Doc Campbell’s Pie Town Post: A Post-Apocalyptic Fever Dream Comes True

Day 1

Miles Traveled: 26.25 Originally Planned: 23.3

Elevation Gain: 3,847 feet Elevation Decline: 2,635 feet

Hours between camps: 10

Mood: Good, a little anxious about the day.

Terrain: 4 mile paved hike, big 2000 foot climb to the mesa. Rolling on a hard pack for 23 miles, pretty easy miles to walk. Descent of 2000 feet in 1 mile to the river.

We knew the high route was going to be difficult due to the 22 mile water ride. We started with 10 liters and got to 26 miles with 2 liters left, so a perfect amount of water was carried today. It was brutal at the end of the day. We were both exhausted from the long water transports combined with 6 days of food with such steep climbs.

Animals: duck, jay, horned lizard.

Plants: Desert scrub that becomes a ponderosa pine forest above 7,500 feet.

Temperature: 86 F Heat all day, no breeze

Today, relentless fogs of biting mosquitoes buzz around our faces. Weasel resorted to holding his staffs in his armpits and constantly clapping his hands in front of his face to reduce the mosquito fog.

People found: none

We got some picaridin insect repellent from Doc Campbell thinking it would help with the mosquitoes, but now they are too aggressive. Tomorrow we may deploy our headnets.

Weasel Quote of the Day: This entire trip is post-apocalyptic due to the lack of water.

Tonight is the last natural flow of water for several hundred miles. Cow tanks and angel hideouts on the trails for the foreseeable future.

Burstin’ refused to guarantee the zipper on our rain fly. They blamed us for creating a “high stress incident” and offered a replacement fly for half price. They’re sending it to Twisted Sister.

Day 2

Miles Traveled: 29.61 Originally Planned: 23.3

Elevation Gain: 2615 feet Elevation Decline: 1925 feet

Hours between camps: 11 hours 29 min

Temperature: 85 F Hot, some clouds in the afternoon

Today’s terrain included a tough climb from the Gila River Canyon to Airplane Mesa. Rolling mesa for miles, lots of dirt road to walk. A beautiful canyon that was difficult to navigate and unstable to walk through.

I picked up some nice water from a tap at Snow Lake. Locals report that the lake is severely depleted this year.

I found a catch of angel water on the trail at mile 18.5 and shared some water with a bull in a less clean water tank at mile 28.5.

We walked 29 miles today due to lack of water. Very desolate, without water, minimal bush. There are no signs of civilization other than the occasional water tank and forest roads.

Animals: coyote, rattlesnake on a dirt road, turkey, owl, lark, ducks

The coyotes serenaded us intermittently throughout the night. The stars were incredible, there was no light pollution here.

No hikers found

We talked to a guy in a Tacoma sporting a tent on the roof. He was headed to camp on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

The best meal of the day Fabulous fish in the ditch next to a forest road. The salty food hit the spot. Weasel prefers Fable Fish as a camp snack

Gear Update: The wrist strap on my Durston trekking pole broke and we managed by tying the rest of the strap in a knot. We’ll see if Durston guarantees the strap.

Day 3

Miles Traveled: 25.06 Originally Planned Miles: 23.3

Elevation Gain: 3,761 feet Elevation Decline: 3,509 feet

Hours between camps: 11 hours 20 min

Weather: 84F

80 more miles to Pie Town, we’re pushing to complete in three days.

Water scarcity is real. We are avoiding an additional scenic canyon due to bush hits, slower miles, and complete lack of water. The lack of water today was a bit worrying. We took a little water from each cow trough that contained something no matter how unpleasant it seemed.

Today we spent a couple of hours looking for water, chemically treating it, and the pre-filter and filter steps.

Acquiring water from a cow pond was absolutely horrible, but it was the last water for 16 miles and we had to have it. We spent an hour trying to use our pre-filter and I was using my Leatherman pliers to remove the algae from the cotton ball portion of the pre-filter. We need to get more cotton balls or maybe a couple of tampons for the next time we use the pre-filter. The water was still brown and cloudy after the pre-filter step, so we added drops of chlorine. The Sawyer squeeze filter is getting clogged and it takes Weasel 10 minutes to squeeze 2 liters of cloudy water through it. We need to backwash the filter next time we get to running water. We ended up filtering and hauling 12 liters for 8 more miles to dry camp. Weasel was carrying 8 liters and I was carrying 4 liters. Remember that each liter of water weighs 2.2 pounds. We have another 5 miles to the next water stop. We try not to drink the last liter of water we carry for safety, as you never know if the next water source actually has water.

The Far Out app is amazing and we rely on it to plan our days and upcoming water stops. The user information is very useful and we make sure to add information when we get to the water stops for the people who follow us.

