N-NM Loop: overview map

The Northern New Mexico Loop is a hiking route born of multiple objectives. Probably the most obvious, to anyone who’s traveled here, seen the land, met the people, is a simple desire to become more deeply immersed in a place as unique as this, so profoundly unlike anywhere else in present-day America. And make no mistake, Northern New Mexico is a distinct region within this part of the state, the north-central portion of it exclusively, with the Four Corners region lying to the west and the short-grass prairie of “Little Texas” to the east. The general perimeter of Northern New Mexico, so defined, includes Santa Fe on the south, the Colorado border to the north, the Jemez and Tusas mountains to the west, and the lofty Sangre de Cristo Range on the east. Indeed, the entire region lies bounded by the southern edge of the Rocky Mountains, where, bifurcated by the mighty Rio Grande, it becomes a range of surprising geographical and ecological diversity. Upon this varied backdrop thrives the state’s three distinct yet interwoven cultures – Pueblo, Hispanic, and Anglo – which coexist and complement one other as nowhere else. From the elaborate ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings and ruins preserved at Bandelier National Monument, to the living village and trading post at Taos Pueblo, to the renowned artist colonies of Taos and at Santa Fe Plaza, the region presents to the world a bright patchwork tapestry, long-revered yet forever new in changing light. And yet these well-known places present only facets of a complex region, with much else worth seeing and experiencing well away from the casual public eye.

Northern New Mexico is also a place where the established long trails roam. Or at least where one of them roams. A portion of the 2800-mile Continental Divide Trail is here, spanning the length of the Tusas Mountains from Cumbres Pass southward, then up into the Jemez Mountains at San Pedro Parks Wilderness near the village of Cuba. In fact the Northern New Mexico Loop makes use of the CDT for 130 of the loop’s approximately 450 mile length, or a good portion of its western perimeter. (Beyond the CDT, this portion of the loop continues south and east across the Jemez region to Bandelier.) The eastern end of the loop, along the high crest of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, lacks a singular trail of any great distance, but does offer many shorter, interconnecting trails, particularly in the spectacular Pecos, Wheeler Peak, and Columbine-Hondo wilderness areas. In between these two standout Rocky Mountain regions – west and east – lies the lower elevations surrounding the Rio Grande, where lonely dirt roads and abundant opportunities for cross-country travel allow passage through more open terrain, here and there dotted with hulking volcanic cones. Here too are gems worth exploring, most notably at the Wild Rivers Recreation Area, which preserves the stunning Rio Grand Gorge near its confluence with Red River, offering foot trails along the rim and down to the river and an opportunity to ford the Rio Grande itself – one of two mandatory crossings of this river on the loop.

Meanwhile, not more than 50 raven miles to the south, beyond the loop at Santa Fe, lies Albuquerque and the northern and eastern extent of the Grand Enchantment Trail. While the Sandia Crest here has always represented the natural terminus of the GET, it’s hard to deny the allure of the region just to the north. Since the early days of the GET project, I’d imagined what it might be like to simply continue hiking, to keep going north perchance to begin a whole new adventure as another ends. From atop that mountain crest outside the big ABQ, distant Wheeler Peak, New Mexico’s highest point at 13,065 feet above sea level, (and located along the proposed loop) seemed an obvious objective. The Continental Divide Trail was another noble destination, a goal perhaps to reunite with the backbone of the continent which, in earlier miles, farther south, the GET also explores for a time. And so, I mused and now fully believe, the Sandia Crest might become a nexus, an interchange along the brave new superhighway of long-distance trails poised to thread the nation anew. Upon finding a backcountry way to Santa Fe environs, an explorer on this network of trails and routes might choose the eastern side of the loop – the Sangres – or the western side – the Jemez. In either case, the Northern New Mexico Loop facilitates passage onward to the CDT. Likewise, the long-distance CDT hiker could veer off onto the loop, exploring this region more fully, then perhaps joining the GET for an entirely unique long-distance hiking experience across the Land of Enchantment.

Like the Grand Enchantment Trail before it, the Northern New Mexico Loop is a route conceived less as a physical presence on the ground – no new trail construction is planned or necessarily desired – and more as a blueprint for exploration of a region otherwise little-served and seldom visited by long-distance hikers. While the dream is a personal one, and the goal, as the route layout, is purely of my own thinking, in the end the land itself seems to be the guiding force at work, and the desire for new experiences on foot is one shared by many in the community of long walkers.

