Finish: Winston, NM

Miles: 18.13 / 315.52 total

Ascent: 940 feet

I woke up this morning knowing this was likely going to be my last day on trail.  Something had come up at home, and though I would decide after I got some WiFi in town and could communicate better than with text messages over my Inreach.

I packed up early and was ready to go before it was light out, so I started off by headlamp.  I wanted to hit the road early to maybe catch someone going into work.

By headlamp, the CDT was harder to follow, and I lost it a couple times.  Harder to see the cairns and faint treadway with the overgrowth.

As each thing happened, I enjoyed it as likely my last.  An elk bugled.  I passed a CDT trail marker.  The trail went from single track to a 4×4 road.

However, fittingly, the trail went to single track for the final stretch to the road.  A fitting end I think.

I arrived at a CDT trailhead at the road crossing to NM 59 which even included a vault toilet.  Such luxury.

The road was paved which I had not been expecting, so I set up to hitch at the trailhead which seemed like a great spot.  It is always good to help identify yourself as a hiker instead of a homeless person to try to get a hitch.  The distinction by outward appearance can be quite subtle.

I waited for 30 minutes and not a single vehicle passed in either direction.  Not a great sign.  I could see from my map there were ranches and such down the road, so I figured I would start walking towards town (Winston) since that would put more places for people to come from between me and town.  I didn’t expect to walk very far, but worst case I could make it to Winston today regardless while taking my destiny into my own hands rather than straight out relying on others.

I started walking.  I walked, and walked, and not a single car passed me in either direction.  In fact, it was about 2 hours before the first car passed me going the opposite way.

Around hour 3 of walking, 2 vehicles passed me going the correct way, but didn’t stop.  NM 59 ended about 13.5 miles from where I started on it, which I could tell from the mile markers slowly counting down.  I walked out that entire 13.5 miles with only the 2 cars passing me (plus the 30 minutes of waiting).

I turned onto NM 52 for the home stretch into Winston.  Shortly after I passed a sign saying 9 miles (of the original 24) remained to Winston, the 3rd car stopped and picked me up.  In that time, there were only 7 cars in the opposite direction.  I walked a whole 15 miles of road while waiting for a hitch.  That is by far my longest hitch ever, but at least I made it.

There isn’t cell service in Winston, so the General Store pointed me to the church which had open WiFi.  After calling back home, I did decide that I needed to leave the trail, so the last of everything I was observing on my hike was relevant.

I was still in the middle of nowhere, so I got another hitch back to the interstate corridor, and worked my way down to El Paso for a flight home.

That is pretty much it for this hike.  I will put together a retrospect for at least the portion of the trail I did at some point.

Signing off for now.

Yeti

The post Grand Enchantment Trail: Day 18 The End appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

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.

The post Grand Enchantment Trail: Day 17 Black Range appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

Finish: Rolling Ranchland

Miles: 22.97 / 276.27 total

Ascent: 4730 feet

Wow, so much condensation last night.  Everything is soaked way more than in actual rain.  Water was even beading up on my sleeping bag.  Nothing to do but pack up everything wet and wait for it to get warmer out.

I briefly started up a 4×4 track to the crest of a ridge, and then spent the rest of the morning going cross-country.  There was a series of parallel ridges that I needed to go perpendicular to, with no roads or trails going in that direction, so I just did it myself, down one ridge, across the wash, up the next.  Rinse, repeat.

I had descended a ridge and was in a wash about to start uphill again, when there was a crashing to the side.  A black bear was running up the wash in my general direction.  I don’t think he saw me, and I shouted which caused him to stop behind a juniper.  He peeked his head around the bush, saw me, and took off running uphill.  I would expect him to be pretty timid with ranchers around.  I was surprised to see him here around cows to begin with.

I have been keeping my food in a Ursack bear bag, but since it has been damp or rainy at night, I’ve been sleeping with it.  I will have to reconsider that in the future.  I have been seeing a lot of bear scat on trails, but not around where I have been camping.  Oh well, a bear doesn’t bother me any.  Running away is their normal reaction.  I’ve seen a lot of black bears, and that is always their response.

I headed up the next ridge and ran it for miles down the spine.  There was a nice canyon beneath it, but the sun was in that direction so there was no taking pictures.

