, we dropped our packs, planning to eat lunch. Dallas checked up the road we turned off of for the cache. I went back to the campground and check it. Nothing. Then I checked up the road we were to walk, the Mangas Mtn Road. About 0.1 miles up it I saw something white on the right side in some trees. Sure enough, it was a white tarp. When I pulled it back there were about 8 gallon jugs, 3 still full and unopened. We moved our lunch stop to this location and topped off our three bottle each. Yahoo!  Now we didn’t need to go another 11 miles today. Our route took us up the Mangas Mtn road to the top of Mt Mangas, a 1590’ climb in 4 miles. Once over the top and headed down we would camp in the first suitable site. It took nearly two hours to top out. I got there first and tried cell service. One bar. I called Sally as it was her birthday and I had been hoping to get service. Yesterday, I had used my satellite connection through my inReach device to ask Andy and Jeff to get flowers for her. Now that I had service I could call. The call went through, but the signal was so tenuous that it dropped before I could say happy birthday. Dallas topped out rested a minute then started down. I moved down the road a bit and tried again. This time the signal held and I got to talk to her for about 20 minutes. 

I headed down the other side of the mountain on a dirt road and found Dallas setting up her tent on a wonderful flat spot on the ridge. She thought I might have missed the fork I the road on top and was on the wrong road. 

Before setting up my tent I checked for signal. One bar, enough for five days of texts, voice mails and emails to come pouring in. I dealt all of those before setting up my tent. The wind was blowing steadily over the ridge through the tree tops, but not bad at ground level. The sky was clear blue with a few patchy clouds. I cooked and ate dinner, curry chicken and rice with pineapple, cashews and craisins. Like last night, my favorite dinner and about a quart of it. 

I discovered that while lying in my tent I had a bar of service so I called Andy and Sally and talked until dark. Then, I had to write my blog for the day before, which took me until nearly 10, but it was fun to recount the nasty water 27.4 mile day. Life is amazing!

The orange circle is where the CDT crossed highway 12, The purple  circle is where we found the water cache. Yellow circle is the camp spot on Mangus Mtn. The light blue circle is the Davile Ranch rest stop for CDT hikers. The red line is the actual CDT. 

A cool gate at the trailhead at highway 12. 

The trail for the next 35 miles

Dallas at the water cache. 

Day 17 - Monday, April 25, 2022 - 27.4 miles - 63,014 steps - MP 100.1 to MP 365.3 Gila River Alternate Route to Regular CDT - Vert Up - 3972’ Vert Dwn - 4702’ - Total Miles to Date - 306.1

“Water, water nowhere and not a drop to drink”. 

If you noticed the 27.4 mile day that I hiked today you might be wondering why would I hike that far?  What could motivate someone to hike for 13 hours?  This is New Mexico, so the answer is of course water. The story below:

We completed 20 miles yesterday, carrying three liters of water the last 5 or so miles. Three liters is enough to get thru an evening. One liter to drink between where you get the water and where you stop to camp. One liter for dinner and for the drinking in the evening and night and one liter for making breakfast and to drink until you get to the next source. 

Camping site 5 miles before the Dutchman Spring

This morning the next source was five miles away, the “Dutchman Spring”. I was awake at 5:45am, had my tent down and pack ready by 6:20am. Dallas was slow to rise so I started up the road (no trail in this part, just forest service roads with zero traffic) toward the water source. I found an old tractor tire in the draw that had at one time been used as a watering trough for free range cattle, but it was dry. Behind it was a vertical piece of culvert a couple feet across with a metal lid. I pulled the lid off and saw water about 30” down. I don’t know how deep the water was. An old #10 tin of beans with the lid removed sat on the ground next to it for dipping.

Dry old tire water trough at the Dutchman

Water in the Dutchman Spring

 I dipped out a can full and filled a liter bottle. I still had my early morning liter, bringing my total volume to two liters. Dallas soon showed up. We had looked at FarOut the night before and agreed all the water sources were sketchy, but that one of them must have tolerable water. The first was described as a seep, but all the crowd sourced comments were stating it was dry. That was five miles from the Dutchman. The next water source was a “pond” that had comments such as “your filter will hate you, but it’s drinkable” and “green and brown but it will do”. That one 7 miles from the Dutchman. The next at 9 miles had these comments:

 

After that, there were no other sources until 22 miles from the Dutchman. 

