Day 9 – Laying over in Pie Town… for more Pie!

We have arrived at one of the legendary stops along divide: Pie Town.

Yes, the place actually exists.  It’s home to maybe 50 people and two pie shops.  That’s the correct ratio of pie to people, if you ask me.  The pie was especially delicious for us since we were running pretty thin on food coming into town.

We passed six thru-hikers on the road into Pie Town, doing the slow walk along a big open road.  Bikes may have been a hindrance up near Wagontongue Mountain, but they sure were nice on the road into town.

The Pie is legendary, and so is the Toaster House, run by the ever-so-kind and enthusiastic Nita.  She moved here in the early 80’s, and soon after started noticing the occassional hiker passing right by her house.  Little did she know that the beginnings of a cross-country trail on the divide was routed here.  She started inviting them to stay at her house, eat pie, rest up, etc.  You can tell she loves to hear trail and life stories, having a special love for all the random little connections that pop up if you’re paying attention to them.  People from all over the world have passed through here and stayed at the Toaster House.

It’s got everything a weary traveler needs.  Really just incredible.  If only there was a Toaster House every few hundred miles to look forward to!  We love it so much here that we decided to take a ‘zero’ day to rest up and visit with some of the hikers and locals. It’s hard to imagine a more comfortable (and free — donation based) place to chill out.  The only thing lacking is the internet and phone service.  Both are spotty at best.

I *was* able to get a call into a Portland radio station’s “Bicycle Built for Tuesday” show.  They were looking to talk to someone about bikepacking (which they had heard of through the recent REI ad that picked up on the term).  They found bikepacking.net and dropped me an email.  I said I didn’t know if I could get the call through, but I’d try.

First time on live radio for me.  It was kind of fun since I had no idea what to expect.  They wanted to know about our trip, Pie Town, and even a bit about conflict between bikes and hikers while bikepacking what is mostly thought of as a hiking trail.  All the hikers we have met have been supportive or enthusiastic about someone trying to ride the trail, so it’s been great.

Route wise everything has been better that expected.  We did end up taking the route 90% of hikers take, over Mangas Mountain, instead of trying the newer trail that kind of bypasses Pie Town (booo!).  I think at least part of that trail will end up as the best CDT bike route, but I could find so very little information on it, none of the hikers take it, and our food was running thin.  So we stuck with what was ‘known’ — for hiking anyway — and climbed to 9600 feet.

I remember camping at Valle Tio Vinces Campground while touring the divide in 2004, wishing I could climb Mangas Mtn as the hikers do.  Finally got my chance on this trip.

From here both the hikers and the CDTbikers are stuck on the county road right of way, to the next highway, where we will attempt to ride singletrack through the Malpais — the badlands, where young volcanic rock and cindercones abound.  It should be an interesting ride.

Smokey sunset in Pie Town.. smoke supposedly coming from AZ.

Thanks for following along!