Day 20 – The Switcheroo
Day miles: 23
Trip miles: 370.5
I slept in and didn’t begin hiking until 8 or so. It felt wonderful. My feet also seemed to be in fairly good shape. After switching out the insoles, I noticed an immediate improvement. Had I finally figured out my issue?
The morning walk was peaceful. The wind still hadn’t kicked up and the canyon was quiet. I passed an old dilapidated shack and the foundational remnants of some kind of old settlement. Who knows what realized or broken dreams transpired there.
The walk through the canyon paralleled a deep, sandy wash until it began to carve up through rocky switchbacks. There were small caves here and there in the rock wall. They were not human dwellings, but I could picture animals or bats hanging out in them.
I walked out of the canyon and through a valley to a solar well, where I grabbed 5 liters of water. I would not have another water source until the next day mid-morning. My feet were feeling a million times better, but I had one hot spot on my heel, so I stopped at the only tiny scrap of shade to address it.
As I sat and taped up my foot, a young couple stopped and offered me a cereal bar. They had been camping in the adjacent canyon. It was very sweet of them. The guy kept calling me “sir,” which made me feel old.
I hiked onto highway 117 and began a longish road walk. However, as soon as I reached the beginning of a tall mesa to the right, I hiked off the road to a picnic area. This would be my key to getting off the road and having a bit of adventure with this route.
From the picnic area, there is a trail that runs up the side of the mesa and all the way along the ridge until a huge natural arch called La Ventana. Hundreds of millions of years ago this whole area was a vast desert like the Sahara. Later, it was inhabited by dinosaurs during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, and the arch was apparently formed during the Jurassic period.
This alternate to the Cebolla route, which just follows the road far below, is known as the high route. I wanted to do something different, so I took this route. It was definitely the right choice. I should have done this in 2019!
Rather than taking the trailhead up the mesa, I went to the other end of the picnic area and just climbed up the side. It wasn’t too steep and added a bit of adventure. Once I got to the top, there was a well-defined path to walk. I wasn’t sure if there would be a trail the whole way, but there was.
From the top I had sweeping views as far as I could see of the massive lava fields known as El Malpais – the badlands. The rock is very dark in color, not too unlike obsidian, but not shiny, and just looks like some kind of frozen toxic waste. It is very distinctive, and the views from the high route really hammered home just how huge the lava fields were.
There were hordes of cicadas up there, popping into the air as I startled them, chirping and whizzing about like pods beaming back and forth from the mothership. I looked right into the red, beady eyes of one as it narrowly arced around my face.
Taking this route, along with my feet feeling better, really made for a great day. I wasn’t sure exactly where to descend from the high route, other than that it was somewhere by the natural arch. I found the path down by following some nicely placed cairns, and got down relatively easily. There was quite a bit of scree towards the bottom, but by going slowly I managed not to slip and fall.
There were great views of the La Ventana arch from the high route. The only way to see that it is a true arch, however, is to stand beneath it and look up through it. It was written there that it is 25 feet thick at its thinnest section. It definitely looked impressive, and I probably enjoyed it more this time than in 2019 due to my route variation. It felt a little odd, however, that I just ended up walking out through a parking lot and back into the road. “Civilization” sometimes feels a bit too close.
I ended the day by camping where the official CDT and the Cebolla route meet. I had a quiet evening watching the sun go down and thinking about what I needed to do in Grants. I was beyond grateful that my feet had a good day, and quietly hopeful that tomorrow would be more of the same.
Day 21 – The Kickless Town
Day miles: 22
Trip miles: 392.5
I woke up early to get into Grants. I had a fairly long road walk ahead of me and I needed to get to the post office before it closed at 5.
Walking along highway 117 isn’t that bad. There are picturesque canyon walls and rock formations along the way, and a reasonable shoulder to walk on. I actually walked much of the way in sandy grass beside the road. As far as road walks go, it is pleasant.
I made it to the El Malpais ranger station and ducked under the gate to go check it out. It is said to be closed indefinitely, but the exterior was in pristine condition. I needed water, and they had a spigot that was still running. They had trash and recycling cans that appeared to still be in use and were far from overflowing. It would be a stealth camping dream to stay there, but I had town food on my mind, so I filtered water and marched on.
The trail walks right across I40, and right past a Subway and gas station. I stopped at the Subway and had a foot long veggie sub for lunch. I felt like I needed some vitamins. I drank two huge fountain root beers, bought a king size Twix at the gas station, and headed out.
In the distance, I could see an entire train on the tracks. It seems that Grants is some kind of shipping hub, as there was quite a bit of rail activity. Because there weren’t any real trees around, I could see the length of the entire train, and to end. I tried counting the cars, but lost track after seventy. I guesstimated that it had about a hundred.
The road walk into town got a little rough on the feet at that point, as I was walking on the hard asphalt. Rather than turning off to the hotel to check in and out my pack down, I beelined for the Post Office, which was another few miles away. I wanted to make it there before five when they closed.