As you can see from this photo, the “pond” was a depression in the ground with some water in it that the cows walk down to and into to drink, then deficate and urinate such that it runs down into the pond. 

All the ponds looked like this. My two liters carried me along for a while but I could see it would not be enough. I laid down on the log lying in the water, scooped as clean a pan of water as possible from the “pond” and poured it through my handkerchief into my bottle. Instead of the recommended 7 drops of Aqua Mira chlorine disinfectant I used 11, hoping it would kill all the organisms living in the liter I had taken.

My liter of “water” taken from the “pond”. 

 It was my “just in case water”. I still had a liter from the Dutchman (7drops of Aqua Mira) that was clear and delicious. But, we had to get to the “good” source at 22 miles out, named the Aragon Well to have enough water for the night and the next day. 

The CDT in New Mexico travels through Forest Service land and BLM land. It is thoroughly cut up with roads, so much of the “trail” is really washed out old roads. This means there are many alternate routes as there are roads everywhere. We picked an alternate (shown in green on the map, the CDT is red) because it had less elevation gain and loss and it was two miles shorter. You also can see four water sources marked on it. Three were described as dry (they were) and one was another “pond” with chocolate water surrounded with cow pies. We motored past those with our sights set on the Aragon Well. 

The Dutchman Spring is circled in red, the Aragon Well is circled in purple. Tha alternate route is the green line, the CDT is the red line. 

We finished the alternate at 3:30pm. We had 7 miles to go to get to the road that accesses the Aragon, then a mile up the road. 

While completing those last 7 miles my liter of Dutchman water quickly disappeared. I was very thirsty in the late afternoon sun, but to quench my thirst I only had the “pond” water left, brownish, greenish and cloudy. It was a battle between revulsion and thirst. I put off the inevitable as long as I could, but when my tongue started sticking to the inside of my mouth I had to act. I don’t know what cow piss tastes like, or I didn’t until then. Trusting the chlorine did it’s job I drank 3/4 of the “water” in that bottle. That was enough to get me to the Aragon. 

We reached the road at 6:15pm. Along the way we caught up with Aaron, a mid twenties kid from Dallas who had not taken the alternate and said the CDT route really kicked his butt as it ran the ridge and was continuously climbing and descending. 

I visited the bushes to do some business while Aaron and Dallas walked the mile to the Aragon. I soon caught up. We were all dragging. Tired, exhausted and thirsty. Luckily, the water here was somewhat clear, not green and with filtering or chlorination was good. 

It was in a steel, open topped tank 40’ in diameter with walls about 7’ high. The owners had put fish in the tank to eat the bugs and they could be seen swimming around. There was a metal trough next to it I could stand on and reach over the side. The tank was not full, the water surface about three feet down. I could just reach down and scoop water from its surface into my cooking pot. In this manner I filled all our bottles. With five liters yet to be treated in my pack and the sun setting we moved a couple hundred yards away, found a level place in the field to pitch our tents. Once inside, I cooked dinner (spaghetti-my favorite meal and a quart of it which I happily downed), blew up my ground pad and snuggled into my sleeping bag, not necessarily in that order (I ate dinner prone in my bag-it cooled off quickly when the sun went down). 

Water truly dictates how far we go each day, where we stop and for how long. If. It weren’t for cattle troughs, cattle ponds and water tanks, there would be no water for those of us attempting the CDT. 

Full of spaghetti, snuggled in my bag, the temps outside dipping down through the thirties, I reviewed tomorrow’s water sources on FarOut. None. The first source was a spigot 20 miles away that crowd sourcing said was operating and had good water. Yes, there were a few cow ponds along the way, but I planned to carry three liters of water, 1 for the first ten miles while the day is cold and I don’t sweat much and two for the last ten miles when my consumption goes up with the heat of the day. Nothing is certain, so I am ready to alter plans as the day progresses. It’s an adventure!

Another cow pond, marked as a water source 

The view out over New Mexico as we descended to the Aragon. 

Sorry, so tired I forgot to take a photo of the Aragon or our camping spot. 

