CDT JOY: Highway Hike – The Trek

Day 115: 11.8 miles

Highlights: Leave grants. cowgirl camping

In the morning I had the free breakfast at the Super 8, which included a waffle and a microwaveable breakfast sandwich.

After breakfast, I walked down the street to Walmart to resupply. I bought ramen, lunches, and perfect bars, along with some puff protein bars, LMNT electrolytes, and a 1.5 liter bottle of water.

The checkout area didn’t have the typical chips and snack-sized sandwiches, so after paying, I headed over to the dollar tree side. This was a very nice place to restock as I could get a variety of nut mixes, chips, and candy in individual portions.

Back in the hotel room, I organized my resupply and did another equipment check, as I planned to send some items to Silver City. Items that didn’t make the cut included my purple fleece pants (I have black Montbell pants to wear), my dyneema food bag (I’ve been using a nylofume turkey bag), extra hand warmers, my xero sandals, and 2 sacks of small things that I swapped for ziplock bags.

We left the hotel room right at check-out time, 11am, and headed down the road to the Route 66 junction. It was 11:30 and the post office closed at 12:00. It was almost 2 miles away and we wouldn’t make it in time if we walked. Midnight and I stuck out our thumbs and had no luck for 15 minutes.

Someone who lived nearby gave us water and a snack while we waited for a problem. Then a few minutes later a red truck pulled up and coincidentally it was also headed to the post office. We put our items in medium-sized boxes and were the last customers of the day.

From the post office we got another hitch on the back of the truck and headed back to the red line. Midnight and I met Bigotes at the junkyard brewery, had a beer and a brisket sandwich, and sat for a while. It would have been very easy to go crazy in this bar and in this town, especially since other trail friends were taking the day off, but finally, around 3 pm, we closed our accounts and hit the trail.

The trail was actually just a walk down the back road and up I-40. A big treat today was a gas station with a subway near the interstate.

I had a chicken, bacon, and biscuit ranch sandwich for an early dinner and refilled my water bottles. It was around 5:30 pm when we all set off again on the paved road and had to walk 7 miles before crossing the national park boundary and leaving private land so we could camp.

We did about an hour of night walking before spotting a small patch of trees off the road to protect us from road noise and, at midnight, setting up their hammock. This is my first night of real cowboy camping. I set up my sleeping pad on top of my flattened dyneema tent and layered up before crawling into my sleeping bag for the night.

Day 116: 31 miles

Highlights: Onion alternate. The Arch Window.

It was much quicker to pack in the morning when I was cowboy camping. I had a hot coffee and it was still ready almost 10 minutes earlier than normal.

I started walking down the path which was a paved road and watched the sun rise. Our first stop was the ranger station which had a water spigot out front.

From the ranger station we walked further until we reached the window arch. We did a side quest to the natural arch to take photos and then took an alternate path to a table.

Natural arch next to the trail

The alternative added about a mile and 1,000 feet of elevation gain, but my body welcomed the change in elevation and surface area. I could already feel my shins starting to hurt from the walk.

We headed back down to the road at a picnic area and had lunch around 2pm. It was here that I realized that when I calculated the number of miles between water sources, I was outside the red line and therefore the distance in miles that FarOut calculated was incorrect. I brought enough water for 15 miles, but the next safe water source was actually closer to 22 miles.

I had about 0.3L of water left and could save, but this was the first time I had planned poorly by estimating how much water I needed.

As we walked down the road I came across a long puddle. I grabbed my water bag and drank a liter of water as an emergency backup. The water filtered clear and tasted surprisingly clean.

A few kilometers later we came across a solar spring, but it was broken and had no water. Fortunately, there was a water tank nearby and we were able to get on the camel before continuing on our way.

We took the alternative highway to reconnect with the red line and had dinner at the intersection. During dinner we met up with Beaker and Gone and enjoyed a night walk with them down the dirt road towards Pie Town.

We finished the day using 69 CDT redline microphones and actually walked over 30 miles during the day.

I set up the cowboys to camp in the sand near a trailhead on the side of a dirt road.

Day 117: 23.3 miles

Highlights: Wild Donkeys, TLC Ranch

When I woke up this morning my left shin was still sore from the day before. It was a cold morning and ice crystals were forming in my water bottles. I made some hot coffee to warm up and then chatted with Midnight and Whiskers, who were also cowboy camping nearby. We ended up hanging out in our sleeping bags until the sun started to rise before packing up to leave.

We left about 30 minutes later than our usual 6:45am departure, but we were ahead of schedule with our miles and enjoyed the little extra time at camp.

In the morning, we all chatted about Pie Town and what kind of meals they would have at the local restaurant called The Gathering Place. Fruitcake, of course, but what else should they have on the menu? What would we sell if we had a restaurant in Pie Town? Then it came to us. A pizza place called “Pizza Pie Town,” he said in your best Italian accent. It would be hiker-themed and SoBo-centric, open every day of the week for hikers with large portions.

We had all packed more water than we needed at the last fountain and planned to fill 10 miles during the day at the TLC ranch. This ranch next to the dirt road we walked all morning had water, fresh fruit, a latrine, and a table and chairs to eat at.

TLC Ranch

We met up with other hikers and decided to have an early lunch. Back on the trail, also known as a dirt road, we saw some wild donkeys on the side of the road. There was an alpha male who was getting angry that we delayed, so we continued on our way.

My shin started to hurt a lot a few kilometers after the ranch and I sat down to take a break. I had taped it with KT tape on our morning break, but this constant walking on a flat road was really inflaming and aggravating my shin pain.

I tried putting on a fun podcast which helped a bit and then headed out to catch up with the group when my pace had slowed down.

After our afternoon rest, we all decided to camp 5 miles out of town on public land and head to the restaurant in Pie Town first thing in the morning. Since all the businesses were closed at 4 pm, there was no need to go into town and we could enjoy camping and eating before it got dark.

The last few miles went better because I was able to start a conversation and stop thinking about my shin. Tomorrow will get better or I’ll take a day to rest before heading out on the next 5 day stretch through the Gila.

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