WalkingCarrot

In the middle of the night the clouds departed to reveal a clear, star filled sky. By morning the clouds had returned, an even overcast. The humidity was very high creating a damp muggy feel which seems somehow incongruous with the dry, sandy desert terrain. A light rain began to fall, almost a mist. It felt more like the general humidity condensing into droplets than rain falling from above. The wetness continued on the 6.5 miles we walked into Pie Town.

Our first stop in town was the “toaster” house, a refuge for hikers provided by Nita since the 1980s. It’s the house with an iron fence and entry festooned with old toasters. We left our packs on the large side porch and headed off for breakfast and pie at the “Daily Pie Cafe”.

At the Post Office we picked up the trail register; it goes back to 1998, lots of familiar names. Pie Town is the first place in New Mexico we’ve seen a trail register and with one at the Toaster House, there are two registers in town!

Returning to the toaster house we sorted supplies, showered, re-organized packs, aired out the tent and sleeping bag, still damp from the night before, relaxed a little and prepared a box to go home. Of course, a trip back into town to mail the box was all the excuse we needed to stop for a late lunch and more pie at the “Pie-o-neer Cafe”.  When she found out we were walking the CDT, the owner, Kathy, sent us off with a couple of carrots for the road.

We waddled out of the very friendly Pie Town after a 6 and half hour break – full of pie, resupplied and ready to get in a few more miles. North from Pie Town is another road walk, through rolling terrain, but with the horizon generally becoming flatter.

Clouds continued, as they had all day, to gather, sprinkle, and move on with generally overcast skies. The road showed signs of a tremendous downpour, recently eroded sides, brown puddles in low depressions. The locals said it came yesterday and was unrelenting.

We enjoyed something close to an actual sunset – not much color but long brilliant rays through the horizon clouds. It’s been almost three weeks since we’ve seen a sunset, our late-in-the-day hiking and camping being generally in canyons, surrounded by hills or with very cloudy skies.  Nice again to see a sunset.

As we make camp and settle in the evening the dusk fades to night and we are serenaded, at first by a chorus of coyotes and then later by a nearby snoring cow.

16 miles