The Badlands

O"Do not leave a cairn until you have the next one in sight" the sign at the Zuni Acoma trailhead said.  There was no trail, just a route marked by cairns across the lava flow.  The lava is scarred with crevasses, fissures, caves and rock bridges like a glacier.  There's a lot of jumbled rock.  You wouldn't think anything could grow here and yet there are trees, flowers, and cacti.  They thrive in the in between spaces.  

It took us 4 1/2 hours to cross it.

The water cache maintained by trail angels was empty.  Fortunately I had cell service and was able to call them and they came out.  Yay for trail angels!  We didn't have enough water to continue and would've had to hitch into town.  We ate lunch while we waited. 

After all of that it was an easy and beautiful walk through Bonita Canyon and Zuni canyon.  As I was walking down the road enjoying the evening and beautiful view I walked right by a napping rattlesnake.  Never saw it.  Hello!  A classic "helicopter" moment.  Pounce saw it and gave it a wide berth.

Pounce and I are weary and sore but in good spirits.  We are only 6 miles from Grants and are planning on a much needed rest.

Adventures on the CDT

Pounce and I woke up to the sun warming our campsite and headed out.  After a few miles the trail exited the canyon and we had a road walk along highway 117.  The scenery was becoming increasingly more dramatic with towering cliffs, interesting rock formations and the edge of the El Malpais "badlands".  

We got to the Narrows picnic area right at lunch.  It was so exciting for us to have a picnic table, toilets, and trash cans.  And then things got a little exciting.  Our maps had a note that said the rim trail was not to be missed.  It was 3.5 miles in the right direction and would avoid some road walking, plus it would give us a view of Ventana Arch.  It's an out and back trail but our maps had a route down marked out.  It was as advertised, with great views of the Malpais and the cliffs.  

We got to the end, checked out the arch, took a break and then looked for the way out.  Initially there was a little path marked with cairns, but that ended and we had to pick our way around looking for the route down.  Fortunately I spotted the cairn marking the start of the descent because it was the only way down.  It was steep and around and over boulders, no path, just a scramble down.  It reminded me of some of the canyoneering and climbing approaches I've done.  We let out a yell when we made it down.  

Unfortunately the whole experience took up a lot of our afternoon and we didn't get as far as we wanted.  The trail angels in Grants maintain a water cache at the Zuni Acoma trailhead.  This route takes us across the Malpais lava flow for 8 miles.  Since there's no place to camp out there we had to stop for the night at 6.  It's warmed up quite a bit so we had our umbrellas out all afternoon.  The plan is to get up an hour earlier to get the most out of the cooler morning. 

Canyons

I started out the day all wrong.  I couldn't get my contact in, fumbled around a lot, froze my fingers and wound up grumpy.  I ended the day with a view and a smile, content.  In between was more road walking between ranch land till the trees petered out.  We ate lunch in the shade of the very last tree and walked into this.  

We eventually got to Amijio canyon road where we turned right and walked towards this.  

We sang the Alleluijah Chorus and waved our poles to some aggressive cows who thankfully let us pass.  Then we entered the Cebolla Wilderness and it got interesting.  The trail channeled us into Amijio canyon where we came upon an old homestead.  

There are petroglyphs in this canyon and pottery shards but we didn't see any.  Then we climbed up and over into Sand canyon.  It has tall rock walls that look golden in the evening light.  We finally made camp on a hill looking out across the canyon.  Both canyons have deep arroyos.  Beautiful. 

A Leisurely Walk

Aah the Toaster House.  I slept so good.  I was warm.  I could have stayed in my bed forever but the smell of coffee was wafting up the stairs which started my tummy grumbling and my bladder complaining.  I got up.  

Nita, the owner of the house stopped by and gave Pounce and I a short tour of Pie Town, then dropped us at the post office to mail a bounce box up the trail.  Pie Town has a windmill museum and is one of several Very Long Distance Arrays (giant antenna) located around the country.

We are taking two alternates between here and Grants.  The first is the Cebolla Wilderness, which is 50.1 miles.  We only planned to do 15 miles today because the Thomas Ranch welcomes hikers to get water from their well and camp in their yard.  So we left after 10 am and just walked at a liesurely pace.  We hadn't gone too far when a county truck pulled up alongside us.  It was Sheridan! He chatted with us a bit and wished us well.  Too funny.  Yes, we are still walking on roads.  We had some nice views of the Sawtooth range though as we walked and we picked a scenic spot for lunch.  

