Hiking 53 Miles to Sleep at the Toaster House

This morning, we got up decently early at the room and packed up. Then headed to grab some breakfast before we started trying to hitch back to the trail. I figured it was going to take a while to get a ride back.

After waiting ages for a hitch, Sparkle broke out her tyvec as a sign.

We wound up standing on the side of the road trying to hitch for over an hour before car pulled over. It was actually a guy who we had met yesterday who was camping in the area. He barely had enough room in his car, but he fit all of us in and drove us back down the road to where we got picked up last night. We didn’t start walking again until around 1pm. And at this point, we were a little over 50 miles from our next resupply location, Pie Town.

All of our packs on the curb.

Once we got dropped off, we started walking and pushed on for a couple hours. It wasn’t long into the day when James decided he wanted to hitch the rest of the way down the paved road. Then when we caught up to Syrup, he decided the same thing. A lot of people hitch the roads on the CDT, so that’s pretty common. Then it was just Sparkle and I making our way to town.

Squished into this strangers car which they were living out of.

Around this time, the two of us decided that we were going to do this entire 50 mile stretch in one push. That would mean we would get into town sometime around 5 or 6 o’clock in the morning tomorrow. Then we would catch up to the guys and just be able to spend the rest of the day sleeping and relaxing in town.

Lollipops are the perfect treat for boring road walks!

All we walked along the road we went past some cool rock formations, and a big natural arch. The road was otherwise pretty tedious, so the rock formations were cool to see. There were even some cave like areas that we could walk through just off the road. we got into a good routine of walking for about three hours at a time before stopping. Then we would find a nice place to sit down to eat and stretch.

Sparkle and I on the road.

We were making great time on the road walk and getting closer to Pie Town by the minute. Before we knew it, it got dark out and we were walking into the night again. The sunset was incredible tonight over the vast desert in the distance. Sparkle and I stuck together pretty close as we are walking in the dark. My body was feeling good and I was surprisingly not too sore. For the rest of the night we basically planned all of our breaks around water sources or places to get out of the wind.

Sparkle up ahead as the sun began to set.

Our next water source was about an hour or two after the sun had set and was a large cow trough with a pipe. We sat there for a bit and ate something. And around this time we put our layers on. I had resisted putting them on earlier but at this point I was freezing cold. When you’re walking your body heat keeps you pretty warm. Even while we were walking though I was still pretty uncomfortable. Sometimes you just don’t want to stop and take the time to get bundled up.

I put my rain jacket pants on to keep me warm and wore my gloves too. I’ve been wearing my gloves for at least part of the day every single day since Colorado. They’re one of the most crucial pieces of gear that I own at this point. We hung out at that water source for just long enough. Then we continued to walk. Our next planned stop was going to be the following water source in about nine or so miles. This one was actually on someone’s property by some kind of a building. Apparently you can camp there and there’s a privy as well.

Those next few hours flew by. I listened to music and just kept my head down and kept moving. Around this time I switched over from music to podcasts and that was actually helping the time pass a lot faster. The podcast I was listening to was about an hour to an hour and a half long, so I knew if I listened to about two of them it would take me to the next water source.

The sky was beautiful as the sun set this evening.

When we got to the next water source, we almost walked right by it. It just seemed like a person‘s private ranch, but there was a sign indicating that you could get water and tent nearby. There’s a small wooden building with an overhang with tables and chairs. There were orange Gatorade coolers filled with water. There were also apples and oranges, which was cool. I took a Clementine and sat there to fill up on water.

We took a nice break there and kept moving. We were getting closer now and probably only had about five or six hours of walking remaining. That meant we would continue on for a couple hours and then take one final break before we got to town. Those next couple hours were a little bit harder. I was tired and just ready to be done for the day. But you can’t rush these things. No amount of desire would make us get there any faster than we can. You just had to power through and keep walking.

Sparkle and some bright pink skies.

After a few hours I was in desperate need of a sit down to do some stretching. I was just starting to feel a little bit tight from the monotony of the dirt road walking. But I felt bad because it was cold and I knew that Sparkle didn’t really want to stop moving. We sat for maybe 5 or 10 minutes and then she wanted to get up. But I really needed to sit for a few to let my hips relax and help with the soreness. I did my stretching routine then we left our final break of the night. Now we just had to walk for another two or three hours and we would be in town.

My podcast helped to get me the rest of the way. And before I knew it, we were getting off of the dirt road and onto some actual paved road. I knew that meant we were getting close to town. Then we crossed over a main highway and continued on through town. We had arrived in town, but our final destination for the night was the Toaster House. This house used to be operated by a woman who owned the place, and she raised all of her children there. Then once they had left the home, she opened it up to hikers and allowed people to stay. But she passed away in the last couple of years and now the house is managed by a variety of caretakers.

Sparkle up ahead of me along the road in the dark.

It’s pretty incredible that this house is just left open as a resource for hikers. James and Syrup were already there and had arrived much earlier in the evening. The house has a lot of different rooms that you can stay in and it’s basically just a first, first serve basis. The guys chose a room that had a couple extra beds so when we arrived, we headed into the house. When we walked in the front door, a dog must’ve been inside and started barking aggressively. It was Tucker! A golden retriever that I met up in glacier with his owner Engine. After that I saw Case! We were hiking together for a while earlier on the trail around Yellowstone area. He’s done now because he had flip-flopped, so now he’s hanging out taking care of Tucker so that Engine can finish the trail.

Sparkle and I were exhausted so we really didn’t talk long. We just headed into that room and got comfortable and headed to bed.