CDT Reserve to Grants

We left Reserve early on Tuesday, April 28th. The motel shuttled us to the trailhead 25 miles away, so the ride was welcomed. 

We had 6 days of hiking planned for this section. Due to an injury (more on that below), it was only 4 days. Four very full days!

This part of the trail was once again road walking. This road is a forrest road -- a hard packed dirt road. It's easier to walk on than asphalt, but still a grind. A couple of miles into the day another hiker, Angler, came up behind us. We spent most of the day hiking with him. Angler had gotten ahead of us and stopped to wait for us on the road. He had talked to a hunter who told him there was a hunting party ahead who would welcome us and probably provide water for us. The three of us headed to the hunting camp where we were welcomed by Clint and Roy. And Mosley,  the hunting Corgi. We spent about 45 minutes chatting with the hunters. We were able to fill up our water bottles and they gave us each a granola bar. Thanks Clint and Roy! We forgot to take pictures at this stop. 

After leaving the camp, we found a campsite up the road and stopped for lunch. There was even a toilet! Our post lunch hike was a climb from 8,200 to 9,600 feet. It was only 4 miles in distance. About halfway up, a pickup stopped next to Scoot and asked if he needed anything. He said he was fine, but his wife would probably love a hitch to the top. She definitely would love it! We both jumped in the back and on the way up we picked up Angler. These hunters were heading down the mountain and still gave us a ride. We have really been blessed with trail angels!

Once we were at the top of the summit, it was all downhill for 10 miles. We started down and around 5pm we stopped for dinner. While we were eating, two hikers passed by. We can't remember their names, but we're calling them Durango and Portland. After dinner we hiked a bit more and found a campsite for the night. 

The next morning we set our sights on reaching the DaVila Ranch for breakfast. DaVila is a wonderful stop on the trail set up by local rancher, John DaVila. The ranch is stocked with food.  It has showers and laundry. Hikers can stop for a meal or stay overnight. And of course, we can get water there. When we arrived, Durango and Portland were there plus another hiker, Sequoia. Scoot made us eggs and onions for breakfast. Delicious! After cleaning up, we were back on our way. An hour and a half after leaving the ranch, a pickup stopped next to Scoot. It was John DaVila the owner of the ranch. He insisted on giving us a ride to our next stop, Pie Town. He also picked up Durango, Portland and Sequoia. 

Pie Town is a popular stop for CDT hikers. In the 1920s a local baker started serving up pie to travelers and the name stuck. Today hikers can grab a meal at one of the two cafés in town or spend the night at the Toaster House. Pie Town is the halfway point of the CDT in New Mexico. We bunked at the Toaster House along with 6 other hikers.

John was kind enough to drive the two of us to the next town for a small resupply and a beer run for all the hikers. Pie Town has two cafés, a post office and four churches. 

We spent the afternoon/early evening hanging out with the other hikers. Really interesting group.  There was a school teacher, college student, retired police sergeant, back country ski instructor, retiree and a corporate person on sabbatical.  We also enjoyed a couple of meals at The Gathering Place II with our fellow hikers. This was such a unique experience. I'm sure we will always cherish it.

The Toaster House is a donation based home that hikers can stay at while in Pie Town. The volunteers who run it keep it stocked with food and paper products. You can do laundry and shower. And  there are plenty of beds.

Yes, we had pie! New Mexican apple which has green chiles and Pinon nuts in it. Amazing!

The next morning we joined our Toaster House group for breakfast at The Gathering Place II and then hit the trail. We were back to road walking. Our plan was to do 20 miles on a hard packed county road with a stop at the TLC Ranch for a break and water refill. The walk was 16 miles to TLC. Dr. Cactus and Thad, two hikers from the Toaster House, were at TLC when we arrived. We ate dinner and chatted with them. During this time, a terrible pain started in Scoot's foot. We decided to camp at the ranch for the night rather than continue per our plan. The ranch's owner, Larry, also offered to drive us to the trailhead the next morning to save more road walking. Before leaving for the trail, Larry made all of us breakfast and lattes. Larry and his wife,  Charity, are two of the most kind hearted people I have ever met. They welcomed us into their home and provided us with food, water and a place to camp.   We will remember their kindness. 

