March 2022 – Sagebrush Trails

Another Adventure?

HDT 2022 Day 0, March 31, Thursday
Start Albuquerque
End Salt Valley Road, 4.4 miles from the start of HDT
Miles walked:4

My new long hike is the Hayduke Trail, which winds through most of the National Parks in Utah, drops down to Arizona to cross the Grand Canyon 3 times, then returns back to Utah to finish at Zion.

Unlike my hike of the Grand Enchantment Trail, this trip does not connect many existing trails into a longer trail, but more often defines a route on a map, crossing a canyon here, following a canyon there. The route is mostly rather far away from trail towns, so many hikers elect to cache food. Here is the route I drove last week.

San Lorenzo Canyon 2022

Fourteen volunteers from NMVFO and one BLM staffer returned to San Lorenzo for a one-day trail project, completing the rim trail route started last November, and adding another overlook loop, making one reroute, closing off user trail, and building cairns.

We also constructed a trail down to Little San Lorenzo, a slot canyon that is destined to become a favorite destination of local hikers.

Sycamore Canyon Backpack 2022

NMVFO and Gila Backcountry Horsemen and the CDTC teamed up for a four day backpack trail project March 18-21 on the CDT Alternate north of Silver City, setting up camp in the Tadpole Ridge area to fix trail that was disappearing from a heavy pine needle fall event. Along with raking tread, we built cairns and lopped the corridor, especially the thick manzanita growing on the slope down to Sycamore Creek.

The final night brought snow, but we were prepared for the turn in weather and hiked out in good spirits after a successful outing.