The route changed it up a bit after the long ridge walk.  It wove around washes and saddles following cow trails or cross country before I joined some 4×4 track which I would follow for most the rest of the day.

I had my supply of water I got yesterday afternoon.  Through the morning I wasn’t looking for water since I had a gallon.  In the afternoon it was full sun and there were no sources for quite a ways.  I was rationing my water, which is something hard to do when you are hiking under the hot sun with no shade around.  Nothing else to do.

I took a long break in the afternoon to bake the moisture out of my gear.  It mostly worked.  As I was leaving my break, a truck drove by.  First person I have spoken to in 5 days, and first person I have even seen in 3.  Even with all the 4×4 tracks I’m on transiting between areas, I have been seeing very few people at all out here.  I haven’t seen another hiker since day 2.

I was on 4×4 tracks for a while, and pounded out some miles, to make up for the slower cross country travel.  I also wanted to make miles to get to good water.  

Saw some mountain lion tracks in a mud puddle.  Definitely was here since the last rain, probably a day or two ago. 

I did stop and grab a little water at a cow tire trough, but there were a lot of dead insects and bird feathers in it, so I hoped I wouldn’t have to use it.  I would rather carry it and dump it later to exchange it for better water than not have anything at all.

The route headed across some private land.  The guidebook said it was ok.  I did see some ranchers working on something close to the trail, but I don’t think they saw me.  I hurried past just in case.

Rolling hills for the rest of the day.  I did come across another tire trough which is quite common out here.  It was full of algae and such, but there was a cistern that supplied it with great looking water, so I filled up on that, without having to drink my other worse water.

I was getting tired at that point, but I was again in the land of no trees, shade, or other sort of cover.  It was windy, and I at least wanted a bush to stick my tent behind.  There were a few, but they were on slopes.  After hiking a mile or two longer than I wanted, I just pitched on top of a hill on a flat spot.  The wind did die with the sun which was nice, and hopefully less condensation problems I’ve been fighting with up high here.

I ate dinner looking back east.  I could see my last 3 days of hiking laid out in a 90 degree section of the horizon.  I could even see generally where I camped the last 3 nights.  It is always amazing for me to see the landscape and know that I crossed that to get here, or I will be up that mountain ahead of me in a couple hours.  In a car it is nothing, but to see the rugged mountains and attack them by foot is something that keeps me coming back.

Nothing too special today, but still a good day.  Pleasant hiking apart from some water and rancher worries, and I made good progress.

The post Grand Enchantment Trail: Day 16 Ranch Land appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

Finish: San Mateo Canyon

Miles: 18.9 / 253.3 total

Ascent: 3650 feet

The clouds cleared out before I went to bed, then came back with a vengeance overnight, but left before I woke up.  All in all a nice night, and didn’t end up too cold despite the elevation and damp.

Quick jog back to the trail from my side trail campsite, and I soon summited Blue Mountain, which is my first summit of the hike I think.  The summit was rounded and spacious, and would have been a great camping spot if the clouds hadn’t been here last night.  Oddly, there was an old wood range on top of the mountain, with little else to go along with it.  Quite the effort to drag that up here back in the day.

The trail down Blue Mountain was a breeze.  This Apache Kid Wilderness Area has largely been burned by forest fires in recent years, and I was dreading the rest of the area being like the climb up last night.  Thankfully not so, and I cruised down on nice trail.

Crossed Apache Kid pass, where he was apparently buried after he was killed, though the location is unknown.

The trail meandered around for a while, giving good views of the interior of the wilderness area, though most of it was fairly tame and rounded, not jagged spires or anything dramatic like that.  It was nice hiking though.

The trail did occasionally get lost in an alder thicket or under grasses.  All in all the trail was largely subtle and you really had to be paying attention most of the time to stay on it.  It is not maintained much, and obviously not traveled much either.  I had to keep my brain really engaged on the trail to stay on it, which is fine with me, I like challenges like that.

There were a number of springs and streams throughout the day, even more than mentioned in my guide.  That has been the case lately after the rains; everything that could possibly be flowing is.  I carried the least amount of water this whole trip today.

