- NNML 2019 Day 22, July 1, Monday
- Start near grant boundary mile 335 (sec6mile26)
- End on trail up to Baldy, (sec6mile51)
- Miles walked: 25
The route today follows cross-country and along faint two-track, along creeks in meadows, from Cabresto Creek to Bitter Creek to Gold Creek, Comanche Creek to Vidal Creek.
The meadows remind me of Valle Grande, with small creeks winding back and forth on their way through the field, narrow width, with grass right to the edge, no transition to a dirt bank.
Clayton Camp on the map, Philmont Cabin on the sign, has just started a restoration project, with workers on site.
Rain starts at 1:30 and goes hard until 4:30. I decide to keep hiking rather than wait it out, probably for the best since it would have been such a long wait. My rain coat gives up eventually, though I keep warm by hiking hard, and try to dry off after the rain by hiking hard and long again.
Camp is up pretty high, on the approach to Baldy, over 11k, so expect a cold night in the tent, and yes, rain starts again as dark falls.
He has a custom chuck-wagon rig and all his own kitchen equipment.
The trail we are working on today is Manzanitas, which goes between Hondo Canyon and the ridge, parallel to Gavilan and other trails in this system. We do lopping, sawing downed trees, fixing drainage to the creek we are hiking along, and repairing tread.
A team of two bring a long crosscut saw up near the ridge and work down, while the rest of us use smaller saws to clear what trees we can manage.
After a full day, Gary presents lasagna and peach cobbler from dutch ovens.
It has been a challenging day of physical effort, rewarding to fix trail and spend time with old friends and new. I can only spare this one day working on trail, but the rest of the group will be here several days. Courtney, Dave, Todd, Lynn, Mark, Jenny, Charlie R, Gary, and Ed are awesome volunteers and made my day here a happy one.