Whatever may come of it, I’m hoping to document the route and my experiences as I set out this September on a maiden journey along the Northern New Mexico Loop. My hike will begin at Santa Fe, and if all goes well will end there when I complete the loop later in October. I’ll follow the circuit counter-clockwise, confronting the highest terrain within the first week in hopes of beating any early-season snows, but also remaining vigilant to any monsoon storms still straggling across the skies at that time of year. The season for completing the loop appears to be fairly short, with the threat of winter always lurking somewhere to the north, typically surging well into the neighboring Colorado Rockies by the time I’ll be nearly to the doorstep of that state.

I’ll hike the loop in typical, self-supported long-distance hiker fashion, sending supplies to towns and facilities along the way – 5 all told – and also shopping at grocery stores where possible. At Chama and Ghost Ranch, I may even be graced by the smiling, trail-hardened faces of a few CDT thru-hikers, in the home stretch of their long journey from Canada to Mexico. All too soon, though, our routes will part company, as I’ll continue across the standout, quintessentially New Mexican region known to locals as simply “The Jemez,” on route towards Bandelier National Monument. The monument itself, as well as the surrounding National Forest, may well remain closed due to the lingering effects of the Las Conchas Fire that burned across many acres this summer (hearteningly, not all of it severely). Should such prove to be the case, I’ll need to walk roads or find some other appropriate means of passage. Finally, and for the second time on the journey, I’ll ford the Rio Grande, hoping for a shallow creek but prepared for a bit of swimming if the current proves benign, and then return to civilization, by and by through the city’s outskirts to downtown Santa Fe. Right in the middle of the city’s famed plaza I’ll end my journey, surrounded once again by the history and culture, arts and hubbub, all of it on display and beheld, I suspect, by fresh and ever-appreciative eyes.

Whether I’ll have the time and inclination after returning to Santa Fe for a “spur hike” southward to the GET terminus is hard to predict at this point, but it’d make for a nice epilogue to the story should it come to pass. Certainly that connection, hard won by map work and much trial and error, is a vital one, short and surprisingly straightforward as ultimately it looks to be. In any case, I’ll be packing along the necessary maps to make it happen, and then letting the journey dictate its own best conclusion.

During the journey I’m hoping to maintain a photo-journal via iPhone, to be posted on Picasa as internet connections allow. Visit the journal here.

To lighten the load a bit (making room for cold weather gear as it begrudingly were) I’m opting to leave the SLR camera and lenses at home for this trip, but will take along the little Panasonic LX3 point & shoot in an attempt to do at least some justice to the scenery, and will post a full gallery after the trip.

More details of the Northern New Mexico Loop will likewise be forthcoming once the journey winds down. In the meantime, here’s an interactive map of the proposed route as well as a very early-stage data book showing mainly water sources along the route.

Partly it’s because we *can* be. If we’d been busy instead publishing hardcopy versions of maps and guides – in book form, say – then we’d probably still be sitting on a stack from the first printing, now woefully out of date. But the CD-ROM format of the maps, and online approach to the guidebook, have proven to be comparatively flexible and timely (not to mention economical). Updating is still a bunch of work, no doubt, but it’s not prohibitive. It’s definitely not-for-profit work, either, but keeping things generally up to date, improving the trail experience, is certainly reward enough for us. Better in fact.

The other reason for all the busy-work is that we *ought* to be (busy that is). We feel that the route – and the positive promotion of these lands – deserves this amount of dedication, and that the end result now is something much more refined and approachable compared to its first incarnation of 5 years ago. As we’ve returned to the route season after season, and especially now as others have gone forth and returned with insights of their own, incremental changes to the route’s layout have steadily improved the trail experience, so that the current layout is vastly improved over what was originally explored back in 2005. This is a subjective assessment, but it hasn’t developed in a vacuum either.

Changes to the map CD from one version to the next generally come in two forms – adjustments to the route layout here and there, either major or (more often) minor, and improvements to the descriptive information on the maps to assist in navigation and in providing as accurate a portrayal of the route as possible. In both areas, the GET remains a work in progress. Within the past year, however, and especially given the updates reflected on the latest map CD, we now have reason to believe that the route layout is maturing to a point where frequent updating won’t be as necessary or productive going forward. At least that’s the view right now. Perhaps only once-yearly updates to the map CD will be in store (likely more frequent for the guidebook chapters, town guide, and water chart) – reflecting changes in trail conditions or for the occasional detour around a recent burn area, etc. But the route layout itself, barring any unforeseeables, is pretty well developed now and large-scale changes seem less likely.

The latest map CD, and the route layout and commentary it reflects, is especially noteworthy for the many contributions provided by the trail community. 2009 saw a fair (of course still modest) number of hikers along the route – some section, some thru – and their follow-up feedback has been invaluable, especially by helping us to see the route through others’ eyes (plenty of “a-ha” moments and “you’re right, let’s change this here, or tweak that there.”) This was also a really good year for developments on the trail maintenance front, with official work crews clearing some of the most backlogged (and needy) sections of the route. All of this work was merely good fortune for the GET, in that we had no active hand in any of it, but were merely lucky – and ever so grateful – to find the trail’s needs aligning with the priorities of land managers and trail crew coordinators.