As I walked into town there were lots of reminders that I was walking in the famed Route 66. It appeared, however, that whatever kicks may have been gotten here before had long since dried up and blown away. Grants is full of shuttered motels, dumpy looking businesses, and has very little visible charm from Route 66, which is the main drag through town. It just felt like a place that had been abandoned by the spotlight a long time ago, and perhaps had been thrust on the stage before there was ever really an established audience. It seemed haunted by the ghosts of the ghosts of yesteryear. I’m sure there are charming nooks in the city, but I couldn’t really see any as I walked down Route 66 wondering if the town ever had a vibrant character. It would be a great stop for us as hikers, but I just couldn’t picture anyone wanting to visit Grants otherwise.
I made it to the post with about thirty minutes to spare, but the ball of my right foot was now hurting. Fortunately, the packages I sent there had all arrived. I picked up my new Thermarest sleeping pad, gaiters, and my Winston resupply box that I bounced from that town when the Black Range fire closure went into effect.
I sent back my leaky Thermarest mattress to see if it could be repaired, then stepped back outside. There is a low-cost shuttle in Grants that gives rides to destinations in town. It used to be called the Carrot Bus, but now is called the Rockin’ 66 Bus. You typically need to make a reservation in advance, but I called and they happened to have someone available to pick me up in ten minutes. What luck!
The bus pulled up, I paid the fifty cent fee, and we were on our way. Not only did I not have to walk back to Motel 6, but I also had taken my footsteps all the way to the post office, which would be on our route out of town. This meant I could schedule a ride back to the post office to pick up my footsteps heading out of town. No need to rewalk those miles! I’ve walked enough bonus miles as it is.
On the way to Motel 6, the bus slowed down and Chef hopped on. Chef started the trail on the same day as me, but he took off and I didn’t see him again until the Toaster House in Pie Town. He was there when I left, so I was confused as to how he was in Grants. He explained that he had hurt his foot and hitched to Grants to get it x-rayed. Apparently it wasn’t broken, but he had a bad infection. Yikes! I felt bad for him. He was about to take a week off trail though, so I hoped that time would serve his foot well.
I focused on getting clean and examining my feet at the motel. Stormy rolled in about two hours later and split the room with me. We tried to go to an all you can eat “Asian Super Buffet” across the street, but it was closed, so we ransacked Taco Bell. I ate a hard shell taco and four burritos – one supreme and three off the dollar menu. On the way back to the room, I stopped at Walgreens and purchased a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Tonight Dough ice cream. It was gone before I went to sleep.
I was happy to be in Grants so I could get cleaned up and rest my feet again. Things were about to get interesting though. We would rest tomorrow and zero in town, but the day after we were set to hike out on our own route. Towely really came up with the route. It was a series of road walks that would take us completely around the CDT fire closure between Grants and Cuba, and then back to the CDT before hitting town. We just had no idea what to expect, including where water sources will be. We know at least two others have taken the same route (I believe Towely shared it with them). So, it is going to be an adventure for sure.
CDT Day 22 – The Big Eat
Day miles: 0
Trip miles: 392.5
It was nice sleeping in a bit. The day was spent in a flurry of eating and “trail chores.” Stormy and I ate breakfast at Dennys, then went to do laundry at the hotel. The washer was, unfortunately, out of order.
We were surrounded by hotels and motels. I reasoned that, given the laundries in these establishments are typically coin operated, with detergent being an upsell item, that maybe one of the other hotels would let us use their facilities. We walked to the Best Western next door. I was wearing my finest, semi- transparent wind pants, underwear silhouette clearly visible, and rain jacket with nothing underneath. Stormy looked a bit less like a flasher.
“Hi there! Monique, if I may, how are you today? That’s a lovely sunflower tattoo you have, to go with your lovely name. I’m Kevin and this is Justin, and we’re in a bit of a pickle you see….” And so I went into charm mode. I had to make sure she didn’t think we were addicts running a con (clientele at the Motel 6 was “mixed”). I printed out that we would be happy to patron her high margin laundry facilities and, just like that, she agreed.
So far I’d had a good run of it in Grants. I’d gotten a bus ride back from the post office, we didn’t have to wait on our room at Motel 6, they’d given us a hiker rate of $67 after tax, and I had gotten consent to use the Best Western laundry. Not bad!
Draggin showed up later in the day, and we heard that Blueberry and Business, the two Canadians, were in town. Towely was still a day out. We had the map route from Towely and some initial data points from a friend of his, so we decided we would push on tomorrow. Towely was planning to rest in Grants when he came in before hiking on. Hopefully we would all meet back up in Cuba or Chama.
Later in the day we went to Walmart for some food, and then in the evening we dined at the Asian Super Buffet, which was now open. Having lived in China before, I can tell you that it was not authentic or even a great version of Chinese food. It would best be described as “Chinese style.” It didn’t matter though – it was good enough, and for fifteen bucks we gorged ourselves. It served its purpose of calorie replenishment and storage.
Tomorrow we hike out of Grants on our alternate around the fire closures. It would be nice to have better knowledge of water sources, but we will figure out how to get water along the way. At this stage, we are trying to pace ourselves so we do not get to Chama and the San Juans too early. I think we’ll be in great shape with our timing of getting to Colorado. It was nice to have a day of rest in town today, but I’m ready to hike on in the morning. I’m hoping the road walk won’t be too tough on my feet, but we shall see!
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