Day 09 To Mangas Mt

We spent most of the day traversing the western edge of the Plains of Saint Augustine. In paleolithic times, it was a massive inland lake formed as the glaciers melted. Now it is a huge basin, a flat grass covered plain where, if water falls, there are no outlets for it to flow. On its eastern edge is the Very Large Array, a series of 100 ft tall radiotelescopes that move around on rail cars. Built in the 1960's, it continues to capture radiowaves from deep space.

I took the Bob trailer for part of the day. Not carrying a backpack was easy on my butt and shoulders and it was nice to have extra carrying capacity of the trailer, but climbs were harder and I wouldn't want to bring it on single track. We only saw 3 vehicles today and 2 were semi trucks delivering cattle to the plains. Where the cows were going to get their water was beyond me.

Uncharacteristically, Cassi and I had been ahead of John for a while. We waited and he quickly showed up. Turned out he'd repaired a flat on the BOB. A goat head had punctured the tire whose tread was wearing thin. "It only has 2800 miles on it", John proclaimed. When I suggested a replacement in Grants he brushed it off, "Maybe after the trip." Wow, I was impressed. Finally someone more frugal with gear than me.

We climbed to Valle Tio Vinces Spring and campground. No water was flowing, but there was a cistern, so we used John's pump to fill up. We realized we had an extra meal so we ate an early dinner. Afterwards, Cassi and I felt invigorated so we got back on our bikes and climbed up to the top of 9700 foot Mangas Mt. to check out the fire lookout. The smokes from the AZ-NM fire obscured our view but made for a fantastic sunset. We chatted with Dave, who lived one week off then one on in the lookout. He was surprised to have visitors and gave us Smokey the Bear pendants for making the trip.

Back at camp we ate a second dinner. We slept dreaming of what pie we'd eat once we arrived at tomorrow's destination, Pie Town.