Among the trail work projects benefitting the GET this past year, and now reflected on the new maps and updated guide chapters, are the following:

In Segment 3, White Canyon Wilderness segment, the Arizona Trail Assocation continues to make progress developing a finalized trail alignment south of Picketpost Mountain. (TopoFusion.com’s very own Scott Morris, AZT & GET hike-a-biker, has been instrumental in laying out the line of the future trail here.) For the time being, there’s still some interim route on 4WD roads and old singletrack, but also lots of new singletrack, well constructed and signed, and a joy to travel.

Ash Creek Trail in the Pinaleno Mountains (segment 10) recently received major trail maintenance and reconstruction along its entirely length. Gone are the endless blowdowns, eroded tread, and debris flows in the drainage. The canyon, with Ash Creek falls, and dramatic, far-flung views out across the Gila Valley, has always been beautiful, and now the trail experience is once again befitting of this splendid setting.

The Safford-Morenci Trail (Segment 13) continues to gain new sections of singletrack as the route is redeveloped with non-motorized recreation squarely in mind. Approximately 2 miles of new trail built last year now takes the trail off some 4WD and out of washes, both near its western terminus, and along Johnny Creek. Trail routing and construction have been nicely done, as evidenced by one of the recent clips added to the GET video gallery.

East Fork Whitewater Creek Trail in the Mogollon Mountains / Gila Wilderness (seg 20) saw a trail crew late in the season (after we’d come through, but before Barbara Zinn, who first reported the good news). This eliminates a half mile of blowdown-intensive and hard-to-spot trail across a sporadic burn area, and several miles of generally rough and brushy trail on this less-frequently used (but convenient) route between the lower, canyon country and high crest of the range.

Major blowdown removal in Burnt Canyon, on the way up to the Continental Divide (seg 23), had left the route here in immaculate condition this past autumn, despite the surrounding devastation from a years-old burn. There’s still more standing dead timber left to fall, but we have to congratulate the dedication of the crews that continue to work this relatively little-used trail across some very remote, hard-to-access country.

The Continental Divide Trail across the Black Range received a large amount of rehab this past year. Barb Zinn heard from the USFS in charge that crews had cleared the trail of blowdowns from Reeds Peak north to Burnt Canyon (not on the GET). Segment 24 of the GET (CDT) is slated for work this coming summer, which will include some remaining rough stretches from Diamond Peak north toward Fisherman’s Bluff. A summer ’09 crew with hand tools worked portions of this section, but big improvements here are forthcoming. Meanwhile, a separate chain-saw crew this past summer worked the Divide from the Aldo Leopold Wilderness boundary north (thru segments 25 and 26) all the way to Wahoo Peak area, where the GET and CDT part ways. All told, perhaps 50 miles of the CDT – 35 or 40 of it coinciding with the GET – were in excellent shape, and generally easy to navigate.

In addition to trail work, some route relo’s are also in the offing:

The biggest change to the route layout of the GET comes in Segment 27 and 28 – Monticello Canyon area and across the Apache Kid Wilderness. These changes are predicated on the belief (ours and others) that the most scenic and immersive route across the Apache Kid should begin in the south at Shipman Canyon off the Burma Road and follow the crest of the San Mateos for virtually its entirely length. Although the prior layout up San Mateo Canyon is certainly workable, is scenic and wild, and a bit shorter/more efficient, the attraction of this new “main route” – previously the “San Mateo Peak Alternate Route” – justifies giving it top billing. Consequently, the nearby resupply detour into the community of Monticello becomes more simplified, now done via one big loop, the “Monticello Loop,” which heads down Monticello Canyon into town, then back out to the main route via the scenic 4WD Burma Road, avoiding the need to double back along the canyon bottom (and shortening the related road walk).

Also in Segment 28, north of Blue Mountain, the recommended route now returns to Water Canyon, due to recent trail reconstruction following awful burn devastation from the 90′s. This means the Coffee Pot Trail (rougher, more roundabout) is no longer needed, save for a short side trip to Cub Spring perhaps. Instead, the GET can remain on the range’s major thru-route, the Apache Kid Trail, much of the way across this wilderness area and into Segment 29. More trail work of A.K.T. is anticipated in 2010, further recommending these new layout changes in Segment 28, and likely improving travel in seg 29 as well.

