Day 20 (May 15, 2021)

Pie Town Alternate 18.1 to Toaster House Hostel in Pie Town (mile 39.7 on Pie Town Alternate)

It rained very lightly early after sunset last night then cleared up. The middle of the night was stunning again.

This morning was cool but warmer than I expected. The hike started off well with a relatively close encounter with several elk within a short distance of starting. Neat.

The road was still downhill at this point, so it didn’t take long to reach the water spigot. Why a water spigot randomly by the side of the road you ask? Good question. It appears to be near a recently abandoned small mining operation, or at least one not active at the moment. I don’t care. Fresh clean water is available. After this source there are actually several available today. My next goal for water (and more) is a place called Davila Ranch CDT Rest Facility. More about that later.

The road was now a well maintained wide dirt road. There were intermittent nice houses in the hills around the road, but not many. I talked briefly to one homeowner doing some maintenance at his gate. He was kind enough to offer water, though I needed none.

About two miles before Davila Ranch I caught up with a hiker I had seen ahead of me for a while. His trail name is Pro. And, you guessed it, he is a golf pro. It was pleasant to talk with him as we hiked. Though hiking somewhat slowly, he has been shedding weight from his pack with plans for more and has persevered through a lot. Keep on hiking Pro!

We arrived at Davila Ranch. The owners of the ranch have built a facility for hikers next to the trail to take a break and even spend the night. It is two metal lean- to sheds set 90 degrees apart that intersect in the middle. One of the sides has been divided into a shower area and real flushable toilet (yeah!). The middle intersection area houses a refrigerator filled with potatoes and eggs (and maybe other food at other times), two propane burners, pots, pans, wooden table, and a shelf with utensils, a washing machine,, and free WiFi. Wow. The other side of the shelter is just for some protection from the elements if you spend the night. And, of course a water spigot. It is all donation based. We met the owner about a mile before arriving as he was delivering eggs in a motorcycle. Great person.

I couldn’t just stop for water. Since it was near lunch I cut up half a potato (they were huge), fried it up and added eggs and salt. Delicious on trail meal. I said goodbye to Pro (he was spending the night) and moved on toward Pie Town.

The trail was the wide dirt road the rest of the way to town. The only thing of note was a short lived hail storm during a break. I was partially covered under a small piñon tree so just used the umbrella as I sat waiting for it to pass. It rained so little the road did not even get muddy.

Pie Town is not a big place. It is a post office, small cafe and a, shall we say, eclectic assemblage of houses and some businesses, none of which is a grocery store. Hikers (and bikers) stay at the Toaster House, a donation based hostel. With no store in town, hikers send resupply boxes to the hostel. I was expecting a new tent as well as two boxes of food my wife had sent.

It is called the Toaster House because the front gate is decorated with numerous old toasters. Just started happening years ago. The owner just wasn’t willing to give up the house when some family members passed years ago and just started hosting hikers and bikers. There are several rooms and a common area to sleep and room for tents in the yard. Both were needed since the place was full today. I was planning on trying out my new tent anyway.

Then the surprise. I quickly found my new tent in the pile of boxes, but not my food boxes. Semi-frantically I searched several times. Not there. I called my wife to ensure they had been shipped. Yep, they had been. Then I realized it was Saturday night (you lose track of time hiking!). Yikes. That meant I would have to wait until Monday to see if they were in General Delivery at the Post Office, or maybe just showing late. Sigh....

But.... the trail provides. The hiker box at the Toaster House is legendary for the amount of food in it since many hikers aren’t sure how much food to send themselves and over do it. They leave a lot, what amounts to a small pantry. So, I could resupply from there. Then true magic. Another hiker mentioned he had run across a hiker leaving the trail in Reserve who said he had a resupply box at the Toaster House we could use. Perfect. Bottom line: no worries. Whew. Forgive me for being worried.

After setting up the tent I joined the numerous other hikers on the porch to swap stories etc. One of the hikers had a friend on vacation in the area who brought a cooler full of drinks and bags full of fruits, cookies, and frozen pizzas. It was a great time just hanging out. Hiker midnight was pushed until 10:00 for this night.