From the trailhead we were back on a state park trail for the day. We set out and after 3 miles Scoot's foot was slowly getting more painful. We took a break and discussed our options. Option 1 was to continue -- 15 miles until the next road. Option 2 was to turn around and hitch to Grants -- 3 miles back to the county highway. We knew there was a possibility that the injury could get worse and we didn't want to be stuck a long way from the road. We opted for Option 2. We got back to the road around 2 pm and settled ourselves on the side of the road hoping for a hitch. Several cars passed by but none wanted to pick up two vagabonds. Finally, a rancher heading to Grants stopped. Thank you Robert!

The cows didn't know what to do with us at the side of the road. 

We had a beautiful view while waiting for a road.

We made it to Grants around 5pm. After checking in, we did our laundry and spent time resting. Even though we were only on the trail for 4 days, rest is always welcome. Especially with an injury.

Thru-hikers believe that "the trail will provide." It certainly did this section!

We picked up our first box sent by The Conductor. She included a few pictures of Scarlet which really made us happy. 

Angler, Gerald, Rockyn Robyn and Magic Mike are also at our hotel and we've been catching up with them. Thanks Gerald for the ride to the post office!

The physical aspects of the trail — soreness, aches, pains, and the occasional injury — are expected. Another aspect is the mental shift from a world of constant overstimulation to one of almost complete quiet. After a month on the trail with very little screen time or social media, my mind has shifted. When we first got on the trail, every problem, no matter how small, had to be solved immediately — or so my brain was wired. I now take a more measured approach, an almost laissez-faire attitude toward many of the issues we face. When we were waiting for a hitch to Grants with my injured foot, we sat on the side of the road for a couple of hours and saw five cars. We realized we might end up spending the night on the side of the road and have to try again the next day. This probably would have caused me some degree of anxiety early in the trip, but Pooh and I just kind of chuckled about the situation and made peace with whatever came next.

Turns out the world keeps spinning just fine without my constant attention. Who knew. Getting to town and glancing at social media for two minutes before realizing nothing has really changed — and that it doesn't hold my attention anymore — feels less like a revelation and more like a quiet relief.

Which raises the obvious question: if we're not doomscrolling, how do e spend our down time? We brought a couple of books — lightweight paperbacks. We each read one and then trade. Our first two were the original Frankenstein by Mary Shelly and John Steinbeck's Russian Journal. There's something fitting about reading a monster story by headlamp in the middle of nowhere, though I'll admit Frankenstein hits different when you're already a little sleep-deprived and filthy. We also brought a few weeks' worth of New York Times crossword puzzles. I was given a year's worth for Christmas a couple of years ago and had worked through about a third of them — the rest we tore out of the book a week at a time and tucked into our resupply boxes. They rack your brain considerably more when cheating isn't even an option. No cell coverage means no shortcuts.

Tomorrow we leave Grants for Cuba. This section is expected to be classic Southwest scenery with mesas and chiseled red and ran mountains.  We should be in Cuba next Saturday or Sunday. Then we will continue on to Ghost Ranch. We don't know if we will spend the night in Cuba.  Expect the next update around May 14. 

Enjoy...

Days hiked this section 4

Total days hiked 25

Miles this section 112.7 

Total miles 410.6

CDT: Gila River alternate

The Gila River alternate is a stunning canyon trail that is 106 miles long. There is so much beauty in the canyon, we decided to do a post about it. 

The Gila River is a major tributary of the Colorado River. It begins in New Mexico and runs to Yuma, Arizona. It is 630 miles long. 

The alternate trail is a favorite of many CDT hikers because of the beauty of the canyon. 

For the most part, the trail is straight forward and easy enough to follow. However, there are plenty of sections where you lose the trail and have to bushwhack. Bushwhacking is tiring and losing the trail is frustrating. The rule of thumb is to follow the river. If you lose the trail, eventually you will find it again by following the river.

Here it's easy to see the trail

The biggest challenge on this route is water crossings. We've heard the crossings number between 100 - 200. Pooh thought this sounded like a challenge and decided to count the number of times we crossed water. It wasn't 100 or 200. It was 318! One day we crossed the water 120 times. 

The water varied in depth. This was a low snow year and we believe we got lucky because the deepest crossing was mid-thigh for Pooh and just above the knees for Captain Scoot. We've read that some crossings can be up to your chest. 

With so much time spent in the water, it's impossible to keep your socks and shoes dry. Every time we stopped for a break or meal we took off our socks and shoes. Even with the abundance of water, the air is very dry. Laying our socks and shoes in the sun dried them out a bit while we were resting or eating. 

At night, we hung them on a tree branch. 

The canyon isn't just about water. There is plenty of wildlife here. We saw two bears, several snakes, and countless ducks. 