Feedback from other hikers has likewise led to changes in the route layout in the Magdalena Mountains (seg 31). Ongoing telescope construction at the Magdalena Ridge Observatory had originally suggested the benefit of avoiding this area via east and west forks of Sawmill Canyon, which form a big, and frankly exhausting, loop around the MRO area. After hearing enough complaints, we now have to agree – walking by the MRO is probably a more elegant approach, and this in fact returns the route here to its former layout circa ’05 – ’06. The area trails are reportedly flagged and followable, and the road alongside the MRO can be avoided if necessary by simply following the open 10,000 foot ridge just west of the observatory area. Certainly this is a scenic walk, and most of the time likely a quiet one, even if it’s not exactly a wilderness setting for a mile.

Recent changes to the route in Segment 33 (Sevilleta Trace) – first presented on map CD v1.6 – are now largely confirmed, tried and true (formerly hypothetical layout in places). But there are a couple of recommended tweaks, based on ground-truthing, now highlighted on the new map CD.

The BNSF railroad double-tracking project at Abo Canyon (seg 34) is ongoing. Still recommend avoiding the area due to construction vehicles daily, confirmed work schedule approx 7am to 5:30pm. And probably don’t camp nearby due to all-night train noise, but pack water from the arroyo and head up one of the side drainages out of earshot.

Segment 35 (Manzano Mountains) is still rough, vague and brushy in many places despite some trail work, partly due to recent burns. Recommend following the labelled “new trail” (rather than “old trail”) at map-marked split north of Bosque Peak, as old trail has been deranged by cattle use. Good news here is that a fall ’09 GET hiker found Ojo de los Indios Spring, something none of us had been able to do; the spring looks reliable and would make for a considerably easier haul across the Manzano Crest between Spruce Spring and 4th of July Spring. More details on the upcoming water chart update.

Finally, in Segment 37 (Manzanita Mountains North), we can confirm that a spur off the Tunnel Canyon Trail, just south of the trailhead, heads through a culvert and continues as pleasant singletrack trail paralleling Hwy 337 north for about a mile. Hikers can then rejoin the highway for the short walk into Tijeras, passing the Sandia Ranger District USFS office en route.

So that’s the gist of what’s new and noteworthy. Besides a fair number of other minor tweaks, there are also a few mileage adjustments here and there, though this will have to be an ongoing effort to correct what are generally underestimates of actual mileages in certain areas along the route. There’s more info in the Trek Planner chapters about mileages. The bottom line is that it’s a lot easier to simply plan on a 5% underestimate of actual mileages (or maybe as much as 10% in brief stretches) on rougher, singletrack portions of the route, than to wait to get the maps and guide description mileages just right, especially between features.

Many thanks to the 2009 hikers – spring and fall – as well as others, who provided feedback about their experiences along the trail and offered suggestions for improvement. Also to the trail maintainers – past, present, and future! The team effort has made all the difference here. The route is still rough in many places, navigation remains challenging sometimes, and some of this will probably always be the case, as perhaps it should be. But the GET is in as good a place right now as it’s ever been, and it’s largely thanks to you.

http://simblissity. net/get-topo- cd.htm

I’ll post more details about what’s new for this version, but for right now just a few points:

Anyone currently in possession of the previous version of the map CD (v.1.6) and related guidebook chapter printouts (pre-January) and who is planning to head out for the trail ASAP, you don’t need the new CD version. Rather than wait for the mail lag, print tedium, etc., recommend just going for it, secure in the knowledge that you’ll be using the exact same resources that fall 2009 had available to them.

Anyone planning to hike this spring and who doesn’t have any version of the map CD in their possession, well, yes, feel free to pick up a copy.

Anyone planning to hike this spring and who DOES already own an existing version of the map CD, feel free to contact us with your plans and we’ll let you know whether or not picking up the new CD version is worthwhile. Section hikers in particular may not need the latest version, as many sections of the route haven’t changed and/or related changes to map annotations are minimal.

We’d like to prioritize based on needs, so to speak, as we currently have less than a dozen copies of the new CD in inventory. We’ll have more available by the second week of February.

Thanks… more details soon…

Happy trails and safe travels to anyone out and about this season…

Brett Tucker aka blisterfree

http://simblissity.net/get-topo-cd.htm

As always, existing map set owners may upgrade to the latest version for just the cost of postage.

The new CD will also include several additional maps that should hopefully allow fall hikers to walk around a current Forest Closure area without too much inconvenience. The Main Fire is burning near Albuquerque, west of the GET (segment 37) in the Kirtland Military Withdrawal land. Although the route isn’t directly threatened right now, and fire activity is minimal, the closure order – which affects all of the public and withdrawal land west of Hwy 337 – won’t expire until December 31, unless rescinded. My best guess, having spoken with the USFS info contact, is that it will eventually be rescinded, but possibly not until after fall hikers have come through. The additional maps included with the CD show a verified workaround – actually a former routing of the main GET – that remains on the east (open) side of the highway.

