About 60kms to Pie Town

Erik has been riding mostly at 7500ft, 2280mts today. He still has about 60kms to get to Pie Town.

Lat 33.93839, Long -108.33580

 He started the day at the  lower "TH" bubble, and is camping at the top of the map.  South of Mangas Mountain, and west of Horse Peak.  He is in the GMU Unit15 area, (US Hunting and Fishing) so perhaps he will see some Elk.

Update from Erik:

We woke at 4:30, had breakfast, and were riding by 6 to beat the heat.

 The ride was a lot flatter than yesterday.

We started riding through farmland, then beside a lake, before reaching open plains. At first we saw quite a bit of wildlife: deer, elk, rabbits and pronghorn antelopes.

At one point we turned a corner and there was a huge stag in the middle of the road.  Then as we left the lake behind the wildlife disappeared.

 We dropped into a canyon with rocky walls on both sides. Lots of plants but no running water.

We were fully laden with water, but I discovered that my water bladder had developed a terrible taste -- something like rotten sausages! I had first noticed it yesterday but it was much worse today. Then Greg said that the bladder hose he had given me had been hit by a skunk. The water was almost impossible to drink, but I forced myself to drink it. Horrible!

 After the canyon, the wind picked up, and got stronger and stronger throughout the day. It started as a tail Wind, but often we changed direction so it became a cross wind or a head wind. This made the ride really tough.  

The road was all unsealed, and often had bad washboards. It felt weird to ride the washboards...a lot of dodging the worst bits. My calves felt like they were being massaged by the constant jiggling up and down. When they got really bad, my teeth would hurt because of all the jarring!

 We dropped down to an enormous basin, and rode through the day. The one advantage of the wind was that it didn't feel too hot, so we could keep on riding.  

 The road circled the basin, and it took several hours to go around the edge.

We sheltered at one point beneath a tree, but decided to take advantage of the tail wind. Unfortunately the road changed direction and we were riding into a head wind again, which made it really tough.

 We finally reached the intersection with Route 12, and we were exhausted by the wind.  There were some buildings at the intersection so we sheltered there. It turned out to be a private hunting lodge owned by a farmer. We sheltered in the verandah out the back, where there was water, shade and shelter from the wind.

 The farmer turned up and was very friendly. He was young, but had funny mannerisms: he only talked out of one side of his mouth, and wore a huge belt buckle. There were two couples and two young children, one a three-year-old boy in cowboy boots!

He told us about his operation: he has 70 square miles and raises calves for sale. Only 500 cattle in total.  He said they lose up to 10% of their herd to predators: wolves and coyotes!

He was branding a bunch of calves tomorrow...apparently it's state law that all cattle has to be branded so they can be identified, because there are no fences and the cattle often roam onto the neighbouring farms.

The farmer and his family left, and we ate dinner, filled up all out water containers, and waited for the wind to abate. We saw another rider head up the hill. Finally, we started again and rode a few km up the road to find a camp site.

Quite rough ground tonight, so I laid clothes under my mattress.

  I hope it doesn't get damaged by the sticks and rocks under the tent!

It was a big day, 100 km all on unsealed roads with a full load of water and with string winds. I'm feeling very tired now, and my legs, back and wrists ache, but what an amazing day! The long miles helped get us where we had to be so we can make it to pie town tomorrow...fingers crossed...

Still tracking in Gila, New Mexico

Erik is near the Elk Mountains in Gila National Park.  Riding at 2000 meters.  I wonder if he will get to Pie Town tomorrow.  Lat 33.06882, Long -108.11153

 Erik is camping at the top of the map.  He rode all of this today.  Those are serious zigzags up and down the mountain range.

I decided to have a closer view, and cut the day into 3 maps...

Start of day

Update from Erik:

I didn't sleep all that well...the light of the full moon, the unfamiliarity of the tent and the aches and pains of the ride made it hard for me to get to sleep.

I woke around 6. Jill had left about 2. We had breakfast and was on the road by 7. It was only 10 degrees! The ride started with a 15 minute climb, the first of many.

We discovered that the "camp site" we stayed at wasn't really the camp site we thought it was...we reached that camp site after about 5 km.  We had several huge climbs today, and lots of big descents as well. The washboards were brutal if you don't avoid the worst parts.