The climb up to San Mateo Pass started off easy along a creek, but the trail went through a burn area like none I’ve seen so far.  There were the typical aspen thickets, but in this area it seemed like every tree that had burned had also fallen over already instead of remaining standing.  The trail was like a trough in places, the it was filled up with the blowdown debris.  I encountered trees down across the trail every few seconds which was mind numbingly slow and annoying to deal with.  I looked at just hiking straight uphill, but it was even worse since the trail at least had a few trees cut here or there.  But with all the blowdowns, it was hard to see where the trail even was.

I was constantly standing on trees, some would break, some would move, and I was even jumping from tree to tree at times.  Probably not the safest thing I have ever done, but it was just so hard to make forward progress.  I can’t describe how bad the trail was; it is perhaps the worst stretch of trail I have ever done, which should say something.

At long last, I attained the pass, and the other side was gloriously maintained.  The Aspen thickets disappeared, and it looked like it had been logged out a couple years back or so, so there were few trees down across the trail.  I could even readily see the trail which was amazing.

However, that didn’t last as I had to turn off onto another trail which hadn’t seen that type of maintenance.  The trail was largely buried under overgrowth, and there were blowdowns, but at least not as many as before.  This section of forest seems to have reacted to the fire differently.  It shredded my pants leaving 7 large holes I will have to patch. 

It was still a grind though since there was a lot of up and down and I was constantly stopping to try to figure out where the trail was, even if I was directly on it.  It was really faint.

Overall, I was ready to be done with this Wilderness Area.  I could do the hiking, but it just wasn’t much fun, it was just a grind.  I headed over the last pass with its non-existent trail and crossed the wide saddle to the other side and my final descent down a canyon.  

Thankfully, this stretch of trail also appeared to be logged out some years back, and the treadway was mostly apparent, so it was much easier, if steeper, to make my run out of this forest.

The canyon I descended was really scenic, but all I wanted to do was get out of there and be done with it.  I took a few obligatory pictures, but other than that just put my head down and got through it as quickly as possible.

I flew down in elevation, and the scenery changed quickly.  I passed through climate zones, going from forest to desert and back, depending how far I was from the creek.

I stopped right before the trail parted ways with the creek for a break and to tank up on water.  I was entering ranchland again, where cow ponds and troughs would be my water sources, so might as well start off with some good water.

I exited the Wilderness Area and pounded my way down some primitive roads until I got to a flat cow pasture that was far enough for the day.  In any case it was right before a climb that I didn’t want to start with a full water load.

Looking back at the Apache Kid Wilderness Area, it has incredible looking cliffs and peaks from the outside, but interestingly, it does not look like that on the interior.

It was one of those kick all the cow patties out of the way so I can set up my tent places, but it is flat and it should work.

I was really liking the Apache Kid Trail of the past 2 days despite its challenges.  However, it became just a bit too much for me with all of the blowdowns and obscured trail.  It was not fun and I just wanted to escape it.  I will pass through some other burned areas on this trail, and I hope they aren’t like this experience.

The post Grand Enchantment Trail: Day 15 San Mateo Mountains appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

Finish: Cub Spring 

Miles: 21.82 / 234.4 total

Ascent: 4330 feet

I awoke in the clouds, and couldn’t see more than 100 yards.  That put a bit of a damper on running the ridge that I worked so hard to climb yesterday.  It’s never worth waiting since it could be like this all day, so I packed up and headed out.

There was a road on the ridge that linked together two fire lookout towers, at either end of the ridge.  The road was rough for a car, but made for easy hiking.  I just couldn’t see anything through the clouds.  Once I dropped below them briefly, but then the road took me quickly back above.  I shall not see anything!

It was windy on the ridge as well, producing what I call fog rain where the cloud condenses on the trees, and the wind blows the drops down, almost as if it is a light rain.

I pounded out the roadwalk on the ridge since there was nothing else to do.

At the far end I got to the Grassy Lookout Tower.  It was locked up and no one was there.  I was hopeful for a trash can, but there were no facilities.  Oh well.

I turned off onto the Apache Kid trail, which at first glance wasn’t much of a trail.  If the sign hasn’t been pointed directly at it, I never would have seen it.  Even then, you had to squint a bit and push the I believe button.