A number of fires are burning in the Gila National Forest right now, most of the creeping and smoldering variety. Of these, only the Moore Fire has been confirmed to have impacted the route, in this case in Tom Moore Canyon (segment 22). Although the fire remains active, however minimally, the trail remains open and there are no closure orders currently in place anywhere on the district. As well, the Diamond Fire has been burning through grass and understory for several weeks, and is reportedly now backing toward South Diamond Creek (segment 23). Although this fire is expected to remain active, it is considered to be under control and is being used for resource benefit. Again, there are no closures posted at this time. One other fire that may bear watching is the Turkey Fire, which I believe is burning west of the GET (segment 24 / Continental Divide) in Turkey Run. This one is being monitored by the nearby Lookout Mountain fire watch, and was likewise showing minimal behavior at last check.

Several recent lightning fires in the Mogollon Mountains (segment 20) – Whitewater and White / Cub – were reportedly extinguished by wetting rains last week. Neither directly impacted the route.

Refer to http://inciweb.org for the latest word on these fires, as well as anything else that might pop up in the coming weeks.

It’s proving to be a rather unimpressive monsoon season this summer. As it currently stands, Arizona looks to be in a less favorable position than New Mexico. If things continue on the same general track, and we move into the fall dry season as normal, then I suspect the GET will be “in drought” by the time thru-hikers reach the AZ border, though the effects may not be as pronounced until after the Pinalenos, due to the nature of water sources (more reliable rivers, creeks, springs, and stock sources east of there, with less reliable sources in the Santa Teresas and especially along the AZT corridor).

One theory about why the monsoon is off this year is that El Nino is making an early return, which could eventually be good news once the winter storm track moves in. Too early to say just yet.

Speaking of good news: ongoing, professional trail maintenance is planned for at least two areas of the route this fall. This is long overdue maintenance that should go a long way toward improving the overall trail experience, if not in time for fall ’09 hikers then hopefully by spring of next year. The Coronado NF dispersed recreation manager (roving trail crew leader) confirms that the upper half of Ash Creek Trail in the Pinalenos (segment 10) recently saw a crew. Work included rerouting the main trail in its middle miles onto the equestrian bypass and away from Slick Rock. Apparently they’ve removed what was left of the metal work holding up a sketchy section of trail in this area. As it turns out, the suggested GET route uses the equestrian bypass anyway, so hopefully the red line on the map set will continue to describe the best route through this area. In addition, the lower portion of Ash Creek Trail will see a crew in October. (The USFS contact mentioned also having a small budget for Clark Peak Trail (GET), but that they’d like to get Ash completed before starting on that. See the recent archives for more on Clark Peak Tr. conditions.)

In any case, those who’ve hiked Ash Creek Canyon would probably agree that the lower portion is in rough shape, with debris flows frequently burying most evidence of the tread in the drainage, and frequent nuisance blowdowns to contend with. The work crew will undoubtedly have a full plate this fall, but the canyon is beautiful and the trail an important link between the crest of the Pinalenos and Gila Valley. Rescuing it from the verge of oblivion is absolutely a worthwhile goal, and we wish them well.

Much-needed maintenance is also coming to the Apache Kid Trail (GET segments 28 & 29). The Cibola National Forest, Magdalena R.D. tells me that a Colorado-based corp will be working the upper portion of Water Canyon, on the north slopes of Blue Mountain. This part of the trail is currently an alternate route of the GET that had burned a while back and now features matchstick-style blowdowns that have all but obliterated the trail corridor. The main GET instead now uses Coffee Pot Canyon / Trail, which also enters the burn near Blue Mountain but with somewhat less severe blowdowns to contend with. Trail work on the alternate GET will take place sometime this fall, and *may* make the alternate a preferable route option, depending on how much progress is made. (Only cross-cut saws will be used due to the Wilderness designation, and there is a LOT of heavy, fire-hardened timber to cut through.) If this pans out, then hikers could remain on the Apache Kid Trail throughout, westbounders starting at Grassy Lookout and continuing all the way to Cyclone Saddle. Although the trail needs – and will eventually receive – maintenance throughout – the portion being targeted this fall remains the only genuine impasse to travel right now.

It seems we’re seeing an up-tick in funding being made available to land management agencies of late, and a renewed effort to cut through the backlog of deferred maintenance and construction projects. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is surely playing a role in some of this, as is broadly outlined here:

http://www.fs.fed.us/fstoday/ARRA/FS_ARRA_Projects_announced_as_of_090721.pdf

and click on Arizona and New Mexico in the table of contents to see what may be pertinent to the discussion here.

http://www.simblissity.net/get/guide.shtml

The new material begins at Chapter 21 (West Fork Gila River). All of the new stuff is currently in draft form, meaning that we haven’t yet delved into the reams of hiking voice notes from over the years and are working by “foot memory.” (This isn’t a reflection of any particular brain power but more of a warning to anyone thinking of spending too much time hiking any one long-distance trail!) In any case, the idea is to get as much basic info out into the ether as quickly as possible, so it can hopefully do some good beyond what the map CD alone could offer.

