{"id":11263,"date":"2026-09-24T15:30:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T22:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yetihikes.net\/wordpress\/?p=11263"},"modified":"2026-09-29T07:42:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T14:42:25","slug":"grand-enchantment-trail-day-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yetihikes.net\/wordpress\/2026\/09\/24\/grand-enchantment-trail-day-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand Enchantment Trail: Day 6 Sevilleta"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Start: Mountainair, NM

Finish: Sevilleta Land GrantMiles: 22.02 \/ 114.85 totalAscent: 2420 feetI was hopeful for today. The rain had stopped yesterday, and it appeared that the land around the motel was drying. Mark from the motel had offered to drive me back to the trail which was great since it took a little while to hitch coming in, and I knew I could get an early start.Driving back to the trail was quite different than my reverse trip a couple days ago. I didn\u2019t see any flowing water where there were torrents before.I hit the trail which started on a 4×4 track, but did some trial steps on the surrounding land which was firm and not muddy. I may just be in luck!I took off down the road and crossed a few washes which had obviously been flowing, but now there was either nothing left or just a few puddles. Even in the washes it wasn\u2019t muddy for the most part. What I had hoped seemed to have come true, and I may yet be able to salvage and continue this hike.<\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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At the top of a rise, the route left the road and went up and old 4×4 track which quickly disappeared, leaving me with my first cross country travel of the trip; a moment I have long been savoring.

I love off-trail travel. Nothing defines where you go, you make it up by reading the land and choosing what might be the most efficient way through. While I could have just strictly followed the line on my GPS, that\u2019s no fun compared to dialing in my compass, shooting a bearing, and following it as I see fit. I just have to check my compass occasionally if trees get in the way of the horizon, but for me it is something magical. To just make my own trail. I followed my compass and descended to a wash which was mostly dry except for a small trickle that appeared and disappeared. I was suddenly back on the Hayduke Trail in Utah where the washes were my trail that I went up and down all day. I love walking the wide washes. The walls of the canyons vary the scenery, and it is almost as easy as walking trail most of the time with the occasional jungle gym of navigating pour overs or boulder fields.<\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Alas this wash was pretty short before I had to leave it, but I still had a bit of cross country travel to enjoy before I hit a road to take me through some private property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the road some sprinkles set in. There was still a chance of rain today, and there were some gray clouds around. The rain lasted just long enough for me to don my raingear. Typical.I cruised the road until the route veered off for a much longer stretch of cross country travel. The route went in straight lines, leaving me to navigate my way across small canyons while staying roughly on track. So much fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The landscape was low ridges and hills that some may say is boring, but I was having such a great time making my own way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All good things must come to an end though, and after a scenic lunch with my legs hanging over a cliff, I joined a series of 4×4 tracks for the rest of the day through the Sevilleta Land Grant. This is private property, but the trail founder negotiated access for hikers with a few easy to follow rules.The land is ranch land, so there were periodic solar or windmill powered wells. I grabbed water at the first one which was like a level of Assassin\u2019s Creed in trying to figure out how to climb, duck, and step carefully to get to the water tank. I did succeed and grabbed water for the rest of the day since I didn\u2019t know how reliable their wells were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was easy to roll along the roads and eat up the miles, dodging and weaving between ridges, where each had a new look and color scheme.I stopped for the day about an hour before sunset, next to a juniper where I only had to kick away a couple cow patties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was able to sit up and enjoy the sunset as I ate my dinner and planned for how to cross the Rio Grande tomorrow.

Today really picked me up with the license to stretch my legs and brain on the cross country traveling. I navigated with my compass for miles which was something that I haven\u2019t been able to do for a while. I hope there is more of the route like this in the coming days.<\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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