Day 16 - Sunday, April 24, 2022 - 20.6 miles - 48,283 steps - MP 80.3 to MP 100.1 on the Gila River Alternate Route - Vert Up - 1646’ Vert Dwn - 1282’ - Total Miles to Date - 279.7

Bye, bye Gila River. I wadded across you 184 times as I hiked 42 miles of your length. You were beautiful in every way. Cliffs, trees, canyons, winding course and abundant water. Now onto the rest of New Mexico, dry and flat, but beautiful in its own way. 

Holy smokes!  Did it get cold last night?  The forecast was for 32°. I checked my water bottles periodically throughout the night. It wasn’t until about 6:00am that they started to freeze, about the time I was getting and packing. I used the mittens Julie Fogde knit for me to keep my hands warm as I stowed my gear. We followed faint roads and trail up into the hills. It was now 6:30am and it seemed colder. We were on the bottom of ravines where the cold air settles, so perhaps it was colder. About two miles from where we camped we found Aaron (Full Send) cowboy camping. Kelly was there to. He said his thermometer read 9° this morning!  No wonder it felt so cold!

Yesterday the hiking was through tall pines and junipers. Today it was primarily grasslands. Gorgeous! Instead of down in a river valley the trail was up on a mesa with an expansive view. Of the 20 miles we walked today, 17 of it was on gravel or dirt roads. The scenery was not marred by hiking on a road. It does have advantages. For one, you can make better time on a road than on a trail. You don’t have to be as careful with foot placement. But most importantly, you get trail magic, mobile style!!

I was walking down the road, ear buds in, listening to “Collapse” by Jared Diamond when I heard a truck approaching from behind. He slowed as he passes, then stopped and asked if I wanted a Gatorade or a Coke. I immediately said yes, please. He jumped out of his truck and from the bed of the truck handed me two Gatorades, a can of Coke and two 16oz waters. We talked for a minute as I downed the Coke, and then he was off. I had just been thinking about how thirsty I was getting and had been about to reach back in my pack for my water bottle when he stopped. I downed the Coke and both Gatorades before he was out of sight. I instantly went from slightly dehydrated to content. I stuffed the empties in my pack along with the two waters and kept walking. The world is full of incredible, kind and generous people!! 

About two miles further on was our only water supply for the afternoon. A huge open water tank (40’ diameter) about a quarter mile off the road. The weather was perfect. Air temp about  60-65 degrees with full sun and a slight wind. Wonderful for walking. Instead of a liter every five miles, one per ten seemed sufficient. 

We dropped our packs off in the shade of a pine tree, grabbed a few empty bottles and hoofed it across the open field to the tank. There was a smaller tank in front. It was full, but the water was kind of green. We walked up to the larger tank and found a generator operating, providing power for the well pump. Fresh water was pouring into the huge tank from a pipe. Clean, no bugs, no algae. Aaron was with us and we all three filled our bottles. Not to take chances with sickness and health, we filtered or purified the water when we got back to our packs. This all happened at mile 96.3. Since we camped at 80.3, we had about four miles to go to get our 20 miles in. The road ran straight as an arrow for three long miles. We lugged our water until we reached 100.1 and a nice place to camp off the road. It was now about 3:30pm. With the sun still shining brightly I had my solar panel work at charging my satellite peraonal locator beacon device and applied Shoe Goo to the bottom of my shoes to slow their wear. It is so nice to have a few hours on the afternoon to rest and relax and let my body recover after pushing through 20 miles. I am not as fatigued at the end of the day as I was a couple weeks ago. Maybe I am starting to get my trail legs under me. 

I’ve covered 60 of the 140 miles before my next resupply. This is one of the longest of the whole CDT. To date my watch reports I have walked 279.7, a good distance but there is still a long way to go. 

The trail was this faint double track heading up the hill. 

A cairn marks the route through the grassland. 

It was sooo cold. About 10° at this time an place of the morning


So different now than the Gila River just a few miles back. 

Open prairie all around. This is at about 7300’. 

The trail is this double track. I guess this is the price you put for walking the Magnificent Gila. Miles and miles of road walking. It was all beautiful. 

After about five miles the trail became a substantial gravel road. This we followed for nearly ten miles. 

The cattle watering tank is visible in the distance. Here we are taking advantage of the dry air, sun and wind to dry the frost from our tents that accumulated over night last night. 

The smaller, murkier tank in the foreground with the big one behind. 

