Mile 290  to Mile 512

CUBA, NM

Making progress!

 

 

Into the bush at Hwy12...heading for 'Pie Town'

At the 'Toaster house' in pie town
- a home open to CDT hikers - provided
by the owner (Nita) for several decades

 

Join the crowd,  pick a mattress and settle in!

Just watch for fellow bedmates!

(this one was plastic so it wasn't so bad)




 



'Pie' at Pie Town - Blue Berry chocolate.
('Pie Town' is the actual name of the town)

Lava beds at 'El Malpais'......aborted this part of the trail...too slow...hit the road instead.

Just as well.....this storm came in soon after

Arrived at 'Grant' in a snow storm......
could barely negotiate with the staff at Super 8
(hands too cold to get stuff out of my wallet)

 

Heading north out of 'Grant' after several zero days
waiting for the crappy weather to improve

Fresh snow ahead.....Mt Taylor......trail goes over the top!
(Have opted for a lower, bypass route - will hit more than enough snow later!)

Joined forces with 'Steve'....Using a super light weight 'Z-tent'

Steve preparing a gourmet meal!

Fetching water for the day...keeping fingers crossed.

Trail angel left some coke and beer
....saved them for dinner.....love them trail angels!

Joined by CDT hikers 'Pot' & 'Lid' for a short section

Steve crossing a 'dry wash'

A friendly trail companion!

A not-so-friendly trail companion......manages to get a picture this time!

 

Always a treat to run into flowers

Nice hiking....mesa tops in the distance



Typical terrain on the Mesa tops......
......endless variety of rock outcropping

Getting close ...Cuba in the distance...end of this segment!
(looks close......but still didn't get in until after dark)

==========================================

COACHES CORNER

==========================================

PIE TOWN!



Front gate at 'Toaster House'.......not sure how this got started!



Sandy explaining to CDT hikers how this 'CDT thing' works

A side trip to the 'VLA' (very large array) radio telescope in NM
 24 of these are set up in a 20 mile diameter to get radio wave picture of distant galaxies

playing around on the sandstone

A natural 'Bridge'....part of the Sandstone adjacent to the Lava beds!

The Lava beds...3000 years old





Storm approaching....same storm that caught Darrell

 

Hey!....if the rain is horizontal.....why not the umbrellas??

The morning after!

The morning after a night of chasing tarp poles and putting them back up!
Miserable and cold.....gave up eventually and just kept my clothes on!
( the wind and snow pretty much destroyed the tarp)

A side trip into sunny Albuquerque

For some repairs to VW

A trip to REI

To get  a better pack for Darrell
......he was not happy with his super lightweight *&^%

Our tarp number 'two'....we'll see how this one stands up!

Bandelier National  Monument.....another cliff dwelling site!
Didn't even know about this one!

The structures take advantage of natural cave and alcoves
with adobe extensions built outward

 

Some were very well protected

Sandy climbing  one of the many access ladders

Aww....how sweet!

A cactus flower on the sandstone wall



Back to reality.....
Another trip to Albuquerque to take CDT hiker 'Gypsy'
to a medical clinic. A tooth extracted several weeks
earlier in Silver City was acting up! All went well
and there's reason to be optimistic!

UNTIL NEXT POST

CHEERS

 

JSD