Reserve, NM to Pie Town, NM

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Reserve is not a large town, having a population of 170 people. But it has all of the main staples: post office, hotel, laundromat, restaurant, and computer access. The town may not have a huge variety of everything but it has something that a lot of big towns don’t have- character. This was apparent ever since the minister’s wife drove us in.

When we arrived at our motel, the Elk Café (attached to the motel), where we had been advised to dine, had been transformed into a yard sale. The tables were filled with clothes, expired romance novels and candlesticks. The motel owner was in the restaurant and she asked us where we were from. My dad explained that we were hiking the CDT, and we started in Palomas, Mexico. She laughed and said that last year some people had came through but they where cheaters. They hitchhiked from the trail into town, the cheaters. She didn't seem to understand the concept that hikers hike the TRAIL, but not the miles OFF of the trail into town. As we left the café/ yard sale, Leslie said, “Well I guess we won’t be asking her for a ride.”

Afterwards, dad went scouting for espresso and found an espresso/bakery. The owner, Lee, asked him where he was from and when he said the Seattle area, she was ecstatic! She was still learning the ropes and asking for advice, he told her what a shot-in-the-dark was, among other things, and his drink was on the house. We also met two other through hikers in Reserve- Griz and his friend. Great guys, but we haven't seen them since. The following day, we called the radio station, gave them an update, and then waited a mere 5 minutes for a ride. A young woman named Monica in a white Sudan pulled up, and after a forty–some mile drive to the trail head, we started hiking north.

Day 1
Forest service roads all day long. So far the name of the trail doesn’t suit it. It should be called the Continental Divide road-walk. Though there has been some remote trail, for this stretch we hiked road on a flat landscape and eventually started going up. We did this for some time, and then we went up Mangas Mountain. It was our first mountain with snow fields, but we didn't have to hike over any of them. Those that were nearby were readily used to cool the water in our water bottles. Leslie’s blisters were better, but her left calf cramped miserably and spontaneously for the duration of the day. This was the result of a severe soccer injury she had sustained 14 months ago, that took over 10 months to heal. To make things worse, her bronchitis hadn’t been entirely overcome, so she was also having breathing difficulties.

Water was scarce so it was nice to reach a large pool of water, but it was a bit concerning to see so much cow poop around it. We got into skipping rocks and then my “special” hiking partners decided it would be funny to skip a cow pie in the drinking water. I think my dad’s new name should be stink finger. They didn't think about the "contamination" issue until after the fact and all of us proceeded to throw rocks in the water, creating waves so the cow pie would float close enough to the bank to be retrieved. That's not to say the water was pristine beforehand- it's "flavor de bovine" was readily evident in our water bottles. Yum....

It was a long day and we were in a hurry to get to camp. In our exhaustion and haste we missed a turn and ended up camping about a mile off of the trail. The sleep was good and the ground soft but the following day was going to be a little longer for all of us due to the error and a lot longer for me.

Day 2
We woke up and corrected our logistical error and made the extra walk back to the correct path. Again, we were on forest service roads all day. Leslie captivated us with her stories and during the distraction I realized that I forgot my retainer. So I ran back two miles and, by the grace of God, I was able to find it. I then ran back to the sun-bathing hikers so that we could proceed.

We raced to Pie Town, having met a hiker that said we would get there too late for food, but that maybe the restaurant was open late on Friday. Well, lucky us! We made it to Pie Town, and yes, we had pie. We ate more than just that though, we completely splurged and got as much as we could eat. We felt refreshed and with full bellies we went to our campsite since there was no lodging or showers in this town. I was sleeping oh-so-well and then I was woken up by "SHUT UP". Leslie was being kept up all night by barking dogs and now I was too.

The next day we were still exhausted, but planning on hitting the trail that day. Unfortunately our maildrop never made it to town, despite being mailed 3 weeks early. Though we were able to stock up on a healthy breakfast and lunch, we could only resupply with candy bars for the next leg since there was no grocery store in town. The staff at the Daily Pie were wonderful, helped us out where they could, gave us free Continental Divide Trail Alliance patches and stickers, and even let us borrow a map (the ones we needed were in the missing maildrop), to get us to Grants, which we would have to mail back later. We finally left around 1 pm.

~David

Info on Reserve from: http://www.eatstayplay.com/html/nm/p1477.html

"Reserve, New Mexico, is located in Southwest New Mexico. Reserve is the jumping off point to reach the Gila National Forest, the Apache National Forest, and the Cibola National Forest. From Reserve, visitors can also access the Gila Wilderness (est. 1924) is the oldest wilderness area in the U.S. with over a half million acres of wild, rugged mountains.

Reserve is approximately 200 miles southwest of Albuquerque, near the Arizona/New Mexico border and is the seat of Catron County. Catron County is one of the largest, least populated counties in the country, and is rich in history of the old West. The Catron County Chamber of Commerce serves northern and central Catron County.

Reserve, New Mexico is very popular for outdoor activities - hiking, hunting (elk, bear, deer, turkey, etc.), fishing, and camping. Mild climate and beautiful scenery make the area perfect for a weekend out of the city! While here, visitors can explore Indian ruins, petroglyphs, and other historical old west sites."