The trail started a long descent off the ridge I had been on.  The trail appeared and disappeared, and I had to keep a really sharp eye just to try to stay on it.

The further I went the more it disappeared.  It didn’t seem that worthwhile to fight to stay on the trail, so I looked at my map to see if I could just make it up and head towards where the trail would dump me out in a canyon.  I thought I could just head straight down to a wash and follow it out.  I pushed my way through mesquite and other thorny bushes and gained the wash which was way travel.

I worked my way down the wash for a while, and glanced at my GPS when I noticed I was off track.  The wash would have worked, but I missed that I would have needed to go over a minor saddle and not just straight down the wash that I was in.  That meant that I now had a ridge between me and my destination canyon, with nothing to do but climb up and over the ridge to where I wanted to go.

I do like off trail travel, but uphill is a lot harder than downhill.  I eventually made my way back and hooked up with the trail which dropped me into the correct canyon, Indian Canyon.

There was water in this canyon almost the whole way, whereas it is typically dry with a single possible spring.  The canyon was a really nice easy walk downhill.  There was nothing too special about it; it was treed in and there weren’t many views, but it was quite and peaceful and made for some really pleasant hiking.  The big ponderosa pine helped as well.

I enjoyed the canyon so much that the miles just flew right by and before I knew it I was dumped out its end.

Over a small saddle on a former trail, and then I hooked up with single track heading up Water Canyon.  This trail was like actual trail.  It wasn’t used much, but had a defined treadway that made following it a breeze.  It followed a stream up the wide valley, meandering from side to side.  Big trees in the valley too, including the biggest oaks I’ve seen on this trail.

Just like Indian Canyon, it was also a really pleasant hike.

I had some decisions to make though.  It was unclear when the water would stop going uphill, so I just grabbed water at the beginning.  I also had to decide where to camp.  I didn’t really want a repeat of yesterday with dragging a huge amount of water up a mountain.  However, it was too early to camp in the bottom of the canyon, though it would have been nice to.

There were 2 options for water continuing forward.  One spring on a side trail at the very top that probably had water, or another spring on the other side of the mountain.  Since I had options, I just carried water to get me over the mountain, to give me options.

The pleasantness of the valley had to come to an end, and the trail got steeper to make up for time.  The trail also entered a burn area where there were lots of blowdowns.  People had obviously been through to clean up the trail, but it looks like it has been a few years since the last time that happened.  

Parts of the trail disappeared under blowdowns and overgrowth, but I still managed forward progress, if barely.  I had plenty of time to get to the top, you just have to pick away at these sometimes.

I wound back and forth getting over all the downed trees and past the thorn bushes, and at long last the trail switchbacked uphill and became much more defined.  Thank goodness.

The trail was still in a burn area though, so there were many blowdowns still, but at least it was easier to see where the trail was.

The top half of the climb went through thickets of Aspen, which are usually first to grow after a fire.  Someone had thankfully cleared a corridor a few years back, so it was easy enough to follow, but there were still a ton of blowdowns.  I was happy when I entered a patch of pines and crested the top of the climb.  It was a mess getting through some of that.

It was 5 when I hit the top.  The spring further down trail was a bit far for the time, and I had no idea what condition the trail was in.  So I decided to chance the 0.6 miles to Cub Spring on a side trail.  There was more of the same Aspen thickets, but they were similarly cleared a while back, but now I was going flat to downhill so it was a bit faster.

I made it to Cub Spring which was gushing out the side of the mountain.  A great water source, and surprising so high up on the mountain.

There was a nearby campsite, so that was good enough for me.

As I climbed the mountain, nearing the top I ascended again into the clouds.  It was damp and windy, and I wouldn’t have really wanted to camp in that if I could avoid it.  I knew that Cub Spring was about the elevation the clouds started on my climb, and that held true when I got to it, just below the clouds.  They can always descend, but at least everything wasn’t soaking from the start.

I had wondered what all these burn areas I will have to pass through would be like.  I did many on the PCT, but that trail is much more maintained than many of these trails.  So far I have been able to manage, but I have many miles of them left to go.

The wind is howling tonight, but I’m sheltered next to a row of pines that escaped the fires.  Going to be a chilly night at almost 10,000 feet.

