{"id":139,"date":"2016-05-14T20:32:15","date_gmt":"2016-05-14T20:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/?p=139"},"modified":"2017-05-15T14:35:58","modified_gmt":"2017-05-15T14:35:58","slug":"half-trail-half-bushwhack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/2016\/05\/14\/half-trail-half-bushwhack\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday, May 14 Half Trail, Half Bushwhack"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"may-14-13\"SUMMARY:\u00a0 <\/strong>We had a glorious time this morning, hiking high up on the Divide, with awesome views in all directions.\u00a0 For a time it was a forest fire zone, which meant a lot of climbing over fallen trees; that’s normal.\u00a0 But around 11:00, with no warning, the really nice trail (well-marked with CDT signs) simply vanished.\u00a0 We were low on water and not sure exactly where we were, because the battery ran out on the cell phone.\u00a0 So we spent the whole rest of the day bushwhacking.\u00a0 It was very tough and we were severely rationing our water.\u00a0 Long story short,\u00a0 we finally popped out of the woods, spotted a big house, got water from their garden hose (nobody was home) and found our way back to the CDT by 6:30 pm. Now it’s raining, but we got into our tent in time to stay dry.<\/p>\n

DETAILS: <\/strong>We had a ridgetop campsite last night, but it wasn’t too cold, so this morning we weren’t dealing with ice & frost.\u00a0 Nice!\u00a0 Mornings are way more fun without ice! Off we went on VERY well-built trail with glorious views–the only hazard was we had\u00a0a lot of blowdowns to climb over, since it was a forest fire zone.\u00a0 Bummer about the fire, but it did make those great views possible–otherwise it would have been green tunnel hiking.<\/p>\n

The fallen trees and fire debris were pretty bad, but the wildflowers were beautiful.\u00a0 I was specially impressed by some tiny white flowered plants.\u00a0 They looked so fragile, yet were doing fine in the midst of all that destruction.\u00a0 We stopped for breakfast, and just as we were packing up, along came Double Magic.\u00a0 He was very happy to see us and said he had not seen any other hikers in several days.\u00a0 (He’s young and he’s fast.\u00a0 We didn’t see him again, and heard that he was among the first to finish the CDT this year.\u00a0 Way to go, Double Magic!!)<\/p>\n

The really nice, well built trail continued for some time, and I was thinking “Whee, I’ll call this ‘Trail Day’ today.\u00a0 Finally, trail all day, just like the PCT!”\u00a0\u00a0At one point we met up with a whole group of cows, calves, and BURROS, who took one look at us and ran for it, ahead of us, along the trail.\u00a0 It looked like we were herding them, so I started singing “The Old Chisholm Trail” just for fun.\u00a0\u00a0Finally they ran off\u00a0down the hill.\u00a0\u00a0At one point, our nice new trail disappeared on a rocky ridge, but no problem–there were little pink flags to show us where to go, and soon the trail reappeared.<\/p>\n

But at about 11:00 am, suddenly the trail just STOPPED.\u00a0 Dead stop. There were a few cairns after that and a few blazes on trees, then nothing.\u00a0 We hunted everywhere, and to add to the fun, we were low on water.\u00a0 We tried to figure out where we were on our maps, but no luck there, and we couldn’t consult Guthook because the cellphone battery is done.\u00a0 It’s only good for a few looks at Guthook, and we’d used it up.\u00a0 Our biggest concern though, wasn’t just “Where is the trail?”\u00a0 It was “Where can we find water?”\u00a0\u00a0Fixit finally said, “Let’s just head down a wash–maybe there will be water at the bottom.”<\/p>\n

So we turned our backs on the ridge and began to bushwhack down, with Fixit in the lead and me following.\u00a0 It was very steep and very rough, and we both collected a lot of cuts and scratches.\u00a0(I got one on my hand that took a long time to heal).\u00a0\u00a0On and on we went, with no sign of water anywhere.\u00a0\u00a0Fixit finally gave up and said, “Forget it–let’s just head north.\u00a0 Eventually we’ll hit the\u00a0Tularosa River, if we keep going.”\u00a0 So that’s what we did, and\u00a0a bit later we came to a sort of trail where people had been making burn piles.\u00a0 I was very hopeful of finding proper trail of some sort soon, but then even the “burn pile trail” disappeared, and we were back to bushwhacking “north and a bit west”.\u00a0 At this point, we were severely rationing our water and both Fixit and I were awfully thirsty.\u00a0 Fortunately it was a relatively cool and cloudy day, or we would have been in big trouble. I could see that the clouds in the area were trying to rain, but it wasn’t making it to the ground.\u00a0 Occasionally we stopped for a snack and a swallow of water, but we could not do a proper meal.<\/p>\n

Finally we found a dirt road heading in more or less the direction we wanted to go, and started to follow it, till it came out of the forest at the edge of Big Dry Lake, which was on our maps!\u00a0 I cheered!\u00a0 FINALLY we knew where we were!\u00a0 And even better, off on the other side of the dry lake, we could see a HOUSE–a big nice log house!\u00a0 Water!\u00a0 We left the road and walked toward it, so\u00a0thirsty and so glad.\u00a0 It was a magnificent 3 story high log and stone building.<\/p>\n

At the house, there were no cars around and it looked like no one was home, but we wanted to first ask if it was OK to get some water, so I did climb the stairs and ring the doorbell.\u00a0 Nobody answered.\u00a0 We walked around the house till we found a garden hose, and yes!\u00a0 The water was ON!\u00a0 We mixed up some electrolytes and just drank and drank and drank, then filled our\u00a0Platypus reservoirs.\u00a0 A look at the maps showed that the CDT was not far away, so by 6:30 pm,\u00a0we happily headed down the house driveway towards the main road.\u00a0 That’s when we encountered a SERIOUS fence and big iron gate with a gatehouse\u00a0and lots of “No Trespassing” signs aimed at the road.\u00a0 Oops.\u00a0 I guess we did trespass, but in the direction we came from, there were no signs.\u00a0 The only way we could get to the road was to squiggle under a barbed wire fence, and it was a tight fit.\u00a0 Good thing we aren’t big people!<\/p>\n

A bit of walking down the road, and we were back on the CDT.\u00a0\u00a0 We were exhausted.\u00a0 We stopped and made camp and ate some supper–freezedried refried beans and cheese, with Fritos.\u00a0 It tasted really good, and after that, we just crashed.\u00a0 Not long after we were in our sleeping bags, it did begin to rain, just a gentle pitterpatter on the tent.\u00a0 I was megagrateful to God for 1) Cool weather when we were so low on water\u00a0 2) Finding “the house” so we could get plenty of safe water.\u00a0\u00a0 We found out later from other hikers that everybody had a terrible time with this part of the trail.\u00a0 Hope someday they at least get some more pink flags in to show which way to go!<\/p>\n\n\t\t