The Dago Diaries

CDT mile 323.5, miles hiked 36.5

Captain Slack and the crew

The only thing better than a cowboy camp is waking up being rained on, the previous night I had a mad scramble to set up my shelter as the rain pelted me.  Once back asleep I dreamed of pie town; friendly hikers hanging out, eating pie, drinking beer, and all the shenanigans that go with it. When I woke up I knew where I wanted my day to end at the Toaster House.
Sweet Potato and I left camp at 6:30 in my mind we were going to town, in his mind, we were not.  We ground up and down until we got to Magnus Mountain Lookout, Dave the fire lookout guy was friendly and invited us up, we learned how to shoot a line and call out fires, we also looked at the register and saw all the hikers ahead of us.  We knew it would be a big time in Pie Town tonight so we packed up and carried on.

Tiny and I looking for fires

I encouraged Sweet Potato to use his phone to text Freefall and enact the Captain Slack clause, you see some years back after pulling off the TRT Sweet Potato bought a captain’s hat and slack packed us, hence becoming captain slack.  I knew if I was going to get Tater to make it 36 miles he was going to need the service.  So he tried but we never heard back.
I kept on the road and about 15 miles from town I see this old beat up pick up coming at me.  I step aside to only be greeted by Freefall, Buttercup, and Bandit asking if I want a soda or a beer or both, both of course!

Buttercup and I shared a beer on my walk

I was overjoyed with happiness I sat there In The hot sun sucking down suds reunited with my mates.  We laughed and caught up, then we ditched what we could, and Tater and I started the final grind to Pie Town.  As the light began to fade we started to see town, and a few minutes later arrived at the Toaster House.  I was greeted at the gate by Nita a trail angel near and dear to my heart.  She showed me where the Martin Papendick award was strapped to the gate.  Bandit brought us beers and chicken before we had our packs off and we stepped into the toaster house to be greeted by 30 thru-hikers.  It was a party for sure!

The Martin Papendick award at home at the Toaster House

I know the past few weeks I have been a bit cranky, but getting sick was like being reborn.  In my time of need, Sweet Potato was there for me, and my mates came through to get us to town.  I am so happy and proud to roll with this crew and hopefully, we can keep it together for many miles to come.

Sweet Potato showing off the random town clothes at the Toaster House

CDT mile 287 miles hiked 23.8

Old #46 has seen better days

We woke early and started out the good old CDT threw us for a loop, you see New Mexico has a lot of new trail sections and sometimes the maps I use by J Ley and then the app by Guthook don’t agree.  So I took the J Ley route and Sweet Potato took the offices route luckily we met up the way a few hours later.

Today was a good mix of up and downs and all around we had some fantastic views of the terrain ahead and I must say this is one wild and wonderful place.  We descended the mountaintop and met a road, once again we got duped.  I was following my maps along the CDT route and a few miles later we looked at the app and realized the new trail was over the mountain we were walking around so just stuck to the J Ley route and just made some extra miles on the old dirt road.

Yummy water along the trail

We can upon a trail crew with the forest service building new trail, thanks, guys we appreciate the hard work a lot.  They gave us each a gallon of water which was good because it was over 80 degrees and I was out of water.

We finally made the water tank at 3pm, knowing that the next good water was in 19 miles I decided to cook up some beans and replenish the missing calories from the past few days.  Right as we were packing up a very flustered Big John arrived, he is really struggling with all the navigation and the varies bits of info you have to string together.  It is a challenge but also part of what makes the trail so much fun, you get to make your own adventure and it’s probably true what they say “no two people walk the same CDT”.

We decided to end the day by another tank, I got the water and right when I stepped on a rock to dip water from it rolled and up both my feet went into the murky green water.  Oh well, my bedroll is laid out under the stars once again for some primo cowboy camping.  I love waking up at night and staring at the stars, watching the satellites whizz by and shooting stars galore.  I am one privileged and fortunate person and I am so grateful to be out here.

Tiny opened the gate for us

CDT mile 247 miles hiked 11

This water cache was a life saver

I awoke at 1 am with that old familiar wet mouth the sure sign of what was to come.  Seconds later I was on my hands and knees puking up my dinner.  After a couple of violent outbursts, I lay in my bag shivering.  I put on my down coat and wind shirt and still I shivered. Hours later I would be peeling these off as I fought the fever sweats.

At 5 am after not sleeping at all I knew I had to relieve myself quickly.  I got out of my bag and started to some nearby trees to dig a cat hole.  Before I knew it I was projectile vomiting and at the same time, it was all I could do to get my pants down.  I sat there alone in the dark squatting with a full-bore exorcism coming out of both ends.  When I finished I stood up to only ask myself, what is the leave no trace method to clean this up?  I dug holes and buried why I could.
I started back to my bag only to realize I had no idea where it was.  I called out and finally from the dark Zorro said over here.  I apologized for waking him and crawled back into my bag.  As the sun rose and so did my partners it was clear I wasn’t going anywhere for a while.

Sweet Potato said he would stay back with me to make sure I was ok. He got everyone to donate whatever water they could because there was none for miles.  At 10 am I woke up and the two of us started on our way slowly.  Eventually, Bambi caught us on the road walk, he is a nurse and gave me a once over-reassuring me it was most likely a stomach bug.  We walked some miles and then took a break, I passed out for a couple of hours. When I awoke we continued knowing water was far away still and required a big climb I was sure I couldn’t make it.

We walked by an old tank and decided to see if it did have water, indeed it did. We filled up our max capacity and agreed to go a few miles to the trees and camp.

