Pie Town and the Toaster House

Without pain, I'd never know Your peace

Why is this the place You always meet me

I know, I know I will be alright

I know I can make it through the night

'Cause You are my home away from home

You are my home away from home

It only takes a moment in Your presence to know I'm not alone

'Cause You are my home away from home

Home Away From Home, Zahriya Zachary, Michael Gentile, Bobby Strand & Jessie Early (2025).

Chicken pot pie, salad, and muffin for lunch, with Coconut French Caramel pie for desert.
Much of that turned to take-out for my long drive ahead.

Lounging in Phoenix with some family after the 24 Hours In The Old Pueblo, I gaze at an atlas to consider possible routes for the 1,300 mile drive home to South Dakota. The possibilities are many and varied, such is the vastness of the American Mountain West.

Then I spot Pie Town, a dot on the map just across the border into New Mexico. Some quick math reveals that swinging by there likely adds at least an hour to an already long drive. But it's Pie Town!

The legendary Toaster House in Pie Town, New Mexico.

Pie Town, New Mexico is a storied stop for through-hikers on the Continental Divide Trail and for bikepackers on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. For South Bound riders on the Great Divide, Pie Town is the only town for the 260 miles of dry, mountainous remoteness between Grants and Silver City. So, the prospect of pie animates the imagination of many cyclists in the midst of that stretch.

Pie Town also hosts the legendary Toaster House, a private home converted to a donation-based, volunteer-managed hostel for cyclists and hikers. Its name derives from the multitude of old toasters affixed to wooden posts and fences around the property. Its legend stems from the generous, serving spirit of Nita Larronde, who first opened her home to CDT hikers in 1982 and kept it open when she moved across town. After she passed in 2023, her children have continued her legacy.

Well equipped and stocked kitchen at the Toaster House.

The Toaster House was a destination stop on my through-ride of the Great Divide, engraved into my psyche like the Ovando Jail, Lost Llama Ranch, and Brush Mountain Lodge. One way or another, I was going to spend a night there during that ride.

Late afternoon on a weekday in 2021, I rode into Pie Town just in time for a green chili cheeseburger and Strawberry Lemon Rhubarb pie. Even with a ravenous appetite, I had to take the pie to go. That made for a memorable evening snack and tasty breakfast treat, with some leftover for the ride ahead.

Family room at the Toaster House.

I then rolled over to the Toaster House for a quiet evening, hot shower, and early bedtime. 

As it turned out, I needed that respite from the rigors of the Great Divide. The next morning started the most challenging, rewarding three days of my entire ride. See, Three Days Of The Gila.

All those memories, and more, flood back just from seeing the words Pie Town in small type on an atlas. That's the power of a life-changing experience like riding the Great Divide.

 

There's my route home.

Stairs to the bunkhouse room on the second floor.

Leaving Phoenix before dawn to beat the weekday traffic, I wind up twisty, mountainous Highway 60 from Apache Junction through the mining town of Globe and then Show Low to drop onto high desert plains. The two lane highway is relatively slow going in my Jeep, but nothing like riding to town on a loaded bicycle on rutted, monsoon-infused dirt roads.

I first bee-line to the Toaster House. Surprisingly, it's open in mid-February, well before even the northbound CDT hikers will start to appear. So, I step inside, wander around, and soak in the memories.

Everything looks the same as it did five years ago. Nita's kids and other locals work hard to keep this place open and it shows. And if their goal is to make time stand still, it looks to be working.

Hikers' shoes adorn the outside wall of the Toaster House.

Over to Pie Town Pie Company. They offer a short lunch menu written in chalk on a single board, so I suspect the list changes regularly and any one item is likely limited in number.

In any event, one thing on that lunch menu jumps off the board for me. Chicken pot pie. At a famous pie shop, it has to be good.

It is amazing.

A big, stuffed chicken pot pie, served with an extra bowl of savory filling and an extra, specially seasoned piece of crust, a salad, and a muffin (look back to the first picture of this post!). Amazing. And so much food that I have to take almost half of it with me.

Oh yeah, I also order a slice of their French Coconut Caramel pie, with ice cream. That whole desert leaves with me, too, although it doesn't last long on the drive.

Lunch at the Pie Town Pie Company, one of two pie shops in a town of about 160.

The small inside seating area is about half filled with people enjoying lunch, which doesn't seem too crazy for shortly after noon on a Friday in February. On the other hand, the number of people coming in just to buy pie is staggering. It's a non-stop stream for the hour I was there.

I note the activity to Sarah Chavez, the owner of Pie Town Pie Company, between her scurries to take orders, serve lunches, and dash into the kitchen to bring out more pies. Sarah says that Friday mornings are their busiest times and they always scramble to keep up with demand.

They bake pies early in the morning and throughout the day, continuously re-stocking a selection of 5-6 types of 6" deep dish pies and a different 5-6 types of 10" pies. They generally start the day with one of each on display and then bake replacements as they sell. Know that they also sell the 10" pies by the slice, so a pie that catches your fancy may not be available as a whole pie, at least not until they bake the next one.

So, if you want a whole pie, get there early for the best selection, pick what's available, or prepare to wait.

Fully stocked inventory. Image by Pie Town Pie Company.

With that inside information, I beat feet up to the counter to select a pie to take home. Lemon BlueBerry Buttermilk not only sounds great, but also evokes fond memories of discovering huckleberry, a cousin of blueberry, in isolated corners of Montana during my Great Divide ride. We'll see if it makes it home whole.

Pie Town, New Mexico. 

Not just for CDT hikers and Great Divide riders.

Home Away From Home, Zahriya Zachary (2025).