The post Grand Enchantment Trail: Day 14 Apache Kid appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

Finish: Head of Potato Canyon

Miles: 20.18 / 212.58 total

Ascent: 5220 feet

Elk bugled at night and again in the morning.  As I was taking down my tent, a huge bull elk was sauntering towards me without seeing me.  He got pretty close before I got out my camera and he ran off.

There was a lot of off-trail this morning.  The route wove in and out of rocky hills.  It went up some hills and down some washes.

Many of the washes had flowing water still, as I carried about a gallon past.  Can’t roll the dice on that.  Some of the washes got a little tight with pourovers too.  Since most of them were flowing, I took a higher route many times, either above them or all the way to the ridge above them for much easier walking.

All in all, I enjoyed the scenery of the morning.  It was not too hard, not spectacular, but just pleasant.

I broke out of the hills and crossed a dirt road artery.  Ground it out for a few miles on flat barren land to cross some private land.

Once I hit National Forest again, the route took me straight cross-country, where I crossed over some ridges and was deposited in a wash I would follow to its headwaters for the rest of the day.

When I got to the wash, it was flowing, though the water was muddy.  Like everything else, this is normally dry, so I was interested to see how far the water would stay flowing so I could avoid carrying water while walking up it.  The normal water supply in this area is a solar well, but I had no need to visit today.

The sides closed in on the wash, but the wash stayed as wide as it could.

I turned off into a side wash for Potato Canyon.  The water turned with me.  The wash stayed very wide, with trees just sprouting up straight from it.  The gradient was low, so the going was fairly easy, though there were some downed trees and other obstacles to avoid on occasion.

I made good progress up the wash, and got to a point where I could either continue up the wash or take an old trail bypass.  If anything, the flow rate was increasing as I headed upstream.  The trail notes said there were pourovers in the wash, so I opted for the bypass route, figuring the pourovers could be wet or difficult or impossible with water flowing.

The trails in this canyon exist but aren’t maintained and are rarely travelled, so they were challenging to pick out and stay on.  The bypass went steeply around the narrow section.  I did get a glimpse of it from above, and it definitely would have been impassable, with water rushing down chutes.  I’m not going up that.

After rejoining the wash, it shortly separated into Water Canyon and Potato Canyon.  Unsurprisingly, all of the water was coming from Water Canyon, and Potato Canyon had just a trickle of clear water coming out of it.

Heading up Potato Canyon, the water soon stopped.  I thought about playing that game where I keep hiking and see if it starts up again, but then I would be constantly searching for water and second guessing myself.  I decided to just grab 6 liters and be done with it.  A heavy load on top of my already heavy food bag.

I made slower progress with the load.  It was 3 something, and I could either camp here and go up the rest of the climb lighter in the morning, or I could just do the climb now to check it off.  I knew it was going to be a doozie since it was through a burn area with barely visible trail.

Since it was so early, I decided that I had plenty of time to make it the remaining 1500 feet or so to the top, even if I went slow.  How hard could it be?

With this area being recently burned, there was a lot of erosion along the wash I was walking.  The walls were often steep dirt, and at some point the remnant of the trail probably just appears at the top of one of these cliffs.  I decided to cut uphill early to make sure I got to the trail since the walls looked steep for a while.  No easy feat since the ground was gouged out with numerous ravines newly formed since the fire.

I picked my way across and eventually found the trail which was very faint and appeared and disappeared.  I followed it and lost it a few times, constantly looking at my GPS to see where it wandered off.  I eventually gave up and just went back to the wash which it would cross again, and managed to intersect it further up.

At this point, the trail did become a bit more defined, and was not hard to follow, though it is obvious that probably only hikers on the GET ever hike it.  The trail switchbacked straight up the rest of the mountain.  By this point I was dragging hard with my heavy food and water load, and being at the end of a 20 mile day, and climbing up to nearly 10000 feet.  It was really slow and I had to take many quick breaks, but I checked off the switchbacks.

At long last I made it to the top to much excitement.  It was a little windy at the trailhead, but it appeared it would be the flatest place for a while, so I set up camp to relax after my hard day.

Definitely a bit chillier up here, and I had to layer up almost immediately.  Oh well, it is nice to have that hairy climb behind me.  Hopefully tomorrow is a bit easier.

