Day 18: the Toaster House to Wild Horse Canyon Road, ~22 miles, ~337 miles total Pie Town is hard to leave! Amazing people. Great hiker community. And the pie! Walking away from Pie Town on gravel road did make it physically easier. Still, road walking TO something is mentally different than road walking FROM something. … Continue reading Up the road

Day 18: Pie Town, NM to a to be determined spot further north, ~315 miles total Woke to sunlight filling the cedar paneled room upstairs at the Toaster House. The windows look out to pinyon and juniper forest to the west and north, in the distance, I can see the peaks we will climb in … Continue reading A quiet morning in Pie Town

Day 17: the Toaster House, Top of the World, Pie Town and Quemado, 0 miles, ~315 miles total Today was amazing in so many ways. I'm still trying to compose and articulate what I have felt about living for a day in Pie Town. I'll leave at this for now: -it's not everyday you go … Continue reading For the love of pie!

Day 16: a half mile beyond the Mangas Peak Lookout at ~9500 feet to the Toaster House in Pie Town, ~24 miles, ~315 miles total My goal had been to get to and beyond the Mangas Peak Lookout yesterday for two reasons. One, I wanted to see at least one if the lookouts administered by … Continue reading Pie Town or bust

Day 15: Golina Canyon to a half mile beyond the Mangas Peak Lookout, ~26 miles, ~291 miles total New Mexico is in a severe drought and it's been a very dry spring, say the locals. Water sources along the trail are something a hiker relies on, but can't depend on. For instance, last night found … Continue reading Playing water roulette

Day 14: the Ponderosa flats at 8400 feet to Golina Canyon, not back to tracking daily miles yet, ~265 total I've heard it takes 14 days to create or break a habit, maybe longer. Likely that phrase is fallacy. But it's day 14 of our CDT hike and Gabriel and I have a rhythm to … Continue reading How many days does it take to form a habit?

Day 13: a bend along the Middle Fork of the Gila River to Ponderosa flats near 8400 feet, still hard to know where we are but it's somewhere over 200 miles Last morning in the Gila. I want to stay in this canyon along the river and admire the rocks, trees and light for days. … Continue reading Fair thee well Gila

Day 12: from a few bends before Jordan Hot Springs to further up the Gila River, hard to know how many miles We started walking as the sun lit up the cliffs more than 500 feet above us. A few birds call but the river is slow moving here and mostly quiet. This morning we … Continue reading Soaking up the Gila

Day 11: Just south of the Gila River Bridge to a few river bends before Jordan Hot Springs, ~miles hard to count, more than 190 miles total Frozen shoes this morning. Thankfully, frozen running shoes are much easier to wiggle into than frozen mountaineering boots. We soon warmed up by fording the Gila, the water … Continue reading Tourist day in the Gila

Day 10: Sheep Corral Canyon to near the Gila River Bridge, ~22 miles, ~187 miles total A crisp morning. The first that warranted wearing puffy coats as we continued to head down Sheep Corral Canyon. We walk through forest of Ponderosa and Douglas-fir. Some stands have burned in recent years and are patchy with mixed … Continue reading Into the Gila