Gay saw a deer, and we passed the remains of a rabbit that had been eaten, Pete Castelli said it would have been by a mountain lion.

We reached a camp ground with water around 10, and stopped to filter water and eat. Both water filters stopped working. One of the water filters got blocked so it took a while.

Finally we continued on around 11. Another massive hill climb, followed by another huge descent.

By this time the temperature was up in the 40s and I was struggling a bit.  Finally we reach a place called Wall Lake , where there is a "guest ranch".

  Greg and Peter Gilbert go in, and are given gator aid and a banana each, which we shared.

 Apparently three black bears were seen around here recently, so we do have to be careful.

The heat was really getting to us by this stage, so we found a bridge a few km further on and stopped to rest under the bridge out of the sun.

 We cooked pasta and sardines for lunch.  We stayed there until about 4:30. I did a Tai Chi set under the bridge, on a small area of uneven ground.

 We were getting low on water, so we tried filtering some out of the stream that ran from the lake, but the second water filter also stopped working! So now we had no choice but to press on.  We then had more endless climbs and descents. 

 At one point, there were thunderclouds overhead, and a few very welcome drops of rain in the 35 degree heat, but unfortunately that's all we got.

We finally arrived at the Beaver Head camp, where we stopped for the day around 6. This is a big camp where forest fire workers are based.

 We were given a big box of apples and cherry pie, and allowed to camp with fresh running water right beside us. Luxury!

We got more information about water sources further ahead, and did an inventory of our remaining food and fuel. We're running low, but should be able to make it if we're careful.

I washed and shaved using the outside tap.

 This is luxurious camping.

 

We ate dinner of couscous and instant noodle soup with salmon, loaded up all the water containers and prepared for an early start in the morning to avoid the heat. We covered around 60 km today, and hope to do quite a bit more tomorrow. Apparently the worst of the hills are over. Whew!

 Gay fixed both water filters, which we'll need tomorrow. The adventure continues...

Tracking my man through the Gila National Park, New Mexico.

The travelling companion of Erik's has a spot tracker, and that sends out a ping once a day.  I can find him on the map.  Lat 33.06882, Long -108.00343

 But I dont really know where he is ridden, what the terrain is like.  I found the map of the divide route and by zooming in / out on the screen, can establish where he has ridden today.  The screen shot below is the divide route and Erik is camping at the top right, at the squiggle.   The rest of the screen is part of where he rode today. 

Update from Erik:

We left the following day at 7:45, and rode out into the Gila forest. We met a road cyclist out on a training ride.

 It was amazing terrain, rolling country in what looked like a national park. We reached the top with an amazing view, and had a huge descent. After some more riding through farmland, we reached a store where we bought supplies (things like luncheon sausage and chippies).

We knew there wouldn't be any more water so we loaded up completely. I headed out with about 8.5 liters of water, about 5 kg of food, and 13 kg of gear. It was incredibly heavy and hard going...I had to ride slowly, only about 10 km/hour because of the hills and heat.

We thought we must have missed the turnoff, but it was further than we thought it would be, and finally left the main road.

Unsealed road with washboards, an extremely heavy bike, temperature reaching 45 degrees and a massive hill at the start. I surprised myself by riding all the way up.

 It was incredibly beautiful, and also desolate -- 120 miles to the next store, and few water sources along the way.

We rode along the Continental Divide for several miles, and stopped in the shade of some bushes beside the road for about an hour and a half to avoid the hottest time of the day.

 At 5, we headed out again and rode on to the next camp site, where we stopped for the night.

After we had finished dinner (hot dogs and couscous), a woman came up who was racing the Divide.  Jill Hueckman, from Denver. She had ridden from Antelope Wells in just over 24 hours, sleeping for only a couple of hours and riding most of the night to avoid the heat.

 I gave her some of the water I was carrying, and we fed her.

 

She decided to camp with us and head off around 4 in the morning. Apparently it's about 140 miles to Pie Town from here.

We had to hang out food in a tree because there are bears around, though Pete Castelli says it'd unlikely there'll be any around because of the drought.  It's a beautiful night with a full moon.  I fell asleep to the sounds of coyotes howling in the distance.

Arizona Moon 13/6/14 by BG Boyd