Day 28: Boring...(41miles)
With all restaurants closed, there was no reason for me to stay in Pie Town. I said my farewells to some of the 20hikers and left at 8am for the most boring roadwalk I've ever had to do. For the next 2 days into Grants, I would completely walk on dirt and asphalt roads.
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The weather was nice in the morning, when I met a trailangel refilling a water cache just 10miles from Pie Town, but later on the weather changed. It started to rain and to hail, with some pretty strong winds on an endless road through open land. Luckily the bad weather didn't last long.
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At the end of the day I was mentally exhausted from all these roads. Fortunately water wasn't an issue, as I could rely on a water cache, that was provided by my good old friend Golden, whom I met on the PCT in 2018.
I took some water for the upcoming night and pitched my tent half an hour later, some 100 yards from Highway 17, which would take me into Grants on the next day.
Just before pitching my tent a group of ~40 elk crossed the road and jumped over the fences on both sides.
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Day 29: Into Grants (29miles)
Day 29 started as 28 had ended, back on Highway 17 for another 29miles. The night on this open range had been rather cold and so was the morning.
The road brought me to the El Malpais National Monument, incl. the famous arch (4th picture).
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Fortunately there were not too many cars on the road, as several memorials and crosses along the road indicated quite a few deadly accidents.
Getting closer to Grants a local Trailangel stopped to check on me and gave me a slice of an apple. With some dark clouds rolling in, I increased my pace and tried to make it into Grants as early as possible.
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I arrived in town by 3:15pm, got a motel room and watched the rain poor down some 15minutes later.
The rest of the day I spent updating my blog, resupplying and contacting "Golden" who's cache I had used. He and his friend Savage were just on the road from Cuba to Grants on so we decided to meet for some beers at night.
We ended up in a local brewery with a host that claimed to have worked for the US special forces and being responsible for some killings of officials in Central America. His story wasn't all to convincing, but entertaining...