Sagebrush Trails – Page 2 – Sagebrush personal hiking blog

Snow Day

CDT NM 2025 Day 29, Monday May 5
Start mile 722.1, underneath a fir tree
End mile 742.9, elevation 10.3k
Miles walked: 20.8

I woke up to 6-8 inches of fluffy snow everywhere.

The strategy is to hike all day to keep warm, and to make as many miles as practical under challenging conditions.

In 8 inches of powder I can still make out the trail, though it takes all my powers of concentration. I can see the trail below, can you?

As the day progresses I notice areas that did not receive as much snow as where my tent was located. Or was it just starting to melt here– I am not sure.

Dark gray clouds block out the sun all day, except for a glimpse of blue sky in the evening. Is this weather system really going to snow for a third straight day tomorrow?

The Rio Vallecitos is a wet-foot crossing.

Hopewell Lake does not have any fishermen today, wonder why?

I had worked on a section of the CDT from Hopewell Lake to the highway a few years ago, with a ton of other people, as part of a gathering to celebrate a completion milestone of the CDT in the Carson National Forest. Strange, today the trail looks different.

The trail resumes in mixed conifer plus aspen, with regions of meadow, in wet sticky snow. Footpaths and two-tracks were flooding due to snow melt.

Finally I give up, and shelter under a fir tree, where there is still a patch of ground without snow.

Finished audiobook The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway.

Carson Challenge

CDT NM 2025 Day 28, Sunday May 4
Start mile 703.3
End mile 722.1
Miles walked: 18.8

The route crosses high meadows and heads towards trees. Several two-tracks and paths and turns make navigation tedious.

Elk cross by shyly.

At another highland the trail much improves, with no road intersections or turn necessary.

Then, suddenly around mile 713.5, the electronic map no longer shows the correct position of the trail, and I cannot find the correct path, and must go cross-country over many blowdowns.

Finally, near Upper Canjilon Lake, the map corrects itself. Several people are out fishing.

A loud chorus of frogs practice at a nearby pond.

The day is overcast, and turning cold. The route passes into Vallecitos, an area with mixed meadows and forests, like San Pedro Parks. Like that area, there are snow crossings and swampy areas and flooded footpaths. And we are at a similar elevation, around 10k.

Snow begins, dry pellets at first, then with sticky snow.

Eventually the wet snow is too much for me to keep warm enough while hiking, so I make an early camp underneath a fir tree, and hope for better conditions tomorrow.

Finished audiobook The Singing Bone, or The Adventures of Doctor Thorndyke.

Ghost Ranch

CDT NM 2025 Day 27, Saturday May 3
Start mile 682.6 near Mesa View Trail
End mile 703.3
Miles walked: 19.8 (using Ghost Ranch Alt)

I take Rim Vista Trail down from the edge, admiring the rock-work used to build the trail.

I also admire how old trail is closed with interlaced logs.

At the bottom I can see cliffs that would be familiar to anyone who visited Ghost Ranch before, including Chimney Rock,

On Ghost Ranch property, I try to follow the Alternate route, but it is tricky. Here I cross a bridge over an arroyo…

… and then see a Bridge Closed sign on the other side.

Chimney Rock comes into better view.

Finally getting to the Visitor Center, the friendly staff give me my food box I mailed here, and I repackage food on the porch.

Spokes and Mama Troll show up while I am working, and then Southern Comfort, who is staying the night. The rest of us will press on today, after snacks and perhaps exploring Ghost Ranch a bit.

Nearby is an Anthropology Museum, and I browse the displays.

I particularly like how they show this vase was reassembled.

They also have a dinosaur museum, with a display of researching fossils.

And I appreciate the dinosaurs.

Ghost Ranch has so much more to see, including art exhibits and interesting architecture, but I must move on. A hogan can be explored on Box Canyon Trail.