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2019-01-19 Old CDT Trail into the Black Range

January 25, 2019 //
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View across Aspen Canyon to Aspen Peak

Overview:

A leg of the Continental Divide Trail once ridge-rambled east from Signboard Saddle, but the ridge burned and the tread is abandoned. Once uplifting, the terrain now supports only the lightest of positive spins. Bold regrowth, views down to shadowed canyons, views up to snowy ridges and stiff navigational challenges all  find a home along the old trail. A raw helping of sadness and some danger also lurks inside this galaxy of tall and weakening snags.

Elsewhere in the Black Range the 2013 Silver Fire produced a mosaic of burned patches and unscathed patches (see West Railroad Canyon). In contrast, the old CDT departs from Signboard Saddle, threads a few patchy burns, then marches into uncontested desolation. If you are a serious student of forest recoveries then this is the trail for you. Most hikers will want to give this trail some time. Green and great by 2029!

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Categories Aldo Leopold Wilderness, Black Range, Gila Wilderness, New Mexico

2019-01-07 Apache-Holt Trail #181 to viewpoint (Mogollon Mts, Gila Wilderness)

January 12, 2019 //
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01 Black - Sacaton Mt to Mogollon Mt
View to Black Mountain (extreme left), Sacaton Peak (center) and Mogollon Baldy (white peak above the saddle between Black and Sacaton Peaks)

Overview:

The Holt-Apache Trail, #181, takes you up the west-facing slopes of the Mogollon Mountains to a view point on the summit block of Holt Mountain. A history of wind and fire has resulted a thin patch of snags that opens to terrific views across the Dry Creeks region of the Mogollons. My turn-back time had arrived so this report does not describe the trail where it ascends the last few hundred feet to the summit of Holt Peak. On a longer day that should be easy to do. It might be even more rewarding to continue along the Apache-Holt trail for another half mile while searching for views down Whitewater Creek and into the heart of the Gila Wilderness. The trail is moderately steep, clinging to canyon bottoms in the first stretch and then mounting well-engineered switchbacks to bring you up out of the canyon. Unfortunately, the trail is being abandoned by the Forest Service. You are needed! Hike this trail and your very tracks will assist in keeping this gorgeous national resource open.

Edit: Josh (see comments) reports that the Gila Backcountry Horsemen have greatly improved the trail up to the Camp Creek saddle. All the more reason to go!

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Categories Gila Wilderness, Mogollon Mountains, Near Silver City, New Mexico

2018-12-25 Little Dry Creek to Windy Gap/Elk Horn Rib (Mogollon Mts)

December 28, 2018 //
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01 Dry Creek Drainage to West Baldy
View up Little Dry Creek to West Baldy

Overview:

This is a splendid trail. It wanders more than three miles along a creek that currently enjoys a pleasant run of water. The “creek” is flanked with enormous canyon walls. Eventually the trail leaves the canyon bottom and offers you a brisk, mile-long ascent onto a high ridge line in the Mogollon Mountains. The trailhead is easy to access. Views, wildlife and solitude abound. 

In fact, that solitude may be a bit too abundant. Forest Trail #180 is in painful need of hiker affection. In its upper reaches there is some deadfall to clamber across. In places the trail is slowly rolling back into conformation with the hillside. Tufts of grass grow in the tread and brush is starting to encroach at knee level. You are needed! Get out there and show some boot-sole sympathy for this great diversion into the Gila National Forest. The Mogollons are magnificent and your hike will maintain access to this high terrain.

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Categories Gila Wilderness, Mogollon Mountains, Near Silver City, New Mexico

2018-12-05 Wolf Trail to Black Mountain (northern Gila National Forest)

December 9, 2018 //
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01 Ridge Containing Black Mountain
View of ridge containing Black Mountain from NM-59 (foreground peak is probably Beaver Points Mountain).

Overview: 

This hike is a mellow stroll to a lookout tower on the northern edge of the Gila Wilderness. Wolf Trail #773 has a clear tread, a manageable vertical gain and a summit low enough to be snow-free for much of the year. The summit view swings from Vick’s Peak in the San Mateo Range to the northeast, passing Hillsboro Peak in the Black Range to the east, Black Peak in the Pinos Altos Range to the south and winding up on Whitewater Baldy in the Mogollon Mountains to the west. There may be no better place for getting an overview of this huge and varied National Forest. The roads are paved for much of the way, so access is relatively easy. These roads do wiggle and writhe, however, so getting here is not especially fast.

To be clear, this is Black Mountain in Catron County on the northern boarder of the Gila National Forest. It is not Black Peak (near Signal Peak) on the southern border of the Gila National Forest. Nor is it Black Mountain (near Whitewater Baldy) on the western border  of the Gila National Forest. In fact, none of these peaks lie within the Black Range on the western border of the Gila National Forest.

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Categories Gila Wilderness, New Mexico

2018-11-24 CDT Re-route: Aspen Canyon to Buckhead Canyon (Gila National Forest)

November 26, 2018 //
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01 Meadow in Buckhead Canyon Confluence.jpg
Meadow where the CDT turns east, ascending toward the Black Range

Overview:

Trail 77 runs to Mimbres Lake but there is a connector off of Trail 77 that leads to a ridge where it joins the Continental Divide Trail (CDT). The CDT junction lies in a saddle possessing that magic peculiar to high places dominated by huge ponderosa. Look up “numinous” in your dictionary and you are likely to find photographs of Signboard Saddle. Recently the northbound CDT branch, which once ran from the saddle to the east, was re-routed. Now the northbound CDT goes north from Signboard Saddle down a series of spellbinding canyons. Water is currently abundant here, but it is the large firs and huge pines that make this trail an open, airy and engaging hike. Eventually the tread enters a large meadow at the confluence of two canyons and the CDT turns east again to ascend the Black Range. At this is the point a day hiker should consider returning to the trailhead. Be warned, this joy of a trail will tempt you onward towards Canada.

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Categories Aldo Leopold Wilderness, Black Range, Gila Wilderness, New Mexico, Uncategorized

2018-11-20 Little Dry Creek Trail to Packsaddle Canyon (Mogollon Mts, Gila Wilderness)

November 23, 2018 //
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01 View into the canyon near the start

Overview:

The Little Dry Creek Trail rises through spectacular canyon terrain on the wild west side of the Mogollon Mts. Despite its name, the water in the creek bed was flowing cheerfully on this post-monsoon date. A sign at the trailhead says the trail is abandoned, but it looks as though someone has put a great deal of recent effort into keeping the path open for the first three miles – to the point where you first see trunks charred by of 2012 Whitewater Baldy fire. The older maps show that the trail used to continue upward to Windy Gap, which once made for a nice 2000-foot gain. Unfortunately the higher terrain is deeply littered with debris from the fire and is now home to remarkably thorny brush. It has to be admitted that I did not find the upward continuation of the trail. Most people, I think, will want to have a mellow day in the gorgeous lower canyon lands and turn back where the first charred trunks appear. The more adventurous will want to wear ballistic fiber gaiters and maintain a high degree of pace patience. 

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Categories Gila Wilderness, Mogollon Mountains, New Mexico, Uncategorized
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