{"id":311,"date":"2016-05-21T22:54:24","date_gmt":"2016-05-21T22:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/?p=311"},"modified":"2017-05-21T21:31:41","modified_gmt":"2017-05-21T21:31:41","slug":"the-generous-gentlefolk-of-grants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/2016\/05\/21\/the-generous-gentlefolk-of-grants\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday, May 21 The Generous Gentlefolk of Grants"},"content":{"rendered":"

SUMMARY:\u00a0 <\/strong>We started walking early this morning, all clean, rested and much more relaxed.\u00a0 Our goal was the CDT trailhead on Lobo Canyon Road.\u00a0 But before we reached it, four different Grants people stopped with offers of water, food, and even a ride to the trailhead.\u00a0 Very generous!\u00a0 One lady even told us that this Monday the city fathers of Grants will be having a meeting to discuss ways Grants could be even more hiker-friendly.\u00a0 They like hikers!\u00a0 Meanwhile, back on trail, a spring we’d counted on for water was dry, but we found another one.\u00a0 We are camped in the woods tonight.<\/p>\n

\"may-21-8\"DETAILS:\u00a0 <\/strong>We decided to do the “run for your life dash” across the RR\/freeway overpass first thing, early this morning, so by 6:00 am we were tucking our last bits of gear into the packs and getting ready to start.\u00a0 We felt much better than when we first got here–now we are well rested, clean and relaxed.<\/p>\n

We made the dash across the overpass just fine, running as fast as we could, and began walking along what used to be Route 66, “The Mother Road” as it headed into downtown Grants.\u00a0 So sad, though.\u00a0 Many businesses are closed, and things really look run down.\u00a0 The locals had told us that there used to be over 50,000 people living here in the 1990’s, but now it’s way less.\u00a0 We ended up getting breakfast (burritos & coffee)\u00a0at the only place we could find that was open–“Lotaburger”–a hamburger joint which was started in 1952.<\/p>\n

Then we followed Yogi’s map through the residential neighborhoods of Grants, till we reached Lobo Canyon Road.\u00a0 At the intersection, there was a grocery store, and I decided on one last trip to a “town” bathroom before we started the roadwalk to the CDT trailhead.\u00a0 After I\u00a0came out, and we were walking through the parking lot, a sweet older lady pulled up alongside us and got out of her car to talk.\u00a0 She told us that the city of Grants has woken up to the fact that they are a very important “way station” on the CDT, and that this Monday night, the city fathers are having a meeting to discuss how they could make Grants more hiker-friendly.\u00a0 They are already known as a “Route 66 City”, and now they’d also like to be known as a “CDT Gateway”\u00a0 city as well.\u00a0\u00a0 She told us some of the ideas they are considering, like free bus passes for hikers, so they don’t have to hitch hike.\u00a0 We told her it would be a big help if the city could appeal to the BLM to allow water caches north of town, for the hikers to use.\u00a0 But she looked very sad at that, and said, “The BLM thinks they own everything.\u00a0 They are closing roads up in the mountains here, that people have been using for years.\u00a0 They are even closing off whole areas and saying nobody is allow to go in at all, not even hikers.\u00a0\u00a0 They are arrogant and rude and awful.\u00a0 I don’t think there is much we can do with them, but I guess\u00a0we could at least TRY.”\u00a0 Then she asked if we needed water or food or anything!\u00a0 We told her we were just fine, and appreciated her kindness.<\/p>\n

The walk up Lobo Canyon Road had several highlights.\u00a0\u00a0 After we’d reached the edge of town, we got to a sort of informal shooting range right by the road.\u00a0 It was basically a bunch of concrete barricades (the kind you see in highway construction zones) at a turnout, with various targets on the hillside across the way.\u00a0 Then we came to a prison, where we could see the prisoners in their red & white clothes behind a LOT of razor wire.\u00a0 Sad.\u00a0 \u00a0Fixit goes to\u00a0a prison back home and a couple of times a month he goes in with the Gideons (the guys who put Bibles in hotel rooms) and they go cell to cell to see if any prisoners want a Bible, and to talk to them.\u00a0 Prisoners have lots of time to read, and the Bibles have a very good effect.\u00a0 We hoped the prisoners we were seeing had someone visiting them, like Fixit does at our local prison.<\/p>\n

