The Toaster House

• Day:  16
• Start:  14
• End:  40
• Miles:  23
• Hours:  10
• High temp:  68
• Low temp:  30
• People met:  14

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Typical Gate in a Barbed Wire Fence

Frozen rain drops on the rain fly, I think to myself as I consider getting up.  Put my pack with my water inside my tent last night, good thing I muse. 

I say thanks to the lookout man who is fixing his breakfast in the shack.  Just around the corner I find Ridgerunner and K2 breaking camp, they tell me they came in at 2100 hrs. Heading down the far side of Mangas Mountain two deer  bound across the trail and disappear into the woods. I warm up as I hike trying not to think of the distance required to resupply.  The forest changes at the bottom of the mountain into more of a desert forest.  I switch from dirt roads with lots of rocks to dirt roads that become pretty smooth.  I notice my shoes warping and leaning to the inside, this of course changes the way I walk, using muscles in different ways.  Hopefully this will not cause injuries.  

The crystal clear cobalt morning sky becomes slowly filled with beautiful clouds. I love the sky here, maybe my polarized sunglasses make it just that much better.  Thankfully what could be a hot dreary roadwalk is made much easier by the cloud cover, keeping temps down. A coyote darts onto the road from his rock perch,  then vanishes into the sparse forest.  Not a half mile down the road I see a cottontail make a couple of hops then freeze as I walk by. The two so close to each other makes me see how hard hunting might be for the coyote.  On I go driving fairly hard as the scenery here is much the same, to break it up I notice some fancy iron work at the entry to a ranch, plus a dramatic rock formation. 

Only 2.7 miles to town, I rest telling myself that is cake at any walking pace. Town comes sooner than expected and I ask myself how will I find the toaster house.  Then I know there are toasters all over the rustic fence.  

The Toaster House

I pickup my resupply box and walk in to a unusual but functional patchworked structure. I find Gilligan, Grim, and Guy on a Buffalo plus about 8 others.  I claim the couch as my resting place tonight, fix up some food, followed quickly by walk over to the RV Park for a shower. 

The two white door are the showers

Back at the toaster I eat a little more and share some talk about the trail and ways to Grants, the next resupply.