Day 16 – 5/8/13 – 23.4 mi (291.4)

It wasn’t as cold last night, only getting down to around 35, but the first few miles were all downhill, so it took me a while to warm up.

Down around the valley floor we came to a windmill which fills a tank for cows. The water in the tank was the usual slimy green, but when the wind was blowing, fresh water streamed out of a PVC pipe into the tank. This outlet appeared unreachable, as it was about 4 ft from the edge of the tank. The others all laughed at me when I first suggested duct taping a Gatorade bottle to a trekking pole, but I was determined. I ended up finding some nylon rope laying in the cow pen and used it to tie the bottle onto my extended pole. Fresh water for all!

A mile or two later we came to a beautiful CDT trailhead sign and had to make an important decision. To the best of my knowledge, the CDT has recently been rerouted from this point north to the highway that leads to our next stop, Pie Town. However, it dumps out about 6 miles west of Pie Town, and there is no trail built north of this highway. Also, everyone in my group is using the Jonathan Ley maps, which only show the old route. So, we opted to take the old route, which is a series of dirt roads.

Late afternoon we arrived at a spring where we expected to find water, only to find it all dry except for one concrete box with a few inches of water that smelled like death about 4 ft down. We all decided to make do with what little we had rather than drink that filth.

After a 3 mile climb up, we reached the Managas fire lookout, expecting to find a derelict tower, but instead got an awesome surprise: the tower is actually active and staffed! Despite being technically off duty, the man working there, Dave, invited us to come up for a visit. It was a great view, and Dave was very friendly and told us lots about his job and the surrounding areas. And to top it all off, he had water for us! What a great ending to this day. I’m camped tonight with Ninja, Love Note, R. Dirty, Puck, and Sweetfish. Tomorrow is Pie Town!

The Daily Ninjup Report
Despite the cold morning, Ninja powered through her 5 pushups like a pro.