Month: April 2025

• CDT NM 2025 Day 12, Friday, April 18
• Start GRA mile 87.1
• End CDT mile 351.5
• Miles walked: GRA 19.1 + CDT 7.1 = 26.2

Mesa Man starts early, even earlier than me.

Fortunately the cold wind subsided at night, but gusts resume today. The route goes on gravel road, and stays on road most of the day.

On Bursum Road I pass a large grassland.

Water is found at Dutchman Spring, near the end of the Gila River Route, in the cistern behind the tire. The next good water is pretty far ahead.

Hikers refer to the main CDT route as the Red Line, because the track appears red on the app most hikers are using. After several days on the Gila Alternate, I return to the red line.

The route finally leaves roads, climbing through a burn area.

Cat’s Claw is one of the first plants to grow after the burn. Several blowdowns are across the trail here.

The cairns are good for marking the trail in this section.

Finished audiobook Triplanetary, by E E ”Doc” Smith, the first book in the Lensman series.

• CDT NM 2025 Day 11, Thursday, April 17
• Start Gila River High Route GRHR mile 14.4
• End Gila River Alternate GRA mile 87.1
• Miles walked: 7.7 GRHA + 16.1 GRA = 23.8

Clear Creek has pools of water, the only source I find on the High Route.

As I begin descending off the mesa, down towards the Middle Fork of the Gila, a strong cold gusting wind begins to blow, with clear skies.

I arrive at the upper section of the Middle Fork, running slow and low.

I could continue past the river and follow more High Route on Aeroplane Mesa, but the strong winds are a reason to remain on the River Route.

Some small caves in the canyon walls come into view.

I climb up the earthen dam for Snow Laked

Beyond Snow Lake the trail follows up a canyon, with pools of water in the drainage.

Climbing out of the canyon, the route follows two-track on open rangeland. The wind turns bitterly cold. The best hope is to keep hiking to reach the shelter of trees in the distance.

Soon after I reach the line of trees and start setting up camp, Mesa Man arrives, and gives me a small bag of gear that dropped from my pack!

Finished audiobook A Farewell to Arms, by Earnest Hemingway.

• CDT NM 2025 Day 10, Wednesday, April 16
• Start GRA mile 36.6
• End Gila River High Route GRHR mile 14.4
• Miles walked: 6.1 GRA + 14.4 GRHR + 6 miles Cliff Dwellings = 26.5

After hiking a few more miles along the Gila River, I reach a bridge and climb up to a road. Here is the view of the river from the bridge

A roadwalk to Gila Hot Springs takes me to Doc Campbell’s Trading Post, well-known and beloved among CDT and GET hikers.

I did not expect them to be open today, Wednesday, the one day they are closed. But if they spot CDT hikers waiting around the porch, they will often open up, which they did for me! I needed some extra food beyond what I had brought from Silver City, because the Hiker Hunger is setting in. And their Lemon Berry homemade ice cream is a welcome treat.

I meet Mesa Man at Doc Campbell’s. He has already been at Gila Hot Springs for one night.

I divert to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument to play tourist. The vault toilet near the entrance had a mural painted on an inside wall, a nice touch.

The natural cliff overhand had been used by hunter-gatherers for hundreds of years, but the rooms built into the cliff were only used from 1275 to 1300AD, then abandoned.

When possible on this hike, I try to take an alternate that I did not take on my previous CDT hike. I start the Gila River High Route, available for hikers on high water years when the many river crossings on the Middle Fork of the Gila might be impractical.

There are not many chances for water on the higher out, and they may be all dried up. I have a couple of chances to divert down to the River Route if I need to.

The root ascends to a relatively flat high area, pleasant hiking.

I can see the cliff walls of the Middle Fork.

At Prior Creek there is a cabin, but the water has dried up.

Finished audiobook The Emperor’s Candlesticks, by Baroness Orczy.