April 2024 – Page 3 – Sagebrush Trails

Frozen Bursum

GxL Day 5, April 6, Saturday
Start West Fork Trail near Bursum Rd
End Bursum Rd dispersed camping area just beyond Mogollon private land
Miles walked: 14

Snow pelted the tent all night, the sound amplified by the shelter fabric like a speaker cone. Two or three inches of fresh powder surrounded my campsite.

Toe trail, though covered in white stuff, was quite visible by the cut ends of logs and a clear corridor. I pass Iron Creek Lake.

Near Willow Creek Campground I crossed the creek, broad and not too deep.

Middle Fork

GxL Day 4, Friday, April 5
Start Gail Tank
End West Fork Trail near Bursum Rd
Miles walked: 19

The drainage out of Gail Tank becomes a little stream that we follow.

Eventually the stream goes into Snow Lake.

Two groups were using the campground at the lake.

Bursum

GxL Day 3, Thursday, April 4
Start past John Kerr Peak
End Gail Tank
Miles walked: 19

In the morning I met Mighty, doing an early CDT hike north to avoid the crowd.

Mighty warned me about a peak just ahead with blowdowns, locust, and deep snow, which I was hiking over in early morning, which avoided post-holing.

Later the route joins Oox Canyon Road, and then Bursum Road, for some easy road-walking.

We go past Collins Park and Antelope Horn Peak.

Bursum climbs, then descends, and we divert onto a smaller 2-track through grassland.

The wind is high, but in a little notch is located Gail Tank, with good water and sheltered from wind.

My inflatable sleeping pad got a slash, and my field repair kit could not fix the leak. Oh well.

Finished audiobook The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Finished audiobook The Lost Cause, by Cory Doctorow.