Ghost Ranch Nero

  • NNML 2026 Day 8, June 25, Thursday
  • Start S2 70 down from rim
  • End S2 76 Ghost Ranch HQ
  • Miles walked: 6

Continuing my descent from the mesa rim, in early morning the sandstone cliffs are painted in muted pastels.

A suspension foot-bridge is in the middle having wood blanks replaced.

Ghost Ranch is a convention center located in a gorgeous natural setting, used by youth groups, spiritual programs, artist functions, and more. The Ranch is a popular stop on the CDT, and is super hiker-friendly. I have a food supply box mailed here, and decide to spend the night in the campground to use the shower and laundry, and I even sign up for a couple of cafeteria meals.

( For long-distance hikers, a zero is a day with no miles on the trail, and a nero (near-zero) is a day with very few miles. )

I check in with the camp host, Trinke, who is just finishing her three month volunteer session, and will soon return to Wisconsin.

Usually I visit a museum or display when I am at Ghost Ranch. Ghost House is one of the early buildings when the land was a working ranch, and old photographs tell some of the history here.

At lunch and dinner, we eat family style at round tables, and we are encouraged to talk to strangers/ new friends-in- passing. You would be surprised how social I am when on a trail adventure, so much more outgoing than normal life. A couple of large youth groups are currently at the ranch, and an artist retreat. I meet adult leaders for a small youth group from Wooster, a small liberal arts college in Ohio, where Dotter attended. What are the chances?

A display near tho dining hall shows the geology of the rock formations that surround us.

I attempt a repair of my backpack. A buckle on the sternum strap came off and is lost. I have spare buckles in my repair kit, but they are incompatible. I put together and sew a new sternum strap– maybe it will work. A rip in my trail pants is sewed and taped, and hopefully will not look too disreputable when I go into towns.

Rio Chama

  • NNML 2026 Day 7, June 24, Wednesday
  • Start S2 mile 46.8 near road crossing, on the CDT
  • End S2 mile 70 down from rim
  • Miles walked: 23.2

Although I am in a canyon that leads to the Rio Chama, we need to get over to the correct canyon. The route climbs Mesa Alta to the next canyon over.

Now the route is in a small canyon, which merges with the larger Osito Canyon. A flash flood had been through here recently, and huge cairns were built to mark the CDT route.

There was water running in the drainage, really the only water source today besides the turbid Rio Chama later.

Lower in the canyon are colorful sandstone walls.

As the route gets near the river, we enter a sagebrush forest.

Skull Bridge over the Rio Chama is now closed to vehicles, but not hikers.

The route climbs up a cliff along the river. Clouds appear while I am climbing, the first clouds since the beginning of my hike, and a cool breeze comes by.

After the climb, a brief shower barely wets the ground.

Along the top we see that the cliffs are a mesa, and the route follows along the rim of the mesa towards Ghost Ranch, with stunning views at every turn.

I climb down from the rim to sleep among sagebrush.

Finished audiobook The Ebb Tide, by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osborne.

Dry Parks

  • NNML 2026 Day 6, June 23, Tuesday
  • Start S2 20.6 Rito Penas Negras
  • End S2 46.8 on CDT / NNML
  • Miles walked: 26.2

I see rail fences sometimes in this ranger district. What is that about?

After following 2-track and a bit of cross-country, the route joins Penas Negras Trail 32,which soon enters the San Pedro Parks Wilderness.

(As a reminder, parks are high mountain meadows. San Pedro Parks are on a sort of mesa, 4 miles by 8 miles, about 10k elevation.) I do not remember hiking in such dry Parks, though I do tend to visit earlier in the year. Typically I have to dodge around boggy areas, but not today. Some of the normally lush grass has bits of brown.

I am having to climb over a few blowdowns, but not too bad. My usual water sources are dry. When the route joins the CDT, I take a chance and head off-route towards Rio de las Vacas for a half-mile, and do find my one water source for the day.

Along the CDT, heading out of the Parks, is a region with a lot of blowdown, all cleared from the trail.

Descending, colorful sandstone cliffs of a canyon that leads into the Chama River can be glimpsed.

Finished audiobook Propaganda, by Edward Bernays.

Finished audiobook The Syndic, by C M Kornbluth.