The beauty of the canyon comes from the walls and rocks. Sometimes it was difficult to enjoy because we were so focused on the water or finding the trail. We would stop occasionally just to look around or look up.

The Gila River canyon is truly amazing. We're glad we decided to take this alternate route. Enjoy more beauty from this remote area of New Mexico.

Here's some video highlights: 

CDT: Doc Campbell's to Reserve

We left Doc's at first light Monday morning heading to the trailhead which is near the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. Of course we had a 3 mile road walk ahead of us to start the day. Our plan was to hitch as much of the road as we could. We started off, but no cars were to be seen before sunrise. About half way to the trailhead, we got lucky! As a small pickup approached, Scoot stuck out his thumb and the pickup stopped. The driver was a ranger at the National Monument. We hopped into the back of the truck and we were off. A huge thank you to the ranger! 

Once we were back on the trail, the hike went pretty smoothly. It didn't take long for us to come to another water crossing. Having dry shoes for a couple of hours was nice. 

We saw our second bear. This time it was much further away. 

The views in the canyon continued to amaze us. Constant water crossings and wet feet were getting old. There are several trails that you can take to the rim the canyon, and we decided to take one. The trail was going to be a steep climb out of the canyon, but the thought of dry socks was too appealing to pass up. So after 5 days of wet shoes, we left the canyon. 

This alternate route took us up to a ridge and across a barren grassland. It's really amazing how quickly the landscape changes. 

While waiting for Pooh to catch up, Captain Scoot took a short hike up the ridge to take some pictures. To our west he noticed smoke and what appeared to be a forrest fire. Using our garmin in- reach satellite device, he called in the suspected fire. The forrest service was aware of the fire. You may have heard about the Hummingbird fire in New Mexico. This is the fire we saw. Since Scoot saw the smoke on the ridge, the fire has grown to over 2,000 acres and part of the CDT trail has been closed. Fortunately, we were ahead of the fire and the closure didn't affect us. 

By the time we reached the ridge, we were ready for lunch. The wind was fierce and cold. We decided to hike to a lower spot and try to get out of the wind. Soon after leaving the ridge, Scoot noticed a campsite below and we made our way down to it. The campsite had picnic tables and a toilet! When you eat sitting on the ground for days on end, a picnic table is a beautiful sight! 

As we were getting ready to hit the trail, we started talking to a camper, David. David was turkey hunting and was loaded with supplies. He was kind enough to top off our water, gave us oranges, and much needed lotion for our legs (it's incredibly dry here). We enjoyed talking to David and can't say enough about how kind and helpful he was! Trail angels are the best and really help to keep our spirits up! 

From the campsite we had more road walking to do. This time it was a dirt road which is a little easier to walk on. Our destination was Snow Lake, 5 miles away.  We were making really good time. But things happen. When we got to Snow Lake, we missed the CDT trailhead and continued on the road. This wrong turn cost us several miles on the day and really dampened our spirits. Once we were back on the trail, we decided to camp for the night. We needed to recharge. 

Road walking to Snow Lake 

Our destination, the town of Reserve, was getting nearer. We still had a lot of road walking ahead of us. We took it in stride, keeping our sights on getting to Reserve while hoping to get a hitch for at least part of the walk. Two days out from Reserve, we woke up to a 10 mile road walk. After the first 5 miles, we stopped for breakfast. As we were eating, a pickup with two hunters stopped and asked if we needed any water. Scoot replied we had enough water, but we could use a lift to the trailhead (still 5 miles away). Almost immediately they waived at us to jump in even though they were heading in the opposite direction from where we needed to go. The driver sat in the truck bed and held our packs while Scoot drove to the trailhead. We can't thank them enough for the lift! This section of the road was up, up, up.

From the trailhead we began our descent to Reserve. The path wasn't straight down, but it was more down than up. There was a fire in the area in 2018. The forrest is a long way from recovery. 

On our final day before reaching Reserve, we climbed Wagontongue Mountain. This put us at  9,000 feet of elevation. After summiting, we looked for a spot to have breakfast that was out of the wind. From our breakfast spot, Scoot was able to call the hotel in Reserve and book a room for us. The hotel, Mountaineer Inn, would also pick us up from the trail. Bonus! Reserve is 25 miles from the trail.  Our pick up time was 2:30. After breakfast we were on the clock! We made it to the trailhead with time to spare and Leslie, the hotel's owner, was right on time. Beds, showers and clean clothes were within reach!

