Bikes, Plane Crashes, and heat

After a monster brunch in Silver City with my fellow NOBO (northbound) riders Jared (from Virginia) and Jonathan (from Austria), I set out for Pinos Altos around 3pm. Once I got into the Gila National Forest, I opted to take one of the alternate routes to avoid more pavement and hopped on the actual CDT (continental divide trail) for about 11 miles. It’s some of the only singletrack on the route, so I had to. It ended up being a fun ride with some epic views—albeit very adventurous on a fully loaded bike with no suspension—but it took me longer than anticipated and I rolled into camp at Sapillo campground around 7:30. I goofed on my water planning and was running very low, and there wasn’t any water at the campground… Thankfully, I was able to get some from a family who was up there fishing at a nearby lake (that was too far for me to get to).

Then, while looking for a campsite I saw another Divide rider camped nearby. His name was Kevin, and we started chatting immediately—there’s a very fun sense of community when you randomly bump into someone doing the ride out here. He’s from Hawaii, and couldn’t seem to get over the fact that I was there after 2 days (it had taken him 6). That’s not a brag, but to highlight that everyone’s out here doing their own ride, their own way. Some folks have lightweight bikepacking setups, some are running full touring kits with panniers, and some are on mountain bikes built in 1992. There’s no wrong way to do it.

We ended up eating dinner together and chatting till around 10:30, which was later than I’d planned on staying up. My favorite part of the evening was when he walked over to my camp with something in his hands, and told me he’d just found a cantaloupe on the ground. I sort of looked at him puzzled, and he said a camper must have left it, but he’d cut it open and it was perfectly good. He offered me half, and for a split second I thought “no, I do not want your dirty melon you found in the middle of the woods,” but then my desire for fresh food took over and I proceeded to devour that thing like a wild animal. It was the best cantaloupe I’ve ever had.

The next day Kevin took off a few minutes before me, but I caught him at a junction. We chatted some more, and he insisted I make a short appearance in his YouTube channel, ha. After that I rode solo for a while and passed three other riders before stopping for lunch. There were LOTS of hot dry climbs on this stretch… I dipped my shirt in several creeks to stay cool, which worked well. At one point I even came across a little waterfall and swimming hole just after Geronimo guest ranch. The sign said no trespassing/no fishing, but I couldn’t help myself so I stripped down and cooled off. It was absolutely glorious, except I did slip on some algae and fell on my ass.

I think the heat is the biggest challenge for me so far—I have to force myself to eat, and it just sort of saps me. And it’s only been a high of 80-85 or so! Up until yesterday I hadn’t listened to music or anything, but finally put some in, which helped a lot (TPD, of course).

I rolled into the Beaverhead Work Station (a camp of sorts in the middle of the Gila where they base firefighters and forest service folks) around dinner time last night and was pretty spent. I refilled on water there, and was SO excited about the soda vending machine they have—Aaron Gulley and I passed this spot on another trip a few weeks ago, and I’d remembered to bring change for it. I fed the machine my $1.25 in quarters, pushed the button for a Sprite… and… nothing. The damn thing was broken and ate my change!!! I’d even looked into it and had it on good authority that it worked, despite the age and odd location… so you can imagine my disappointment. Little things like that have a way of turning into MAJOR defeats on a bikepacking trip like this. I proceeded to rock the machine, push all the buttons, etc… but no dice.

I thought I was SOL until a truck drove past me, and I noticed he was part of a group camped at the center, so I flagged him down to ask about the machine (I really wanted that Sprite). He said it hadn’t worked in 10 years, and it turns out he was leading a group of archeology students from IU. I I must have looked desperate, because he very kindly took me over to where they were staying and gave me a Sprite from their cooler. Salvation!

I kept pedaling and made it 71 miles for the day (and 7k feet of gain) but I ended up pedaling till about 9:50pm, so 12 hours of riding. I’m going to start getting up earlier (4:30 or 5 vs 6:30 this morning) to avoid riding so much in the heat of the day and riding at dark. Haven’t gotten quite enough sleep the last two nights, which needs to change. On the bright side, riding in the late evening did allow me to see probably 10 different groups of elk, including one cow who literally ran alongside me on the side of the road for a bit. Such a cool experience.

Today (Tuesday, June 4th) I plan to take it a bit easier—although I’m only 80 miles from Pie Town, about 20 of which are on pavement so there’s a chance I can make it there.

June 4th evening update:

Well, I didn’t end up making it to Pie Town tonight for a couple of reasons… the first being that about 15 miles into my day, I stumbled upon a crashed plane! I turned a corner, and in the middle of a field was a downed Cessna. At first I thought it was some sort of roadside attraction thing, and thought “that looks like a plane.”

As I got closer, I realized it was indeed a plane, and that the plane must have crashed recently—there was even fuel leaking onto the ground. I looked around for the pilot or anyone on board but there was no sign of anyone, or any signs of injury inside… just a pair of aviator sunglasses and a case of water in the back. I looked around for signs of someone walking from the crash site but couldn’t find anything, so I sent Sarah a message from my inreach and gave her the coordinates and all the info I had, and told her to contact our buddy Chris, who’s a pilot in the Airforce (he actually flys C-130s on search and rescue missions. Helps to know a pilot!).

Chris reported the crash to the FAA, and now there’s apparently an FAA team down here investigating. No sign of the pilot so far, and truly a wild start to my day. Of all the things I expected to see out here, a crashed plane was NOT on the list.

I ended up putting in a little over 50 miles today. The heat and lack of water continues to be a challenge—it’s SO much dryer here than it was just a few weeks ago when I was in this area. I rolled into where I thought I’d camp tonight and it turned out the spring marked on the map was dry… so I had to backtrack a mile to a dirt tank that had some water in it.

In the process of filtering enough water for the evening and my ride to Pie Town in the morning, my inreach (the satellite communication device I carry so folks can track me and I can text when I’m out of cell service) somehow slipped off my backpack. I brought all the water to my campsite and then went into a panic when I realized what had happened, having no idea whether I’d dropped it at the water tank or 20 miles back.

Thankfully, I had cell service and my beautiful wife was able to pinpoint the device’s location at the tank. Man, technology is nice!

Ok, hopefully some pie for breakfast!