The post Grand Enchantment Trail: Day 13 Potato Canyon appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

Finish: Peak 7215

Miles: 20.52 / 192.4 total

Ascent: 4750 feet

Hurricane Polo all but dissipated over New Mexico, so after 2 long zero days in a motel room going stir crazy, it was finally time for me to hit the trail again.  The rain stopped, and the runoff disappeared again as quickly as it started.

It was a battle packing my backpack this morning.  I have 8 days of food which takes up quite a bit of space.  After adding some reserve water, I could barely roll the top of my pack shut.  Usually the top is about flush with my shoulders, but today it was somewhere behind my head.

The trail heads straight through town, so I was immediately back on trail when I left the motel.  There was a few miles of roadwalking to get back into the wilderness though.  Walking through town, it seemed like every house had at least one dog, and every single one barked up a storm.  The town probably hated me.  Someone walking and not driving a truck?

I soon left the paved road and went past the mining ghost town of Kelley.  You can walk around and see the town, but there was a chance of more thunderstorms today, and I wanted to clear the high ridge  before they could trap me.

The paved road turned into a dirt road which turned into a gnarly 4×4 track, steep and rocky.  I was definitely feeling the extra pack weight (and town food) on the way up.  I had to take more quick stops than normal, but the nice thing about a steep trail is it gets you up the mountain quick.

As I approached the Magdalena Range, their tops were shrouded in clouds.  This was supposed to be a scenic part of the trail, so I hoped it didn’t stay like that.

It was a 3000 foot climb to the ridge, but soon I reached the clouds and shortly thereafter the top of the ridge.  I was completely socked in.  I could see the forest that was immediately surrounding me, but little else.  It was also damp and chilly as you would expect.

After a quick break, I knew I had to keep moving, for the weather and chill in the air.  The 4×4 track continued for a while, keeping to the ridge, until it suddenly transformed into single track and the clouds cleared.

In front of me were some rounded rocky cliffs, which I immediately guessed were the draw of this route.  The clouds cleared just in time!  The rock was fantastic, and seemed completely out of place from the rest of the forested ridge.

White rounded rockbare and sticking out there.  It was quite a sight, and I stopped often to take it in and take pictures.

It didn’t take too long to cross though, and the clouds weren’t looking too friendly, so I had to press on.

The trail continued to follow the ridge for a while with faint trail.  However, the ridge had reverted to it’s less exciting forested gentle slopes.

I got to the trail I was to take down.  There was a sign, but not really a trail.  Oh well, more fun for me.  I was just following a valley down, so easy to pick my way down.

It did start sprinkling a bit, but no big deal.

Almost from the start of the descent, water was flowing in the usually dry streamed at the heart of the valley.  It continued to build as I descended.  The rest of the desert is already dry, but maybe the forests hold their water a little longer?  I’ll take it in any case.  I needed water from the stream on my way down.

The trail gradually picked up, and wound back and forth across the stream which is usually not a stream.  Few people have probably had to deal with water while on this trail, but it was never too much of a rock hop.

I stumbled across 2 abandoned cabins near the bottom.  One had a porch and bench, and it was about lunch time.  No sooner had I sat down on the covered porch than the sky opened up.  I guess it really was lunch time.  I couldn’t have gotten luckier with that timing.

After just the right length of lunch, the rain stopped and released me to go.

I continued down 4×4 track which paralleled the stream.  Obviously this track didn’t intend the stream to be flowing and I had to cross it a fair number of times.  All were rock hops, but sometimes I had to look a little to make it work.  Side streams were constantly feeding into the stream making it grow.

I didn’t quite reach my turnoff when the road wanted to cross a couple more times.  I grabbed some water and cut the corner to head into the hills on my own terms.

Some cross country was coming up to avoid a private in holding.  The slopes were gentle, so the hiking wasn’t hard, though I did sink in on occasion since the ground was wet.  I crossed a divide and made my own way down to a valley which also had a flowing stream.  A bunch more crossing and I found a cow trail that took me to a ridge that made for much easier traveling.

I then hooked into more 4×4 tracks through cow country.  Quite the change from the forested ridge just a couple hours before.  However, the land was nice and rolling, so it was fairly pleasant.

