CouchtoCDT

Hiking the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) Northbound in 2013- sharing my preparation for the hike and my day to day experience while I'm on the trail. Inspiring people to follow their dreams.


1 Comment

Section 5: Pie town to Grants

I love Pie!

I love Pie!

After stuffing myself with pie and loving the Toaster House, while in Pie Town, it was unfortunately time to start the hike to Grants. We left late in the afternoon after meeting two other CDT hikers, Trip and Michigan Wolverine, in cafe where  we were having a late lunch. I couldn’t resist having one more piece of pie before I left.  We chatted for a while and shared stories of the past section, which is customary to do with other hikers. They are both great guys and I was glad to bump into Michigan Wolverine later on the trail in the El Malpais ” The Badlands” . We left the Toaster House with new hiker friends, Virgo and Nicotine, and did a 10 mile road walk until we called it a night near the road out of town. It was a cool night with a half moon that lit up my tent.

P1000941

The next morning we started on a full day of road walking before we hit Amejo Canyon which would be our camp for that night. We got water halfway through the day by stopping at the Thomas ranch which is run by some of the sweetest people I had ever met.

John and his wife have lived on the ranch for many years, having purchased the property from a flyer they happened to receive in the mail many years before .   They ranched the property and lived in a what you would call a “large open shed” that they converted into their living space. Everything was beautifully compartmentalized and decorated with antique, family pictures and an old west-looking ‘outhouse’ indoors. Its was a wonderful place. We sat and talked with them for 2 hrs about all the hikers that had come through the property since they started hosting hikers in the late 90’s, I believe. They had nothing but good things to say about hikers and the visitors they’ve had over the years. John told us stories about his time being a medic in Korea and how proud he was of his service and his continued mission work around the world. He was a pastor and his wife had joined him in his journey while raising their children.

John told us a story about how he had saved a man’s life in Korea.  He was called to a mortar explosion that a private had been unfortunate enough to be standing near.  When John arrived he used what he calls his “basic” military medical training to help the private whose insides were now outside of his body. The skin tends to shrink after the tension has been released from it so he picked up a large safety pin that was used to close laundry baskets and pinned the skin to his pelvis, pushing all of his insides back into his body.  They had been laying on his chest before that time and it was doubtful that the private would survive.  John did all he could for him and took him to the helicopter that would take him to the MASH unit that was waiting for him but not before he took a picture of the chopper as it flew away.  Fast forward 42 years, and after some investigative w0rk by John over the years, he obtained a phone number from the private’s cousin he’d  found through the internet.  With shaking hands, dialed the number and waited for someone to pick up… ring… ring… ring…  Finally someone picked up and it was the man whom he had saved 42 years earlier.  John told him his name and explained “I was one of the medics that pinned you up that day.”  The shocked private acknowledged, saying only “Oh, Oh…”  Unsure of what to do next, John asked him if he had plans for breakfast, being as the phone number was in the same area.  The private told him that he ate breakfast at the same place everyday, and he suggested they meet there.  John replied “Ok, I’ll meet you there but you better not die tonight because I’ve waited 42 years to meet you again.”

The next morning, two men who had not seen each other for 42 years are face to face in a coffee shop.  They embrace other and quietly start to cry.  This is the story that John tells us and as he tears up, I can feel myself doing the same.  This is bravery and love from service that I will never know.  It warms my heart thinking about it even now.

The Thomas's

The Thomases

John then embraced his wife, for whom he has so much love, it practically glows from their faces and  bodies. It was truly a wonderful place to rest our weary bones. Two hours later, we continued on our road walk until dark when we reached the canyon and setup camp for the night. The next day we headed up and over the ridge to Sand Canyon, which as you expect, was lots of walking on road and sand that just sapped the energy out of me. Virgo is a faster hiker than me, so he took off and we didn’t see him again until we arrived at Grants. Everyone has their own hiking style, and that’s fine with me. We continued down the canyon and eventually started our road walk to the Rim Trail which provides a great overlook of the Ventana Arch and the expansive volcanic area called El Malpais National Monument.