We made the trees and set up my tarp and laid out my bag.  In minutes I passed out only to wake a few hours later to chat with Sweet Potato as he ate his dinner and I nibbled on a bar.  Right before falling back asleep sweet potato saw a headlamp close by and went to explore lo and behold it was Big John so the three of us will hike to Pie Town hopefully still making it by Friday.

CDT mile 263.2 miles hiked 16.2

Feral donkeys came to visit is on our walk

All night I dreamed of food, wonderful food back in Portland.  I dreamt first of cake, pastries, burgers, dumplings from. Shandong.  What I awoke to was the cries of the coyotes rounding up their pack before dawn and feeling ready to eat.
I was able to get down some oatmeal with cinnamon apples and a hot cup of coffee.  I lied in bed writing about the previous day and then we started to pack up.

Big John came over to say hi with his pack on ready to roll.  How crazy that after not seeing him for 2 days, he camps 75 feet from us last night.  We got on the road a nice USFS one with little to no traffic and began the climb to the divide at 9,000′.  When we saw Big John up ahead we spotted 4 donkeys that came out to follow him.  It was hilarious, they stopped after a bit and we saw them up close.

We kept going up, the creek had water but we all said I’ll make it to the next one 2 miles away, nope that was a dry, one thing out here in NM if you’re not in the Gila, never pass up water you never know if the next one will be dry. We eventually made the spring, grabbed water and started to tabulate miles.  68.5 miles to pie town still?  Well with that we knew we better get it in gear.

My caregiver and savior for many days of being ill

When we reached the top of the road, we kept going down it for we thought the CDT markers were for the “official” route over the black range to rejoin.  We walked about a mile downhill before realizing our folly and turning around.  We caught Big John and got back on track.

We stopped for a lunch as soon as I ate I slept for an hour.  I am still not completely better and felt sluggish and pukey on the uphills.  After lunch, we hiked up and over small peaks covered in blowdown and from the fires a few years back.
We finally came to the tank, more of a small pond and after assessing our energy levels decided to call it day.  The next 17 miles start with a clone that would put us at 9,000′ and in a very cold camp.  Instead, we are nestled in at the tank watered up and ready for the bright am wake up at 4:30 am.

A good nights rest was indeed needed

It’s another 57.5 miles to Pie Town, the Toaster House, and our other friends.  Not sure if we will make it as hoped by Friday, but we’ll see.

CDT mile 236 miles hiked 21
We layed in bed until the sun was up the cold night hat brought a heavy layer of condensation onto our bags and then froze solid.  We are the most cowboy camping crew around so far the only time my tarp had been pitched was at the hot springs to give me some privacy.

A natural arch

We finally packed up and set off for 13.5 more miles of Gila River beauty and A multitude of crossings.  The river was numbing and our legs were ready for the constant whipping we would soon endure.  We carried in as usual pushing miles and laughing along the way.

We finally sat down at 10:30 for a second breakfast and then I noticed it.  I had lost my camera.  My heart sunk as not only had I just lost the photos from Silver City to here, but that camera was also a gift from my wife and it broke my heart to know it was gone.  I backtracked some to look for it but I was pretty sure it fell out some 3/4 miles back.  I wrote a note and attached it to a signpost, hopefully, another hiker will find it and we will soon be reunited.

I was a bit down in the mouth as we carried on but then we came to Snow Lake, as we climbed to the USFS outhouses and campsites we saw a lady packing up from her time fishing at the lake, Buttercup turned to us and said, “She is preparing the trail magic.”  We spotted a bag of food someone had left by the sign in it was potted meat, spam, chips, chili, marshmallows and candies a true hobo find.  When she saw us digging in like a hungry pack of raccoons she asked if we wanted more food.

A feast any hobo would be jealous of

Now in the world of thru-hiking nothing brings a smile to ones face more than the phrase “trail magic” and that is what then happened.  Next thing we knew we had homemade brownies, shrimp cocktail with sauce and Munster cheese. We feasted like kings and Zorro was there with us and we introduced him to spam sandwiches.

The rest of the day found us walking up a dry canyon into an area that reminded me of the flowing hills of wheat in eastern Oregon along the Chinook trail.  We wove our way through numerous balsa before finding a camp at the edge of the forest.  We are tucked in sing as a bug and soon will be dreaming of home.

Me and Sweet Potato back together again

Momma and baby bear prints

If I didn’t know better I would say I was back home in the gorge

CDT mile 215, miles hiked 26
When I set off this morning my only intention was to have some quiet time to myself.  I am actually in a good pattern of waking early and getting out first.  This allows me to have some nice quiet time to enjoy the sounds of nature, and meditate so to speak.

We started the day with a short road walk, and then went up an alternate on trail 793 which takes you through Bear Creek Canyon.  It was a super cool hike, the last 2 miles were in a slot canyon and had that old west feel you only find out here.

one of many cool cliffs in the Gila

From there I hit the middle fork of the Gila.  It was a few quick miles up to Jordan hot springs and nice natural pool that stays at 94 degrees. Shepherd and his flock were there soaking so I joined right in.  After a couple hours the boys showed up I was just finishing my lunch so we packed up and took off.  Bandit, Buttercup and I rolled the miles all day only stopping a few times for snacks, photos, and water.

So full of joy

We finally passed Shepherd, Spontaneous, and Crunch Master who were making camp in a nice meadow.  We carried on and finally picked a campsite at canyon creek.  Just as the light was fading and we were cooking dinner we saw Freefall come up the river and shortly behind him Sweet Potato.  They told us they never saw the Greg and big John was somewhere behind.

We started to tally up the miles and lo and behold we had hiked 26 miles I guess we were all feeling good from our rest at the Gila hot springs.