The route had me leave the road for some more off-trail adventuring.  It had me descend a ridge that was vibrant green with a carpet of small yellow wildflowers.  I guess they were all trying to bloom from the rains we have been having.  It was a surreal stroll down the ridge.

As I was nearing the bottom, I looked to the ridge above me and saw 2 elk in perfect silouette.  I was quite surprised, as they weren’t that far away.  However, they quickly took off before I could pull out my camera.

Some dark clouds were headed towards me, and it was clearer I was not going to give them the slip.  I crossed a saddle and going down the other side found some potholes to top off my water.  When I got to the bottom of the valley, the clouds were pretty close, and I found a flat spot to set up my tent.  It was 5, so good enough for the day.  

I threw up my tent, and it started sprinkling as I was putting the finishing touches on it.  I grabbed my gear and dove under cover, and the rain then decided to start in ernest.  2 times in a day I got under shelter just before it opened up.  Pretty lucky there.

It rained for about an hour, before it let me out to do my chores.

There is a lot of bugeling going on this evening, the elk are up to something.

Today was pretty good.  It had some challenge with the pack weight and elevation gain, but I picked away at it and had some enjoyable stretches of trail.  Good to be back on the trail!

The post Grand Enchantment Trail: Day 12 Magdalena Mountains appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

Finish: Magdalena, NM

Miles: 0 / 171.88 total

Ascent: 0 feet

I just took a zero day a few days back to wait out thunderstorms and flooding.  Now here I am again.  Well after the summer monsoon season normally ends in New Mexico, Pacific Hurricane Polo made landfall in Mexico and headed straight towards New Mexico.  While Pacific hurricanes are common, they usually head out to sea rather than striking land.

I just can’t catch a break on this hike.  It should be nice weather every day, but this is now the 4^th wave of strong storms that is passing through the area.  My next step is to head over a high ridge line, and then others after that, and the entire state is under a flood watch.  I’ve already seen the effect of thunderstorms and flooding in this area, and it is not something I want to mess with if I can choose not to.  Therefore I am taking 2 zero days in Magdalena to ride out the weather.

I really don’t want to take so much down time so early in a hike, but I think it is the only way to safely approach this route.  Also, the forecast after this hurricane looks great, so hopefully I can put in some solid hiking.

After this town stop, I am getting into way more remote country with fewer resupplies and longer distances to towns until I hit Arizona, so another reason to not strand or injure myself in the wilderness now.

My resupply box never arrived, so I ended up having to do a Dollar General resupply, just like on the Appalachian Trail in the old days.  Not too bad with some new food tricks I have learned since then.

It has been raining almost non stop for a day and a half here.  Every local I have talked to has reiterated that the past week or so has been the worst weather they can remember.  Lucky me.  However, there may be some scattered showers as Hurricane Polo finishes dying overhead, but then the 10 day forecast has very little chance of rain, and highs of 70 with lows of 50 for the duration, so hopefully I can get some good uninterrupted hiking in.

I’m carrying 8 days of food out of town for my biggest haul of this hike.  The going will be slow as I’ll be hitting remote and less maintained areas, and will have off-trail hiking in some not as flat terrain.  I’ll also be passing through some more recent burn areas which could mean miles of blowdowns and washouts especially with all of this rain.  Will see how it goes.

The post Grand Enchantment Trail: Days 10-11 Magdalena appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

As I ascended out of the wash and again onto the flat desert plain, I saw what I thought were elk prints in the sand. I was skeptical of my classification though since, again, I didn’t think there were elk out here.

I regained the plain and followed cow trails until they stopped at more cow tire troughs. Then it was just up to me. There was a checkerboard of public and private land ahead that the trail wove its way through trying to stay legal. This time there weren’t even fencelines to guide the way and ensure I stayed on the straight and narrow. That meant it was once again compass time! With the wide open landscape, it was perfect to let me make my own path with minimal effort.

As I was crossing the land, I saw a couple elk in the distance. I guess my prior observations weren’t nonsense after all. I took many pictures as I got closer and closer to them, since they were along my route. Eventually they grew impatient and jogged off with their odd head tilted up saunter. There was another group on the other side of me bugeling occasionally as well. Quite the unexpected sight.

