Start: Rolling Ranchland
Finish: CDT north of NM 59
Miles: 21.12 / 297.39 total
Ascent: 4230 feet
The wind stopped all night last night, which meant that my nemesis condensation was back. It has been so bad since the rains, basically every night. Means I have to take an hour off during the day to get everything dry again. I hope for some relief soon.
4×4 tracks continuing through BLM ranch land for the first few miles. I gathered my full capacity of water from the first cow tire trough I passed. I topped off at a later tire trough. Then as I was leaving ranch land, I came across a clear flowing stream and dumped all my water and swapped it out for the good stuff. I need to carry the water out here since I have no idea what is flowing or not, so I don’t have a problem with carrying worse quality water and later dumping it. I would much rather that than rely on a later source that turns out dry. Especially with the cow troughs, there is no way to know if they will be full or empty. So far all natural sources and more have been available due to the rain, so I can make that assumption, but not with the troughs.
I filled my full capacity since I was unsure if I would see water for the rest of the day. The two sources ahead had been dry recently, though I suspected they would have water due to the rains. I just didn’t want to gamble with it. 7 liters it was.
As I entered the forest at the edge of ranch land, there was near continuous elk bugling. As I walked in, it was coming from all sides of me except behind. I saw them moving through the trees, and it must have been a massive herd. One bull looked straight at me and bugled before he realized I was there and he ran off. A great start to the day.
I entered the Gila National Forest for the first time and started up another abandoned trail, without even a sign at its beginning. I assumed the trail didn’t really exist and started making my own way, but soon came across the actual trail and was surprised at the quality of the treadway. It is so nice to be on good trail out here.
The trail was the Fencelines Trail which unsurprisingly followed a fenceline that went straight up and over a spur of a mountain range I was entering. Once the fence came in, the trail became more vague, but I just had to keep the fence on my right and I was golden.
It was a bit of a climb to the top of the range, and my 7 liters of water were making themselves known as I dropped my own water everywhere. I set a slow pace and made it to the top where I took a deserved break.
The trail continued to follow the fence down the other side of the range until I reached a cairn and the Continental Divide Trail! I hope to do this trail one day, and the GET follows it for a couple days here, so it will be nice to get a taste of it. However, I think this section of trail isn’t used much, as thru-hikers bypass it for an alternate.
In any case, I turned onto the CDT which was regularly marked with cairns and occasionally CDT badges on the trees. The treadway was not well used or well maintained, but it was leagues above some of the other trails I’ve been traveling. I did misplace the trail a few times, once severely, but overall it was good trail.
Right after I joined the CDT, it dropped down to a cow tank which is normally dry but had clear flowing water in it, of course. Making my hauling of water over the mountains in vain. I suspected it would be like this, but I just didn’t know for sure.
The CDT followed a ridge for the rest of the day. Minor ups and downs through ponderosa pine forest. Nothing was jaw dropping, but it was all nice and pleasant hiking. I was mainly enamored to be on the CDT.
There isn’t much more to say. The afternoon was all the same, alternating between trail and 4×4 tracks. I did see a massive bull elk late on the day by himself. As he jogged off, his antlers were so big he was hitting trees along the way.
Right at the end of the day I came across 2 more water sources. A bit brown from tannins, but I refilled for camp just because I could. I can always dump it in the morning.
Tonight I’m camped under a juniper with no vegetation under my tent. There is a slight breeze. That checks all the boxes for avoiding condensation. We will see what actually happens.