While we were walking along the road, three more folks from Grants stopped to offer us water and rides to the trailhead.\u00a0 So generous!\u00a0 We were grateful, but had to decline.\u00a0 “We’re WALKING from Mexico to Canada, and we want to leave a trail of footprints, not tire tracks!”<\/p>\n

Finally we reached the CDT parking lot, where there was a whole collection of the usual signs about trail rules, critters, etc.\u00a0 We look at all that stuff and just shake our heads…use ordinary common sense, and you will be fine.\u00a0 And all those signs could easily put off newbie hikers who are not confident yet in what they’re doing.\u00a0 We have friends who never hike, because they see all those signs at trailheads and get scared.\u00a0 But wow, it felt so good to be back on TRAIL!\u00a0 We had so many miles of roadwalking INTO Grants and then OUT as well.<\/p>\n

The trail began with a stiff climb up to the top of the mesa, where once you get there, it’s totally flat.\u00a0 We ate lunch in the shade of some small trees, right near the edge, with a great view.\u00a0 Continuing on, the only hazard along the way (other than the usual rocks) was what we call “anklebiters”–short little cacti lurking right by the trail, waiting to stab you in the ankle with their spines if you’re not careful.\u00a0 The anklebiters were hiding in the grass and plants on both sides of the trail.\u00a0 Sometimes it was like running a gauntlet to get past them.<\/p>\n

On the mountainsides across the way from the mesa we were on, we could see mines that looked like they were actually in use.\u00a0 We wondered what they were mining?\u00a0 There used to be uranium mines around here…are they still working some of them?<\/p>\n

Our afternoon’s walk took us closer and closer to Mt. Taylor, till we reached the road that takes you to the top.\u00a0 We’d already decided, though, to stick with the official CDT, which goes AROUND Mt. Taylor instead of up it.\u00a0 So we stayed with the trail, looking forward to replenishing our water supply at a nice piped spring with a metal tank\u00a0not too far away from the trail route.\u00a0 When we reached the spring, though, we met with a HUGE disappointment.\u00a0 There was the pipe all right, and the metal tank, but somebody had opened the valve at the bottom of the tank to let all the water drain out.\u00a0 So no water.\u00a0 None.\u00a0\u00a0 We growled and snarled and said, “I bet the BLM did this!”<\/p>\n

But there was nothing else to do except start rationing our water we had left, to make it last 11 miles, till the next water possibility.\u00a0 Fortunately, we had already started hydrating our dinner, so when we stopped late in the day to eat, we did have a good meal.\u00a0 And even better, it was one of the freezedried dinners our daughter had given to us as a Christmas present, so that made it even more special.\u00a0 I needed that encouragement–I was very concerned about our water situation.<\/p>\n

We walked on, mostly in dry forest (but with one\u00a0section where the trail went along the edge of a cliff, and there were awesome views!) and at 7:00 we started looking for a flat place to camp.\u00a0 The trail took us down into a small canyon, and aha!\u00a0 A flat place at the bottom!\u00a0 That’s when we saw the little sign.\u00a0 It said, “Spring”, with an arrow pointing down the canyon to the left.\u00a0 It didn’t say how far, but we decided, “Fixit will\u00a0go see if he can find the spring, while I (3rd Monty) will look for a good campsite.”\u00a0 So Fixit headed off into the woods, while I started looking around for the best place to camp.\u00a0 In the process of looking, I walked just a bit farther up the trail and discovered that it crossed a dirt road, and near the road in a little hollow, nestled in a bedraggled plastic bag, I found a quart bottle of WATER!\u00a0 It had never been opened. I figured it might be all that was left of one of the Mumm’s water caches.\u00a0 I was\u00a0really thirsty, so I carefully drank about 1\/3rd of it, figuring that Fixit needed more than I did, with scrambling down and up the canyon.\u00a0\u00a0 When I got back into the canyon, I didn’t have to wait too long before Fixit got back, very happy, because he had found the spring.\u00a0 No more water worries!\u00a0 He drank the 2\/3 quart I’d found, then took all our water containers and headed back down, while I set up our camp in the best flat spot I could find.\u00a0 Whew!<\/p>\n

Now we are very comfortably cowboy camped, watching a gorgeous sunset overhead, and enjoying the quiet of the woods with just a breath of wind.\u00a0 And we have plenty of water to last us awhile.<\/p>\n

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