Borrego Trail #150 2021

NMVFO returned again to Borrego Mesa for a one day project on Borrego Trail Saturday, with volunteers arriving Friday evening to car-camp and enjoy Dave & Rifka’s cooking. Most of us lopped Gambel oak in an old burn area as the trail descends from the trailhead down to the Rio Medio, while three hiked ahead as a sawyer crew with a Katanaboy 650 to remove large-diameter ponderosa deadfall from the trail.

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Sierra Mosca Trail #156 2021

Five volunteers from NMVFO, along with Lynn from USFS, completed a weekend trail project along the Sierra Mosca Trail in the northern Pecos Wilderness, hiking in 5 miles along Borrego Trail #150 from the trailhead.

Borrego Trail follows south along Rito Gallina, after descending down Borrego Mesa and crossing the Rio Medio. We camped at the intersection of Borrego and Sierra Mosca trails in a small grassy area. Sierra Mosca follows southeast along Rito Con Agua for a couple of miles, steadily ascending, and then continues to rise, leaving any water source. The trail started off fairly clear, but after a couple of miles the deadfalls became frequent, making the trail practicably impassable .

We brought along a 6 foot 2-person crosscut saw, but a Katanaboy 650 and a 500 were often more practical saws for this particular project because of the tendency of the saws to bind.

The team worked well together, clearing over 100 deadfalls on 3.2 miles of trail. Deepest thanks to Nick, Mike T, Carlos, Dennis, and Lynn for a memorable project.

Rito Quemado Trail 2021

NMVFO gathered for an overnight camping project to work on the Rito Quemado Trail #157 in the northern Pecos Wilderness. The project was scaled back from a 4-day to one day effort because recent monsoon rains had swollen the Rio Medio, so we did not try crossing and limited ourselves to the one mile segment from the trailhead down to the river.

We camped at a primitive group site on along FR306 on top of Borrego Mesa at 8.5k elevation, with good views of lowlands below, not far from the somewhat invisible and hidden trailhead. Dave and Rifka provided savory dinner and breakfast.

We split into two work groups, one doing crosscut sawing of ponderosa pine, and the other lopping Gambels oak.

By 1PM the afternoon monsoon thunderstorm had started, just as we completed our mile, so we hiked back to the top and headed home along the scenic route High Road to Taos back to our normal lives.

Thanks to leader Mike, with Dave & Rifka, Jeff, Mike G & Megan R, Cecily, Lynne & Patrick, Danielle, Charlie, Duncan, Ralph, and Mark for a good adventure.