CDT JOY: The good times team

Day 118: 18.6 miles

Highlights: Pastel City! Rancho Da Villa.

Last night was a little warmer than the previous two nights. I got up while it was still dark and made some coffee. After coffee, I walked away from camp to go to the bathroom and got lost on the way back!

I ended up calling Midnight and Whiskers and we played a game of Marco-Polo to find each other. I ended up backing up diagonally instead of going back the way I had come and couldn’t block in the pitch black.

After a good laugh, I packed up my gear and prepared to walk five miles into town for a hot breakfast.

My left shin was still tender today but I felt much better than yesterday. I was able to do the alphabet with my ankles without cringing and was looking forward to a long rest at Pie Town and the toaster house where I planned to charge my electronics.

For breakfast at Gathering Place I had bacon, hash browns, scrambled eggs, and sourdough toast with two pieces of cornbread.

My mom mailed 2 boxes to this restaurant, one for me and one for Midnight, but they only had one box when we arrived. I looked at the receipt from the post office and we entered the tracking numbers. Sure enough, one package arrived in Pie Town on October 10, while the other package was scanned at the post office this morning on October 21 and arrived 11 days later, even though they were mailed at the same time and from the same location.

After breakfast, we walked to the post office, grabbed the other box, and headed to the iconic CDT hostel called Toaster House.

The Toaster House was a really cool place to hang out for several hours and order our resupply for the next 5-6 days in Gila. We charged electronics, took a hot shower, and met up with other hikers.

Midnight, Whiskers and I left shortly after 2 pm and took the blue line out of Pie Town bound for Rancho Da Villa, a ranch that has amenities for hikers like water and offers a campsite. This was especially nice since the dirt road we took out of town was backed up by private property.

We hiked 14 miles with one break and arrived at the ranch just before dark. There were 15 hikers there and it was like a big reunion. We saw people we met in the basin, people from Toaster House and some new faces. Beaker had started a fire at the fire and I had my first campfire on the trail. It was great to see everyone, but around 9:00 pm I got really tired.

I found a spot away from the campfire and set up my tent for the night. I’m so happy to be in this little hiker bubble with old and new trail friends.

Day 119: 29.0 miles

Featured: Coatí, Scorpion. Bonus miles.

I was so happy to wake up surrounded by other hikers and have running water, flushing toilets, and a propane stove to heat water for morning tea. The pain in my shin was also almost gone this morning and I was relieved to be able to walk today without pain.

We started the morning slower and chose to hang out at the campground and socialize with people before heading back to the dirt road.

Sunrise at Da Villa ranch with other hikers

We met everyone at a water tap 5 miles away and then at the water another 10 miles away. I found out that my friend who I hiked with on the JMT and who offered to help with a ride from the terminal is offering to help escort other hikers through the military defense zone, which is the last 1.1 miles of the trail.

For lunch in this section, I cold soak ramen or couscous since I was so sick of lunch foods that needed to be shelf stable enough to ship in a box 2-3 weeks in advance. Midnight packed an entire can of cheese to mix things up on this stretch. After lunch it drizzled occasionally, but I never had to put on rain gear.

In the afternoon, my FarOut app crashed again and wouldn’t update to my current GPS location. I was showing that I was on the road, but when Midnight checked we were about a mile off the road.

Not wanting to hike back uphill the way we came, we found a path that would connect further down the trail. We ended up making a triangle back to the CDT after we had covered an additional 3 miles. The alternative took us into a small canyon and on our way back to the trail (which was also 3 miles uphill) we saw Coatí in the wild. I’ve heard of these monkey-like animals, but I’ve never seen them in the wild. I saw a lot of yellow diamond caution signs for them at Chirichaua National Monument, but it was amazing to see.

In the afternoon the sun started to set around 6:30pm and we ended up walking through the night for a few hours to get to our next water source. After filtering the water we camped at a trail junction. I decided to pitch my tent instead of cowboy camp, as there was a dead scorpion on the trail that I glimpsed with my headlamp and there were storm clouds lingering in the distance.

Day 120: 26.5 miles

Highlights: single track.

The alarm started vibrating to wake me up at 6:07am and I turned on the red light to eat breakfast overnight and start packing. It’s nice that the weather has been above freezing and I can enjoy cold soaked oats again.

After packing up, we made sure we had enough water to last 25 miles, which would be to the next water source. There was a chocolate milk pond along the way, but I was willing to bring more water to avoid further clogging my slow water filter and have nice tasting water.

Today was a nice change as we went from following a dirt road like we have done the last two days to finding a single track trail. In addition, today we climbed more than 5,000 feet in elevation, over some mountain peaks and passes and climbed more than 9,000 feet.

The pace was a little slower due to the elevation and because today hit the three of us with only two weeks left on the trail. I wanted to soak in the nice 60’s weather a little more today and took a long break for breakfast and lunch. Midnight made stops to see some patches of crystalline rocks while Whiskers took lots of nature and landscape photos.

There were so many varieties of conifers on the trail today with alligator junipers, Douglas firs, ponderosa pine, and several other pine species with cones of different sizes and shapes scattered across the forest floor.

Midnight and Whiskers Hiking in the Conifers

In the afternoon we jumped along with some other groups of hikers we saw at Rancho Da Villa. Midnight, Whiskers and I are now called the Good Times Crew based on today’s conversations about us always being in a good mood. Then around 5:15 pm we got to our water fountain and decided to all have a bean and rice taco night.

After dinner we walked late into the night and set up camp around 8 pm. I decided to cowgirl camp and found a halfway decent spot among some pine trees, a little back from the road. I’m curious what this site will look like during the day, as it’s probably not the most ideal location, but it will work tonight.

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