A
The big tank was filling, giving us a fresh source of pure, clean water. 

This is the road walk we faced after adding 6.6 pounds of water to our packs. All the way to those mountains. 

Day 15 - Saturday, April 23, 2022 - 23.2 miles - 47,438 steps - MP 59.5 to MP 80.3 on the Gila River Alternate Route - Vert Up - 1706’ Vert Dwn - 672.9’

Today is the day we finish the Gila River Canyon portion of the CDT. I must admit after four days of wet shoes and 50 miles I’ll be ready to be done with it when the day is over. But for now, I am still relishing every moment. It is such a treat to hike such a uniquely beautiful area. Soaring canyon walls reaching 500’ right out of the river that twists and turns like a giant luge track. Serene forests. Beaver dams blocking the river and flooding our route. The river running over slabs of solid bedrock. The constant murmur of the river as it flows downhill. The wind howling in the treetops. Beautiful!!

Hit the trail at 6:30am. Within 200’ the river had to be wadded, soaking my feet and providing a cooling not needed at 6:30am (it was 37°). The river twisted and turned up the cliff lined valley as it had the days before. 

At about 8:30am the river had to be crossed, but instead of a rocky or sandy bottom, it was solid bedrock. All the rocks underwater have been slippery, but when it is individual rocks or pebbles your foot sinks in and wedges between the loose rocks and provides stable footing. On these slabs there was nothing to wedge your foot against. It could just slip out at anytime. As I crossed, one of my feet slipped out from under me and I came crashing down frontward into the river. It was only knee deep at that place which means I soaked the front of me, face to shins. But, it was shallow enough that I caught myself with my outstretched arms on the bottom bedrock.  Plus, I still had to continue across the river. Later in the day I noticed my left shoulder becoming painful. I must have strained something pretty good, because as the day wore on it got worse. By nightfall, sitting in my tent I couldn’t move my arm to reach for things without stabs of pain. I suspect it will be a week of moaning until it heals itself. Bummer. 

Yesterday, I met a guy on the trail going downstream. He wanted to know how bad the beaver dams were downstream because the lakes they form can go from side to side of the canyon, flooding the river bed to a depth of 6’. I had not encountered such a thing and let him know. He told us there was a big one further up the river. Reading comments in FarOut I learned about class 5 scrambling to get around one such pool formed by a beaver dam. We found it today and had to negotiate it. From the descriptions I assumed the water was 6’ deep and looked for a way to climb around it. The river made a hairpin turn here so I climbed the rock rib inside the hairpin. I got up it okay, but when I climbed to the top of it, about 100’ high, it was unscalable cliffs to descend on the other side. I down climbed back to my starting point and began to survey the other side for a route. Just then two things happened. Aaron, another thru hiker showed up and from my vantage point on the left side of the river I was able to guide him on the right side around some vertical rock faces. Also, Dallas decided to test the 6’ deep reports and found the pools to be only crotch deep. We all waded the pool the two times required to get around the hairpin and were wet, as usual, but on our way again. 

There were stretches of trail for up to a mile that were well established and quick and easy to follow. But there were times it was nearly impossible to follow and flailing in the brush and weeds were required to find the path again. All in all, an awesome adventure. 

We emerged from the river drainage at Snow Lake, a reservoir at the head of the valley and moved to the camping area to use the toilets and fill our water bottles at the faucet indicated by FarOut. The faucet was not operating. hmmmm . . . I had a liter. The lake water was way down, a long walk away and very brown. FarOut comments reported water a couple miles up the route, now a gravel road, so we decided to move on. We had to descend a steep embankment to a parking lot and there sat a pickup with its owner standing next to his open driver's door. I Yogied (PCT verb for asking for something, like Yogi Bear and the pic-i-nic baskets) him for water and he was excited to be able to help us and gave us 7 - 16 oz bottles of water which we poured into our water bottles. That was enough for tonight’s dinner, the night and tomorrow's hike to the first available water. We walked to mile 80.3, found a flat spot to camp and set up our tents. 

The continuous stream of available water in the Gila River is behind us and we are back to finding water in cow troughs and tanks and long water carries. 

Crossing the Gila again . . .

This portion was well defined trail. Much better than trying to wade through these reeds. 

The valley widened as the upper end got closer.