Water on this section was scarce at times. We're thankful to our fellow hikers who updated FarOut regarding the water sources. What was already dry for the season and what was available.  We used this information to determine how much water to carry between water stops.

Filling up at a pond.

We decided to take two zero days in Reserve. We both developed a rash on our legs while in the Gila River canyon and decided to give ourselves some healing time.

Reserve is the county seat. It is a tiny town, but a busy place. We can easily walk to the grocery store and the many restaurants on Main Street. Reserve even has a brewery. We went there Sunday night and a few of our fellow hikers joined us. 

Hanging out with Gerald, Rockin Robin and Magic Mike

Our next destination is Grants via Pie Town. We should be in Grants on May 4th. 

Let us know if you have questions and enjoy the additional pictures on Instagram. 

Days hiked this section 6

Total days hiked 21

Miles hiked this section 87.9

Total miles hiked 297.9

CDT: Silver City to Doc Campbell's

Thursday April 16th we were ready to hit the trail. The trail from Silver City begins with a 6 mile road walk. Road walking is hard on our feet and ankles and we try to avoid it if we can. Captain Scoot found a trail angel who was available to drive us to the trailhead. Thanks Margie!! 

The true CDT trail is referred to as the red line. There are many alternate routes you can hike that branch off of the red line. Some make the trek shorter. Some make it easier. Some are more scenic. Until Silver City, we were following the red line. Out of Silver City we picked up the Gila (pronounced hee-lah) River alternate. Most hikers take this route because the Gila River canyon is stunning. It was incredible! The big downside is that you cross the river constantly for about 5 or 6 days. Be sure to read the post about the Gila.

First of many water crossings. 

Views from the trail 

The path was a racetrack.  We made great time until the second day when we had two challenging climbs that took us to Tadpole Ridge elevation 8,000.

Part of our first climb 

Pictures don't really capture what the trail actually looks like. Captain Scoot shot some great video while walking. Be sure to check it out. 

Along the way, we met Doug the Hermit.  Doug has lived in a 12x16 cabin for 27 years just off the CDT. He goes into town once a year for supplies. He felt that this was his calling from God to be a hermit and to pray everyday. We ran into Doug and talked to him for about a half an hour. He's 73 years old and doesn't plan on ever leaving his cabin. The story he told us is that he cleared the way for an ATV trail to the cabin and the owner of the land built the cabin for him and said that he could stay there for as long as he liked. The rancher that now owns the land appreciates that he lives there because he keeps the well and spring open for cattle. 

On the third day of this section, we hit the 200 mile mark.  We're still feeling some aches and pains from the first 200 miles. We hadn't at this point earned our trail legs. Trail legs generally kick in around 300 or 400 miles into the trek and your legs start to crave walking all day long.

We also saw our first bear!  Captain Scoot was 100 yd in front of Pooh and rounded the corner and there was a full-sized, adult black bear. The bear didn't know we were there as we were walking upwind and it was on the opposite side of the Gila River. The noise from the Gila masked the noises from our walking. He was less than 100 ft from us and it's a bit nerve-wracking even though black bear attacks are extremely rare in the US. After we announced our presence, he took one look at us and ran up the walls of the canyon. He was looking back occasionally to see if we were following. 

That night, we hung our first bear bag. A bear bag is where you put all of your food and anything that might smell like food into a bag and hang it at least 15 ft above the ground from a tree. Prior to that, we've been sleeping with our food in the tent.

Part way through this section, we visited Doc Campbell's Outpost. This is a great place for hikers to resupply, rest and let your shoes dry. They also have laundry and showers available for hikers. We arrived around 11:30 and grabbed some sandwiches for lunch. We ate with Bootstraps, a fellow hiker we met on the trail the day before. There is an RV park across the street from Doc's that has space for tents. It also has mini apartments for rent and there was one available! A bed for the night! There were several hikers coming and going throughout the afternoon. It was fun getting to know the other hikers. 

The area around dock Campbell's and the RV park is the site of a geothermal hot spring. Captain Scoot attempted to get in the hot spring but it was too hot and he abandoned this effort. The spring also fed the hot water for the faucets and the shower directly. The shower was set only on cold water and the water was still so hot you could barely wash your hair. And if you closed the lid on the toilet, condensation formed pretty substantially. So we agreed to leave the toilet seat up.

After an afternoon of relaxation we were ready to get back on the trail. We were up early Monday morning and were back on the trail by 7 a.m.

Look for more photos on Instagram. 

Days hiked this section 4

Total days hiked 15

Miles hiked this section 47

Total miles hiked 210