Here’s an example of what’s new, actually one of the more complete entries among the recent batch:

CHAPTER 27: MONTICELLO BOX

Monticello Canyon is truly one of southwest New Mexico’s hidden gems. Flanked by colorful rock formations, rugged cliffs, and occasional narrows, a ribbon of verdant splendor unfolds through the heart of an arid grassland. Sustained by the year-round flow of Alamosa Creek, this nearly 20 mile long riparian corridor is home to the familiar Fremont cottonwood, the common assemblages of willows and ashes found elsewhere along the trail. The chatter of songbirds fills the air on spring and summer mornings, while birds of prey watch cautiously from leafy roosts, or indolently, high overhead. Yet despite such obvious similarities with other desert-bounded creeks, much about Monticello Canyon feels unique as well; this place would not be mistaken for Aravaipa Canyon, the Blue River, or Eagle Creek. At an elevation of 6000 feet, Monticello Canyon is unmistakably a high valley, much higher than its counterparts to the west. The surrounding landscape is distinctly New Mexican: austere, the scene contemplative, the terrain self-evident yet somehow unknowable, full of mystery. And a riparian community of this nature and extent, set against this high desert backdrop, is a rare thing indeed. Javelina roam this canyon at the very limit of their geographic range. Large herds of mule deer are often seen, while the smaller coeus variety of Arizona is not. And nowhere along those distant canyons to the west are Rocky Mountain elk as at home – if home at all – as here.

Monticello Canyon is unique in other ways. Scattered ranches and homesteads – the canyon was named by pioneering Irish settlers – dot the valley in its broader expanses, as they have for generations. A dirt track threads the canyon, tumbling back and forth along the nourishing creek. This is a landscape whose natural and human histories still coexist in harmony, each somehow complementing rather than competing with the other, a place little influenced by the outside world, so far removed and unseen as even now it remains.

The canyon’s creek is artesian, born of a cluster of springs that surface just above the canyon. These perennial waters, including Ojo Caliente – “warm spring” – made the area a favorite of the ancestral Apaches, including Chief Victorio and even Geronimo. During the Apache wars of the 1870′s the area tribes were moved here by the US Army. Yet with white settlers increasingly drawn to the region, the Warm Spring reservation never flourished, and the tribes were eventually relocated to the larger San Carlos reservation in Arizona. Today the only evidence of the old Warm Spring reservation, once occupied by some 3000 souls, are the remnants of a few adobe walls, crumbling and all but forgotten.

This segment of the Grand Enchantment Trail also serves as a linkage between the vast Gila National Forest to the west and the scattered, island-like districts of the Cibola National Forest to the east. The route first descends out across rolling foothills at the edge of the Black Range, where pronghorn antelope are often spotted along grassy hillsides dotted with soaptree yucca. Easy cruising along lonely dirt roads leads to a few sections of cross-country travel in open terrain, and navigation remains relatively straightforward. The route enters the old reservation boundary and crosses NM Highway 52 within sight of Monticello Box, the dramatic, and seemingly improbable, cliff-bound entrance to the water-blessed canyon beyond. Hikers with a maildrop waiting in Winston can try their luck hitchhiking via the sparsely-travelled dirt highway, while those who’ve sent supplies to Monticello first continue along the GET through Monticello Canyon. (See the Town Guide for more about the pros and cons of resupplying in either town, and why it’s a good idea for thru-hikers not to forego a maildrop altogether.)

Alamosa Creek is most often an easy, gentle slosh, no more than calf deep. Flood events can occur following heavy summer storms, when hikers would be well advised to keep a backup plan, but the high water tends to subside fairly quickly. A primitive dirt road in Monticello Canyon fords the creek repeatedly, such that wet feet are unavoidable (eastbounder thru-hikers are old pros at this by now), yet little about the experience here suggests a slow-go challenge, at least on foot. (Passenger cars, however, do occasionally get stuck in the sand, apparently lured in by the legal, county road designation.)

Six miles down the creek the main GET exits Monticello Canyon and climbs via 4WD road toward segment’s end at the edge of the San Mateo Mountains. Hikers intending to resupply in Monticello would instead continue down the canyon via the Monticello Canyon Alternate Route. They can then return to the main GET in this segment by following the Burma Road Alternate Route, or can use this alternate to reach the San Mateo Peak Alternate in Segment 28. The Monticello and Burma alternates together form a scenic 31 mile loop that avoids the need to backtrack after visiting town, and this will hopefully make Monticello a more appealing resupply option, so useful to hikers as it is given the remote nature of this country.