The terrain started out as a nice road hike that ascended 1000 feet in a few miles. It quickly became much more difficult as we climbed a mountain and entered a dry canyon. After the first canyon we climbed another mountain or two and then another difficult canyon culminating in a 1500 foot climb at mile 21 and then a radical descent. Balance was difficult for hours and hours today. We walked for more than 10 hours and only covered 40 kilometers. I’m not going to lie, at the end of the day I felt devastated.

Animals: There is very little wildlife today, probably due to the dry conditions. Even the stalwart perennial springs are dry this year. We heard a whip and a western meadowlark, saw a blue jay, a couple of ground squirrels, and a large pile of bear scat not far from our campsite.

Song: Folsom Prison

Found People: We Met Slow Burn and Pritch

For safety, we chose to take alternative direct routes rather than scenic routes to survive the water shortage on this section of the trail.

Day 4

Miles Traveled: 26.02 Originally Planned: 23.3

Elevation Gain: 3,598 feet Elevation Decline: 3,053 feet

Hours between camps: 10 hours 19 min

I woke up and reflected that the two sections we had just hiked were really beautiful, incredibly remote, and that the trail was as expected for a remote, wild trail. It was exactly the type of trails we were looking for when we left our camper. The only difference this time is water stress due to this year’s extreme drought. I would love to return to this area after a few rainy seasons, when the natural springs are flowing, and visit these canyons again. I’m sure they are beautiful riparian areas when the water is flowing, with lots of flowers and wildlife. Currently it is just a vacant lot, devoid of the usual inhabitants.

Weather: 82 F Much cooler, cloudy most of the day with a couple of welcome showers.

Terrain: Minimal trail, mainly dirt road. We reached a stand of Aspen trees at about 9,596 feet elevation.

Water: We headed down the mountain and across the valley to the huge orange mass we were reading about from the other hikers. It’s a huge rubber pool that I think is used to extinguish fires. It had wonderful, clean, clear water, and we took advantage of some of it.

The second water source was an angel reservoir on the trail that held about 10 gallons. We debated where to camp in the cache. We had two options: go light and push up to 28.5 miles today and arrive around 7:30 pm or go heavy and carry water to dry camp and arrive earlier. We end up getting heavy and regretting the decision. We had to climb a mountain with great effort and Weasel suffered another 12-pound water carry for 10 miles. We saw the first Aspen trees of the trip.

We’re doing the math tonight and to finish in mid-September we need to average 27 miles a day so we can have a few rest days in the cities.

This morning the cicadas were buzzing in the trees.

We saw some bear tracks earlier in the day.

Physical: I have blisters on both feet, between my big toe and second toe, and another blister on my right heel. Fred is swollen and twice the size he was last week.

People found: There are no hikers, a cyclist does the GDMBR.

Day 5

Miles Traveled: 22.55 Originally Planned: 23.3

Elevation Gain: 1,141 feet Elevation Decline: 1,602 feet

Hours between camps: 7 hours 38 min

Mood: good

Weather: 82 F Mostly sunny, hot walking in the afternoon

Terrain: Flat, dirt road walking most of the day. Easy but monotonous kilometers.

The owner of Davila Ranch stopped by and personally invited us to lunch and clean up. We accepted the offer and took wonderful hot showers and did laundry. We spoke with Captain who we met yesterday. He travels by bicycle around the GDMBR and has lived on a sailboat for 15 years.

The mesh wrist strap on my other Burstin’ trekking pole broke and I repaired them with Doc Campbell’s sewing kit.

We arrived in Pie Town around 5pm and found the Toaster House hiker hostel. Jimmy, Nigel and Zookeeper were already there and we had a pleasant visit. There is a CDTC conference in town this weekend and Beekeeper came to invite us to their presentation on constellations tomorrow night. The owner of the Bunkhouse lodge brought a 6-pack of beer like magic on the trail. Toaster House was interesting, there is a wall of shoe trophies left by hikers. Some of them are in pretty good condition and I can see how people might choose a better pair if their own shoes are a little worn.

Animals: Mule deer, hares, horse under the shade of a tree.

Day 6

We slept at the Toaster House and woke up early at 6. We made some coffee and waited for the post office to open at 0800. We received the Big Agnes from Hairy Bagel in good condition and mailed the Burstin’ X Mid to Twisted Sister.

We spread out all our stuff in front of the post office and put all the new food in our bags.

We both have new shoes today, they feel great! We both noticed that the pads were flat on the front feet and made walking on hard surfaces more painful. We will also be adding our shoes to the Toaster House trophy wall.

We planned to have a hearty breakfast in Pie Town and then hike 16 miles to TLC Ranch for the night. This week there will be no zero, the next zero will be in Grants, where there are real hotels.

The next post is in five days or so.