Category: Trail Projects

I return to my adopted segment of the CDT, south of Pie Town at the northern tip of the Gila National Forest. I arrive at the southern terminus of the segment Thursday after dark in a downpour, and car camp. The next day I first work my way to Rincon Well, now dry, trying to fix a disappearing trail by scraping grass and building a couple of cairns.

At mid-day I drive to the northern terminus and backpack in. On the climb to the heights are a great deal of tumbleweed, Russian thistle, growing in the tread, which I have not encountered before.

This makes disappearing trail even more invisible. Along the heights are a large number of downed limbs and trees across the trail, pine and juniper. Some are quite large, and I am glad to have brought the KatanaBoy.

Rain started at 6PM, so I had to quit sawing and quickly make camp, not making it to my destination of Eman Well. Sixty-seven blowdowns were cleared. Rain showers continued sporadically through the night.

The next day I started at first light and hiked back to the trailhead at Surprise Tank. (The surprise is that there is no longer a tank at that location.)

Related Posts:

• CDT Segment 86 2023
• CDT Segment 86 October 2022
• Segment 86 November 2021
• Segment 86 September 2021
• Segment 86 November 2020
• Segment 86 March 2020
• Segment 86 October 2019
• Segment 86 Recon

NMVFO and the Albuquerque Wildlife Federation have their annual joint restoration project at Limestone Canyon south of the VLA in the San Mateo Mountains, in about a week, so I went to scout the area. FR 476 is rugged enough to recommend a high-clearance vehicle. Approaching the canyon, signs of a mild recent ponderosa wildfire is visible. I think this is from the Fisher Fire, because I do not remember these scorch marks from last year.

The campsite looked mostly unharmed.

I went upstream in the Limestone drainage to check out structures, one-rock dams for the most part, that we worked on last year. I did not notice recent signs of water flow, or damp sand. I did not see signs of flooding in the past year, but I am just a newbie at restoration and do not see all the clues that our AWF brethren notice.

Then I went up the narrower Fisher Canyon drainage to check out rock structures, including a Zuni bowl we helped build last year. (The bowl shape is hard to make out in photos, but is clear in-person.)

Looking forward to a fine project.

Related Posts:

• Limestone Canyon 2023

Fifteen NMVFO volunteers returned for the second project of the year on Cecilia Trail, in the San Pedro Parks Wilderness, to finish clearing downed trees from the route. Several cairns were also constructed, where the tread typically fades through meadows.

We camped at Resumidero Camping Area, a huge open meadow where large local family groups often camp out for several weeks during the summer.

We divided up into three teams, with two 2-person crosscut saws and one 1-person crosscut rigged for 2-person mode, assisted by KatanaBoys and smaller folding saws.

We had a few new volunteers, and a couple of young adults, and it was a pleasure to introduce them to the crosscut.