Pie Town Memories

Wednesday, April 14
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Pie Town New Mexico. It feels good to be here. It has been 17 years since I last walked into Pie Town. Early May 2004 Garlic Man and I hiked here to have some pie which was wonderful. Our server said we have to meet Nita at the Toaster House. We learned this was the local hiker hostel. When we knocked at the door a young lady named Prairie wearing just a towel invited is in and said make yourself at home. Coming from a larger the city I thought this was strange, but it was a good place to rest. I never met Nita in 2004 and we thought we were missing a large part of Pie Town.


Seventeen years later while I walk the FCL I smiled as I hiked into Pie Town again, and of course the pie is wonderful but there is a bonus! I got to meet Nita. I told her the the story about the young lady in the towel, she said that sounds like her daughter Prairie.


Nita is a trail angel to the extreme. She has been inviting hikers into her home since 1982. Today I am here with three CDT hikers, two Great Divide bike riders, and another trail angel who is helping CDT hikers. I even missed Freebird by 45 minutes. He is a hiker from my PCT 14 hike that still makes me smile. I missed him because I was busy eating pie.


Now that you know I am smiling in Pie Town what did I experience since leaving Socorro New Mexico. The answer is simple: hiking in sand, hiking into the wind, cross country route finding which I love, and stirring up herds of elk. I captured a video of several New Mexico gray wolves chasing a herd of elk. It was an amazing site to see nature work. To the best thing about the Socorro to Pie Town section was experiencing the elk.


I also climbed Davenport Peak 9,354 feet. There is a lookout on top that was staffed. I could not enter because of COVID, but this was fine with me. It was nice seeing him attentive to his job. We were talking and he abruptly stops picks up the binoculars looks in the distance, then says “no fire, just a car driving down a dusty road”, then continues our conservation as a normal course of operation.


I will be spending the night at the Toaster House and after having pie for breakfast I will be on my way to Alpine Arizona. The next section is 115 miles and should take about one week to walk. I am currently 335 miles into my walk.


Happy Trails
The Animal