Beaver Roads

  • SF2T 2026 Day 8, June 16, Tuesday
  • Start S5-5
  • End S6-6, overlooking Taos from heights
  • Miles walked: 20.1

Hiking alongside Rio de la Olla on FR438, I see beaver dams between brushy banks.

Later I see a larger dam, right alongside the road. Notice the short thick gnawed logs.

On FR437 the route is along Rio Chiquito, where one can view gnawed logs for dams. Did Mr Beav lose interest in a half-chewed log, or is he coming back?

On this wider river are wider beaver dams, though I see no lodges.

I was just thinking how the dams would gradually raise the water level and flood banks, and that the river was not that much lower than the road in spots, when sure enough, the road got flooded.

I climb up the steep Drake Canyon Trail, more of a road. Would anyone really hike this, other than getting to a better trail, or is it for ATVs?

On Ojitos Trail I can see Taos below.

Finished audiobook Destiny Times Three by Fritz Leiber.

Finished audiobook The Colors of Space, by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

Forest Road Maze

  • SF2T 2026 Day 7, June 15, Monday
  • Start Trail 22, past Los Esteros pond, mile 73.1
  • End 95-5
  • Miles walked:  25.5

The word “trail” usually calls to mind single-track. In this area, trails are typically 2-track that has been allowed to reduce to single-track, though a 2-track road is typically laid out differently than a regular trail.

I continue to descend on Trail 22 to Agua Piedra Creek and Agua Piedra Campground, and then a trail along their day-use area, where a beaver pond thrives.

Following road towards the community of Tres Ritos, the route turns onto La Cueva Trail, reaching a meadow before climbing steep eroded trail.

The route follows Forest Read 442 to 439 to an unknown Connector to 438.

Rain starts around 6, and lasts an hour.

Finished audiobook Tales of the Jazz Age, by F Scott Fitzgerald.

Resume Hike

  • SF2T 2026 Day 6, June 14, Sunday
  • Start Santa Barbara Campground mile 66.1
  • End Trail 22, past Los Esteros pond, mile 73.1
  • Miles walked: 7

After a fine breakfast, all 3 NMVFO crews worked on Centennial Trail this morning, leap-frogging each other.

We return to Santa Barbara Campground by 12:30, and everyone departs, while I resume my hike just as rain begins, first showers, then steady with thunder accents.  I cross a creek wet-foot style on Indian Creek Trail, and climb in the rain from 8.3k to 11.7k elevation, where there is dense understory of one plant, that I had encountered before at high elevations, possibly kinnikinnick.

The route joins the Divide Trail, and views to the east are fogged over. I follow along a firebreak.

Soon I descend on Trail 22, thoroughly drenched and cold, and get to lower elevation and finally pitch a tent, climb in, dry off, and warm up.

Finished audiobook A Plague of Pythons, by Frederik Pohl.