Mark’s Photos- #31
The Wind River Range of Wyoming is a spectacular place. It is full of rugged mountains, precipitous cirques, and landscapes teeming with lakes and rivers. It was July of 2019, and I had just...
SlowBro's Blog Posts
Arizona Blizzard
It was the Fall of 2017 and Scatman and I had just spent three days hiking through the Grand Canyon. We were on the Arizona Trail (AZT) and upon emerging from the abyss, we...
Mark’s Photos- #30
To day I came across a photo from the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in 2014. High in the Sierra Mountains on a section of the PCT that is also shared with the John Muir...
Where is the trail?
In keeping with my recent posts of random trail memories, I present yet another tidbit from the trail. I return to the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) once again. This time, a musing on what...
Mark’s Photo’s- 29
The year was 2020. It was August, and I should have been finishing up the last 400 miles of the Continental Divide Trail. In the spring, plans had been made and tickets bought. I...
Pie & Toasters along the CDT
I recently came across some photos I took of a quirky place on the Continental Divide Trail (CDT). I think the place and its story are worthy of a post. So I wrote the...
4 responses to “Pie & Toasters along the CDT”
That is an amazing National Geographic-quality story. Somewhere this story will find a publisher. Nita is/was quite the woman. And toasters on the fence! Hannah and I are off to Carlsbad Caverns National Park this spring. I’m guessing we are a good 300 miles from Pie Town. Bummer. What a side trip it would be for our grandson Max and his grand grandparents. And ever the scientist you are! Yes, sample all three restaurants for their signature pie!
Dan, thanks for your kind words. Nita was one in a million, for sure. People like her are called Trail Angels for a reason. And a town devoted to pie?!! Anyway, it was definitely an unforgettable place.
Your trip to Carlsbad Caverns should be amazing. I love that cave and last time I was there they let you explore at your own pace. You walked through on your own, no group, no guide, just stay on the path. I don’t know if they still do it that way now, but that was pretty cool. If the bats are back from Brazil when you get there it might be worth seeing them leave the cave in the evening, or even more interesting, see them return in the morning, but you have to get there pretty early for the later.
I have copied your response for our grandson Max, who goes on his 13th birthday grandparents-only hiking trip this coming spring. He’s pumped to get up early to see the morning bats returning. Thanks for the info.
Great, I’m sure he’ll have a great time, as will you and Hannah. Also, check with the Ranger to make sure the bats are back from their winter in Brazil.
When the bats leave the cave, as you may know, it’s all at once and there are tens of thousands spiraling out of the cave. So many that from a distance it may look like smoke rising.
When they return near dawn, it is over a period of time and they come in a few at a time. As I understand, they arrive over the breakdown pit that is at the huge cave entrance, fold their wings, and drop out of the sky. They have a flap of skin like a short tail and as they drop the wind rushing over their tail makes it flutter with an audible sound. They come in so fast you may not be able to see them, but you can hear them zip by. They open their wings at the last second and swoop up to the ceiling of the cave where they roost for the day.