P1010011

P1010024

P1010017

The black basalt terrain was created over the past million years by volcanic forces that created this vast landscape of cones, trenches and caves. The black volcanic rock was tough to walk on and brought the end of my shoes by cutting up the soles so badly that my feet were completely exposed to sand. The going was slow but, the beauty of the landscape and it’s rugged terrain was a great change of pace. After the 4 hours of walking across the El Malpais we entered the final canyon which would take us to Grants the next day. We camped that night on the side of the forest road with Michigan Wolverine, who we’d caught up to toward the end of our hike in the Malpais. The next day we continued on the forest road but not before spotting my second snake of the trip. It was sunning itself on the road and cared less that we were near it until we got a closer at it. It was still a young snake so it’s rattle wasn’t loud and it didn’t seem as afraid of us, as I was of it.

USA

USA!!

Walking into Grants I was happy to back in a town that provided me with the opportunity to rest and relax before the next section. We stayed at the Travel Inn, which has cheap rates, and did our laundry, which needed lots of presoaking. I’ve learned that washing machines are designed for normal humans, not thru hikers.


Leave a comment

Evolving from Car camper to lightweight backpacker

I started camping when I was about 8 yrs. old.  My dad brought the family and I out to Colorado for a camping festival with over 200 Czech people, which is where my family immigrated from back in 1979.  At the time, the woods of Colorado were amazing with the trees, rocks, cliffs and the possibility of bears.  Oh, how I wanted, but didn’t want to run into a bear.  It’s an amazing feeling to be both scared and excited at the same time.

I continued to car camp with friends and family through the years but it wasn’t until about 8 years ago that I decided that there must be much better things to see far away from the parking lot and my beer stash.  My buddy Bret always wanted me to leave the site and go for a hike but, I was more interested in being fat and close to my beer then to actually go out and see something.  Once I did leave the parking lot, I was amazed at how beautiful, quite and clean everything was now in the woods.  There were no beer cans, propane stoves and huge fire rings so you could have that stereotypical ‘bonfire’ that your suppose to have when you camp.  I learned how to follow a trail, pack equipment (not lightweight) and setup camp in the backcountry.  I was immediately hooked.  I spent a long time looking for resources to learn more about it.  After a few trips with a traditional heavy pack, I knew I had to lighten up.  I weighted about 300lbs at the time so I didn’t want to carry another 50 lbs on my back.  I went looking for a lighter way and below are some online resources I found:

Here is a summary of my favorite backpacking sites:

Backpackinglight.com is probably the best website you will find that is dedicated to lightweight backpacking.  It has a huge online forum community that is very helpful, great gear reviews, buy/sell your used gear and wonderful trip reports posted by members.  They examine techniques, philosophies, gear, and the evolution of products and are constantly challenging the status quo of current backpacking trends.  This should be your first stop if learning how to hike.  If you’re going to start venturing into the backcountry you might as well do it light!

Whiteblaze.net is another great site to learn about backpacking, hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT) and get advice on gear and technique.  This site has been around a long time so there is a large archive of forum questions and discussions.  There are also a lot of colorful members who are very helpful with your questions and will be honest on what they think of your gear list or any question you ask.

Backpacker.com is the online site for the same named magazine that I’m sure you have seen somewhere.  They are great at posting reviews, trip ideas, interviews and stories related to the outdoors.  I tend to use this mostly for trip ideas; you can enter in a place such as Rocky Mountain National Park and it will pull up trips that they have either posted online or in their magazine.  I do question some of their reviews but, they are a great place to look if your brand new to backpacking and still need to learn what the 10 essentials are. My only warning is that they mostly promote traditional gear, not very many lightweight options but a good place to look.

My next posting will be a trip report from my weekend in Canyonlands National Park over the Labor Day weekend.  Keep a look out for that soon!