May 2021 – Sagebrush Trails

Railroad Canyon 2021

Over 19 volunteers from the NMVFO, Backcountry Horsemen Gila Chapter, and Southern NM Trail Alliance teamed up from May 19-24 to work on trails in the Railroad Canyon area in the Gila National Forest near Emory Pass. We car-camped at Iron Creek Campgound, and Dave and Rifka from NMVFO were cooks for the project.

Dividing into three teams, sawying, lopping, and tread, we worked on East Railroad Canyon Trail and Gallinas Canyon Trail. Past burns had caused blowdowns, brush growth, and trail erosion that required a good deal of re-benching.

Mogollon Rim Trail 2021

And a bonus continuation resuming on the GET:

PDF download of trip journal.

Polvadera and Home Again

MRT/GET 2021 Day 34, May 8, Saturday
• Start Magdalena, NM
• End Lemitar, NM and home
• Miles walked: 30.5

Starting early north from Magdalena is a bit of Cibola National Forest with hills, grass, and juniper.

Afterwards, the route will spend most of the day crossing a huge grassland plain to a small mountain range near the village of Polvadera along the Rio Grande.

The grassland is actually a complex mixture of grasses, bare dirt, wildflowers, small shrubs, and my namesake, sagebrush, not often found this far south.