Because Monticello Canyon is mostly private land, camping is not allowed along its length, nor within the old reservation boundary to its north. As such, the distance between public land camping opportunities in this segment is about 11 miles. See the route details at the link below for more info.

http://www.simblissity.net/get/guide-seg27.shtml

GET Topo CD v1.4

Ah, July: another month, another version of the GET topo map set CD… or so sometimes it may seem!

Yes, map set v1.4 – in fact its 5th incarnation since v1.0 debuted in 2006 – is now available. (We don’t revise because we want to, but because we have to. Change is progress in the decidedly not-for-profit trailblazing business.)

Find the new CD here:
http://simblissity.net/get-topo-cd.htm

Existing map set owners will note a special Add to Cart button intended just for them, which will charge precisely one penny (plus shipping) to the credit card of their choice, in exchange for all the love and promise in the world… or at least as much as the CD would hold. So if you’re thinking of heading out anytime soon – perhaps this fall, what with promising monsoon rains currently about – this virtually-free upgrade could be just the thing.

Don’t own a prior version of the map CD? That’s okay, we hope you’ll agree the purchase price isn’t too outrageous. And then, just like that, you’re in the free upgrade club.

PSA: I’ll be leaving on a little trip in about a week, returning in early August, so CD’s will ship both before and after but not during.

So what’s new this time?

+ The route keeps getting better. A number of noteworthy changes to the individual segment maps reflect these latest changes, especially in AZ. These include the eastbound descent from the Pinaleno Mountains toward the Gila Valley, which now uses Ash Creek Trail and also includes Cluff Ranch wildlife area. This is a vast improvement over the old route through the burn zone of Frye Creek, both in terms of navigability and scenery. (The old route here should now be considered “closed” for GET-related purposes.)

+ Other changes to the route layout reflected on the new maps include portions of the following areas: Superstition Wilderness (Segment 1), Picketpost Mountain to the Gila River (Seg 3), Aravaipa Wash (Seg 6), Santa Teresa Wilderness (Seg 8), Santa Teresa – Pinalenos connector (Seg 9), Pinaleno Mountains (Seg 10), Gila Valley South (Seg 11), Coronado Trail to the Blue River (Segs 15-16), Black Range / CDT (Segs 25-26), Rio Grande to US 60 (Seg 33), and Cedro – Otero area (Seg 37). Collectively, these changes are contributing to a “year 2008 GET” which is undoubtedly the strongest route layout ever, and with any luck, won’t require any major modification for the foreseeable future.

+ Improved / updated GPS waypoint data for some segments, much of it field-recorded, and reflecting both current and recent changes to the route.

+ GPS TRACKS for all segments and alternate routes of the GET – a new feature for version 1.4. Track files can be uploaded to GPS and used in addition to the guidebook and CD map printouts for navigating along the suggested route. Unlike individual spot waypoints, GPS tracks show the whole route line in addition to your location along it, in a sense “putting the hiker on the map.” Tracks are available in GPS eXchange format (gpx) for strong compatibility with most GPS receivers, and may be especially useful when exploring segments of the GET that lack corresponding guidebook chapters as of yet.

+ Updated overview maps of the trail: area maps, maps that show the route and elevation profiles between resupply points, and more. These are the same maps available for viewing on the website, only in high-resolution for printing.

+ New Lightscribe direct-disc labeling makes GET topo map set CD v1.4 a veritable feast for the senses, so visually appealing you may just decide to order an extra copy for display wherever fine artwork is appreciated in your home or office.

Next up…

Online guidebook edits for the existing 18 chapters (all of Arizona), bringing them up to date alongside the new map CD.

Water chart and town guide updates – ditto. All of this should take a couple of weeks at most, so anyone heading out this fall would probably do best to wait before printing any relevant materials.

Also…

Now online at the GET website ( www.grandenchantmenttrail.org ) – updated interactive Google Map as well as downloadable Google Earth file for 3D fun while checking out all the new stuff in GET land.

Now back to enjoying summer!

- Brett

Cedro meadow

Changes are afoot in Segment 37 of the GET, located just south of I-40 – east of Albuquerque, south of Tijeras. This segment passes through the extreme southernmost part of the Cibola National Forest, Sandia Ranger District. It’s located off of Sandia Crest itself, in the lower-elevation Manzanita Mountains, with 7700-foot Cedro Peak as its highest near-trail point, and scenic Otero Canyon en route. This is an intriguing area of dense pinyon-juniper woods interspersed with scenic wildflower meadows. An extensive network of hiking and riding trails thread the rolling terrain in this region, offering many potential route options that the GET might select from. As such, this segment (along with the northern part of Segment 36 to its south) continues to evolve. The current incarnation of the route here hasn’t been fully explored as of yet.