My cross country jaunt came to an end at a county/forest service road, and I soon entered a patch of National Forest, where the forest was only sparse juniper bushes.

From there it was an easy stroll through the “forest” and across some more ranch land before my road dumped me straight into the center of Magdalena. I got my bearings and headed off to the only open restaurant for their biggest burger and a beer, much deserved I thought after the challenges thrown at my by the land and weather.

I got a motel room since the weather is supposed to turn south once again and started in on all my town chores. Magdalena is an interesting town that has a lot of potential with quaint old-time charm, but most businesses are closed at this point, unfortunately.I’m unsure what the next couple days will bring in terms of weather. I’m being fought every step of the way so far which I had not expected starting this trail.

The post Grand Enchantment Trail: Day 9 Into Magdalena appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

As I neared the San Lorenzo wash which my route went up, I was unsure of what I would find. There had been flash flooding in the entire area, and this was a large wash. As with a few days ago, I was unsure if it would still be flowing or dry. When I first hit it, it was grassy and muddy, but I followed the levee upstream, crossing a railroad and a road, after which the wash became dry and firm like before. That was great news for me, since the alternative could have been me leaving the trail.

The hills began to close in on the wash, and a 4×4 track joined in. After a while, some off roaders came in and passed me.Rock formations became more interesting, and an actual hiking trail appeared. At this point, I had 2 options. Either continue down the wash and pass through the heart of the San Lorenzo Canyon, while also having the opportunity to explore a side slot canyon, or take the hiking trail and see the canyon from the rim.

I love slot canyons, so I opted for the main route. However, a few minutes later I passed a second trailhead for the same trail network, and it pulled on me to get on some actual hiking trail since it had been a few days. I ended up changing my mind and taking the trail.The trail quickly headed up to the rim of the canyon which it followed as closely as it could. It offered views of the canyon as well as the rugged surrounding land, so it was a good choice. I then heard blaring Mexican music coming from the off roaders in the canyon, which definitely was better experienced from the rim and not inside the canyon.

It was a nice hike on the rim, but the trail petered out in the end, leaving me to finish the route cross country and negotiate a steep descent on loose dirt and rock to get back into the canyon. I made it, but it wasn’t the best.

The canyon narrowed even more and there were a couple pinch points to get through, one with a chock rock wedged between the canyon walls, and a second pourover flowing with water.The pourover was a little difficult to get up since there were not great handholds and it was about as high as I am tall. I couldn’t get up it with my pack on, so I heaved it up onto rock above, and then was able to scramble up it myself. When I got to the top I saw that I had heaved my pack right into the stream, but it hadn’t soaked through yet, luckily.

The canyon then began to quickly disappear and the wash was again on a wide plain. The flowing water disappeared, and I took a break and refilled my water since there were only cow troughs ahead which I had no idea if they were filled or how contaminated with cow they could be.

The day got hot since all the clouds of yesterday had cleared out. After most of the day in the San Lorenzo Wash, it continued on into the hills, but my time with it came to an end, and I turned off onto a 4×4 track with a couple dry cow troughs.

I topped off my water at a rancher well to my full capacity since it was hot with not a bit of potential relief from the sun. Down more 4×4 track through this barren stretch until I began to see some juniper on the horizon. I decided I would get to some shade for my next break. I wasn’t going to sit down in the sun, that wouldn’t be much of a relief.

The road turned into cow path, which lead me down into a wash which turned out to be a beautiful oasis of poplars. The wash had obviously been flowing high yesterday in the flooding, with water marks as much as 10 feet or so above the center of the wash, but now there was not even a puddle left, just some mud.

The trail only joined this wash briefly, and I definitely took a break in the shade before setting out again across the desert. I dried my stuff from last night. Looking ahead on the trail, it would be another 6 miles or so to the next potential cover, where I was in essentially a sandy oasis with plenty of shade at the moment. It was only 3:30, way earlier than I normally stop for the day, but I didn’t need to go any further really since I’m hitting town early tomorrow regardless. So I made the unusual decision to stop for the day at this early hour.

I didn’t know what to do with myself, but I ended up laying around on the sand in the shade, and just enjoyed the solitude of this oasis.

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