Day 17 - 5/16 - Pie Town, NM

Today we took the first zero day of the trail in Pie Town, NM. “Town” is a grand descriptor - there is a post office and three restaurants (all serve pie of course, one serves only pie) and a hiker hostel, the Toaster House.

We all claim the top floor of the bunk house, Wonder Woman, Radio and I sharing a bare king mattress on the floor. The place is eclectic and dusty - I pick up an old goosebumps book and read it cover to cover. There is no service in Pie Town and WiFi only at the restaurants.

We sample pie and lunch and do WiFi chores as best we can. At night we decide to build a campfire, to celebrate Dans birthday. His mom sent him an adorable vegan chocolate cake and candles, which we lit and brought out to him.

Day 18 - 5/17 - on yet another alternate from the CDT so no accurate mileage count

We walk out of Pie Town in the morning after I reheat a slice of pear ginger pie and drink a few cups of coffee.

The trail is a dirt road for all 23 miles we walk today. We stop briefly at the TLC Ranch 16 miles out of town, eat an apple and fill up our waters. Road walking is hard. It’s not hiking. We play word games and listen to podcasts to distract ourselves.

When we set up camp, a beautiful yellow full moon rises and we enjoyed another big, expansive sky.

Day 19 - 5/18 - 379 miles hiked

Today was more road walking, interrupted rather briefly with trail and an old Blair Witch style cabin. We planned to end the day at some arch, about 27 miles from where we started. After the first stretch of trail for the day we ended up back on a highway for 4 miles, then a trailhead for a rim walk that lead us to a viewpoint of the arch. Our maps showed us doing a cross country route to connect two trails, which was pretty fun to do even though we were tired from the day. These last 4 miles or so of the day were the first decent views I’ve seen this section, red desert rock formations rising up from the highway. We camped on the ridge, saving a scramble down for tomorrow.

Day 20 - 5/19 - 406 miles hiked

We scrambled down the cliff in the morning, which was great fun. We were rewarded with a bathroom at the trail head and some wildflowers blooming in the meadows. I wasn’t too impressed with the arch, to be honest.

We were back on the highway for a few miles again, walking to yet another trailhead. We’ve been taking a few CDT alternates this section - the official CDT is mostly road walking, and these two alternates allow us to connect existing trails and see a bit more of New Mexico.

The next trail we join immediately hits us with lava rock, and it’s fun to jump across deep crevasses in the landscape, almost like playing a video game. I like scrambling on this porous lava rock - it’s sticky to my shoes and even though my tread is almost worn down, I have no fear of slipping. We follow cairns across the lava rock plain.

Soon, it starts to rain. It’s been a cold morning, and rain turns to hail. We are still stumbling across fields of lava rock and it starts to snow.

Snow. In New Mexico. In late May. I think of Wonder Woman, hiking ahead of us in sandals and shorts. We run into her a bit later, taking shelter in a cave. We sit in the dirt and shiver together.

Good news is, we have less than half a mile of lava rock before rejoining a final forest road. We do need to make a decision, as before we join the forest road we cross a highway, where we could walk or hitch directly to our next town, Grants.

We huddle in a bathroom at the trailhead for shelter from the sideways snow, hail and sleet. Ultimately we decide to try our luck with the forest road - safer than walking on the highway and we won’t need to hitch. The forest road is only slightly longer anyway, and the snow is starting to let up.

The dirt road is surprisingly beautiful, and a bit of blue sky peeps through for a moment or two here or there. By evening we reach the final road crossing with 12 miles left to do tomorrow before we hit town. We make camp hidden behind the highway and it starts to snow a bit as we eat dinner in our tents. In the distance, we hear a gunshot.

Day 22 - 5/20 - 418 miles hiked

We wake up to a layer of fresh snow dusting the ground and our tents. We get up quickly, because it’s so cold. Only 12 miles on road to Grants!

The road walk is actually beautiful. Red rock formations rise up out of green meadows. It’s cold and windy, but we get on at a great clip. Soon, we are at the outskirts of town.

We walk past several homes with large yards, almost like mini ranches. We see and hear a lot of dogs, but keep walking down the road. I’m distracted momentarily by a house across the street when I hear Wonder Woman shout at us. Two pit bulls come barreling towards us at full speed, teeth bared. I clutch my poles, Radio reaches for his knife and we yell at the dogs to stay back. Luckily, a station wagon on the road is just behind us, and the woman driving it uses her vehicle and horn to corral the dogs for us, away from our path. We notice four more pit bulls lunging at us from behind a fence, where these two must have gotten out. I’ve never been afraid of a dog before in my life, and it’s a weird feeling since I love them so much. We see several other more friendly dogs as we continue to walk into town, and eventually we find a liquor store, where we buy beer, a delicious coffee shop, where we get lattes and pastries, and the post office, where our boxes are waiting for us. Radio got a new jacket and my aunt Pam packed us a ton of cookies and face masks which I can’t wait to use!

We start walking further into town when a trail angel sees us and picks up us, driving us the final three miles to our motel, an oasis with coin laundry, a shower and beds. We rush to Walgreens to get shampoo and conditioner and snacks and then luxuriate in our cleanliness in the motel.