Here’s the beta:

Segment 37 – Cedro Peak

Maps:
http://simblissity.net/images/GET/cedro1.JPG
http://simblissity.net/images/GET/cedro2.JPG

GPX files (right click, save link as):
http://simblissity.net/gpx/seg37-cedro.gpx
http://simblissity.net/gpx/seg37-cedro.gpx

Anyone with an older version of the mapset will note that the Segment 37 has migrated westward, now spending more time on the west side of Highway 337, before crossing it at Cedro Creek, continuing over a height-of-land on Cedro Peak, then north to a rejoining of 337 near Tijeras. (Segment 38 then enters the Sandia Mountain Wilderness not long after the route crosses beneath I-40.)

The big advantages to this proposed routing over previous are:

1) It avoids 3 miles of high-grade roadwalking in the Tranquillo Pine residential community and along Oak Flat Road.

2) It’s also 3 miles shorter, purely by coincidence.

3) The new route follows the Cedro Creek Riparian Interpretive Trail for about a mile, with perennial water. (Thanks to Forest Service for this bit of useful if belated info.) This is a huge advantage over the old route, which had only one developed source at Oak Flat Campground, which was subject to being seasonally turned off.

4) Potentially, the new route will be less complex to follow, with fewer intersecting trails. The old route east and south of Cedro Peak featured trail junctions every mile or less it seemed, most of them signed, but still a lot of map consultation required to select the right one.

I intend to walk the proposed route this fall, but if anyone happens to be in the area this summer and is looking for an interesting and diverse section of GET to explore, this one might just be the ticket. Any feedback – either here on the forum or directly by email – would be greatly appreciated.

The maps linked above will be part of the upcoming version of the GET map CD, due out sometime later this month, we hope. Actual CD maps are high-resolution bitmap images and together cover the entire route of the GET from Phoenix to Albuquerque.

PS – A note about the “military withdrawal” shown on the maps around Cedro Canyon. According to the FS, this is in fact FS land – at least by every outward appearance – but has been “withdrawn” by the DOE and Kirtland Air Base in recent years, meaning no public access across portions of Otero Canyon at present. This has proven to be a contentious and emotional issue, as Otero is a much-enjoyed region for Albuquerque-area residents. The reason for the withdrawal concerns – of all things – unexploded ordnance! Apparently this area was once a bombing range, and hazards – perceived and/or real – still remain. Post-9/11 security-related paranoia may also have contributed to the desire by the feds to post the area off-limits to hikers and riders – to protect Kirtland Air Base itself with a buffer zone of sorts. But in any case, the military withdrawal at Otero DOES NOT AFFECT the new route of the GET, which uses trails that skirt around the closure area. Such is life on the outskirts of a large metropolitan area and “military town.” Frankly, I continue to be more amazed by how little influence the big ABQ actually holds over these nearby lands, quiet and pristine as they generally seem to remain.

- blisterfree

http://www.simblissity.net/get_images.shtml

Click on the “video” thumbnails for galleries 1, 2, and 3 to find the new stuff, recorded this spring while walking from Phoenix to Safford. There’s also a few additional vids in galleries 4 and 5, recorded while I was exploring a few new route options with vehicle support beyond Safford.

It’s frankly hard to imagine, but these video clips, all told, now number a whopping 120. That’s somewhere beyond two hours worth of… I won’t call it entertainment. And just imagine splicing the lot of it into a single feature presentation: Phoenix to Albuquerque in low-resolution pans, jerky first-person action shots, and disembodied, droll narration. A Cannes festival winner this would not likely become!

But hopefully the short, one-to-two minute clips collectively offer a sense of what the route has to offer. It’s true that grainy, low-fidelity video such as this is many shades below a real-world sensory experience, but there’s just something about motion, sight and sound that together do reality greater justice than still images alone. Or so it seems to me.

- blisterfree

The route is longer now, too. At 730 miles, it’s grown a good 15 miles this go-round. And not for nothing, either. In my estimation, the new Magdalena Ridge Observatory near South Baldy means this part of the range won’t ever again be much good for hikers. So the route now goes the long way around, via the West and East forks of Sawmill Canyon, along the way improving the prospects for finding water and solitude, while rejoining the scenic ridgeline beyond the zone of development. David Canyon, in the Manzanita Mountains, is new to the route as well. No longer is there a need to walk along paved Highway 337 near Ponderosa Pine, and this (more circuitous) canyon route is replete with wildflower meadows and lots of quiet.

- blisterfree