Day 135 - Goodbye, Pie Town

After much hemming hawing and general procrastination, we got back on the trail today around noon. The hiatus to the Grand Canyon was incredibly fun. While it should have been energizing, it actually extinguished my ardor for getting to Mexico. I was reminded of how fun it is to sleep indoors, drink out of faucets, and have heat at night. Plus, seeing the Petrified Forest, Painted Desert and Grand Canyon reminded me that I can *drive* to amazing places, and not have to painstakingly hike everywhere. And, I heard so much music, from radios, CDs, tapes. It was wonderful.

But, I must focus. We are less than 300mi from the end, and I can keep it together long enough to get there. We did buy plane tickets for November 12, so we have to finish by November 11th at the very latest. I think we'll probably finish on the 9th or 10th, but we'll see how it goes.

Today, we picked up where we left off, after passing the brown house on Ed Jones Road. The road walk was long, but broken up by an ascent of Mangas Mtn. Afterwards, the spring which is indicated as 'good' on the map is completely dry. Some hunters who have been seeing CDTers go by were kind enough to supply water and do a some "two old guys out hunting in the woods" comedy.

We night hiked with Sky for a while, great conversation about Islesboro, the US health care system, AT memories. The miles flew by.

Camped in some trees, hiding from the strong gusts today. Going to find water in the am.

Night.

Mileage: ~24mi from brown house on Ed Jones Rd to near Hwy 12