Otherwise the landscape is miles of ranch land with short stubby trees.  The dirt however has changed color from gray to brown to rust.  Meet donkey at the ranch.  

Pie Town

It was a nice morning for a walk into town.  With only 6 miles to go we weren't in a big hurry, but we were hungry.  First stop, Nita's Toaster House.  This is an old house for hikers, named for the old toasters hanging off the gate.  

There are a lot of hikers here!  Several got here over the weekend and had to wait for the post office to open.  So I saw Tickled Pink, LB, my Portland friends Xana and Paniorama, the group I've been leap frogging with, and the group from England who I started with.  The cafe opened at 10 am and we went there next.  They were not serving breakfast and had a limited menu but the food was delish.  I had a 1/2 pound green chili cheeseburger with fries and a slice of New Mexico apple pie.  That's apple pie with green chilis and pine nuts in it.  I was also happy, very happy for the wifi as there is only 1 bar for phone.  Pie Town has two cafés, the Pie-O-neer and the one we ate at, a post office, and tiny mercantile with snacks & souvenirs.  

Next we got a ride to the Top of the World store to do laundry and get food to supplement our resupply boxes.  Now the store is three miles away.  We did not want to walk.  So we hitched.  No cars. In 20 minutes only a school bus and a car went by.  Then came a white truck and it was obviously not going to stop, driving fast.  When it was abeam of me I tugged on my pink hat and "screech" brakes squealing, it stopped.  We had a ride from some guys doing work near the CDT.  They were from Kalispell, MT and very nice.  "We don't usually see ladies hitching on the side of the road" they said.  Then finally a shower, dinner, socializing, and bed.  I'm tired!!

It's All About the Water

Anothercold morning.  I sense a theme here.  We saw a large herd of deer right off the bat this morning.  We finally had consistently good trail and it climbed high to a ridge with our first open views in awhile.  

So I had to let rip a yell.  Pounce heard an echo.  Cool.  Then the search for water that defined these two days began.  First was following a dry creek .3 miles off trail to a spring which had two tiny silty puddles.  That was a challenge.  Next water was a disgusting cow poo muddy "pond" with swimmy things.  

We took a liter as emergency water hoping we wouldn't have to drink it.  And then... well water!  And our hiking friends we've been leap frogging were having lunch under a shady tree.  We tanked up there but the next source was dry.  The one after that was unfilterable.  We rationed. Consequently we had to push to get to the next spring.  It was dry and the sun was setting.  So no cooked dinner or hot drink in the morning.  We ate our lunch and snacks instead.  It was a 25 mile day.  We are on the Pie Town alternate which is all forest service roads.

Next morning, all we could think of was water and we made the last of our water stretch.  First water, nothing.  Second water, 8 miles later, water at last.  We cooked our dinner food.  Finally at the next stop delicious well water.  While filling our bottles there, all of them, a rancher stopped to chat.  He has a "few" cows.  He looked like a stereotypical rancher with white hair an a large cowboy hat.  Then we were on our way again and feeling good. We camped 6 miles from Pie Town, well watered, well fed, and happy.  We are looking forward to town food, showers, and laundry. 

Bushwacking

It was another 20 degree morning.  So again it took two hours to break camp.  We didn't want to get out of our sleeping bags.  We finished up the road walk and were excited to have beautiful trail to follow.  Our excitement was short lived.  The trail ended and it became an unmarked cross country scramble around and over downed trees, rocks, and uneven ground.  All day it was bushwacking interrupted by bits of trail.  Pounce is an expert navigator as she does a lot of hiking at her home in Vermont where there is no trail.  I'm very happy to have her along.

 The trail descended steeply through a burned out area only to climb again.  It was up and down.  At one point we were at 9,000 feet!  

It was definately a slow day with all of the obstacles and the late start.  We are feeling this long stretch.  Smiles and her partner caught up to us again and it was great to see them.  They are tired too.  We are all dealing with blisters and assorted aches and pains.  But our spirits are good.  Little things like the sky being a rich blue, views of the mountains and desert all make this worth it.  And today we've been walking right on the divide.  Cool.  Here's a picture of a water source.