New Mexico CDTS or designated route?

imported
#1

I don’t have a copy of Jim Wolf’s guidebooks for the New Mexico section of the CDT, but I understand that it is substantially different from the designated CDT national scenic trail route. Would anyone care to share their opinions of which route they prefer through New Mexico? In another thread (on the Arizona Trail forum), Ginny suggested following Jim Wolfe’s route for most of New Mexico, but following the designated route through the bootheel.

I’m still toying with the idea of doing part or all of the New Mexico section this winter in conjunction with a visit to my family in Tucson. One of my sisters is planning a road trip with friends from Tucson to Gila Hot Springs and Mimbres Hot Springs in January, and she has offered me a ride if I come to visit at that time. The map I saw of Jim Wolfe’s route online was blurry. Does his route go by or near Gila Hot Springs?

I’m toying with the idea of starting around Gila/Silver City/Mimbres, walking south to the border and then trying to hitch back north to where I started and walk north until snow conditions stop me. It seems to me that doing the road walk to Columbus would put me in better position for returning north than following the designated route to the official southern terminus. Any thoughts on this? Is the bootheel section a “don’t miss” stretch of the trail?

Hello to Stumpknocker!

Cheers,

Thought Criminal
AT '08

Thought Criminal

#2

If you want to do the official bootheel section, you should have your sister drop you off at the border crossing. It’s about 25 miles off the paved highway and traffic is light (very, very light). If you walk it, you would need to add at least one day to get back out to the highway. I wouldn’t follow the paved highway from Antelope Wells, though many do. It’s not awful, but it’s a paved roadwalk - not nearly as nice as the desert routes. The map to the official route (as it existed in 2006 - part of it has been changed since, I think) is on our website.

When we hiked the Columbus route in 1999 it was before the southern NM guidebook existed so we did a different version. We ended up roadwalking the last 20 miles or so, as well as a large part of the section between the Gila and Deming, which is why I liked the bootheel route better. But when we go again, we’ll probably check out Jim’s route. The Florida Mountains are nice, and the mountains north of Deming are also interesting. We checked out some petroglyphs not too far from the trail in the Pony Hills this spring.

The Gila is beautiful, an oasis in the desert, but there are numerous water crossings - literally hundreds. I wouldn’t want to do that in January. We did it in November the first time and our boots froze solid with about an inch of ice on them in the morning. The official route follows the Divide and avoids the cliff dwellings and the hot springs entirely, which makes it better in some ways for winter travel, but has very little water and is much longer. We found some of the springs frozen when we hiked part of it in 1999. Jim Wolf’s route goes past Gila Hot Springs but not Jordan Hot Springs on the Middle Fork. Jonathan’s map shows the route that goes past Jordan, which is a really good hot spring in the Wilderness.

You might do the border section to Silver City then hitch north to Highway 12 and begin hiking again from there.

Ginny

#3

Anyime I took the designated CDTA route (That was on single track), it was simply gorgeous. The CDTA route along the mesas between Cuba and Grants was among the highlights of the CDT for me.

I would take the Gila route over the Chain of Craters route for the reason Ginny said: lack of water (Except in high water years like 2006). The Gila is also simply beautiful.

I did end up taking the Antelope Wells route over Columbus because Antelope Wells is far into the bootheel and is really isolated. My CDT trek was mainly solo and finishing far in the middle of nowhere seemed fitting vs the relatively busy Columbus end. Besides, by taking the Antelope Wells route, I had on of my favorite views of this or any trail: A sunrise over the Hachitas on my last full day of the trail. Simply awesome.

Having said that, if I did the trail again, I’d finish at the Crazy Cook monument because, again, the single track in NM has been gorgeous. In 2006, I knew very little bit about it. Having a friend pick me up, I did not know how to convey directions to the terminus. In future years, I will!

Paul Mags

#4

Rain Queen and I are looking to hike the New Mexico CDT in June after we get out of school starting at the Mexican border. Any advice on water, or anything else is welcome.

Jym Beam

#5

You’ll be about a month later than most thruhikers. It may be very hot then. If there is little rain/snow this year, the forests may be closed because of fire danger. Also, again if there is little rain this winter, the cows may be off the range and the windmills shut off.

OTOH, this winter is starting out wet, so you may be able to find water. I would pay attention to water/SWE levels and possibly contact the BLM in Lordsburg to see whether the cows have been taken off the range.

When we hiked NM in April/May of 2006 many of the Bootheel water sources had been turned off. There is only one natural water source in the first section south of Silver City - the rest are cow tanks and windmills. If the cows are gone, there is no water for hikers. The NF near Grants was closed just before we arrived because of fire danger. We roadwalked the highway into town and then walked a forest road to the north.

IOW - have a backup alternative plan. You may not be able to hike NM that late in the spring.

Ginny

#6

Ginny - I’m not a big poster on these lists, and I’ve followed your posts/adventures and I was hoping for someone like you to respond. My real question is "my wife and I are school teachers and want to know what would be feasible and comfortable (relatively speaking) hike in 2 months through NM and CO. We are not CDT Thu-hikers, we just wish to spend 2 months of hiking 15 to 25 mile days on the CDT starting in early to mid June through mid - August. We did the CO Trail last year, PCT '05, AT '01 blah, blah, blah. Just looking for real advice. All we wanna do at this point is point our hiking shoes in one direction and go for two months.

Cheers,

Mac and Mel

Jym Beam

#7

You could start in Grants and hike north from there. It’s farther north and higher in elevation. You’d still have a lot of heat around Ghost Ranch (which is quite low) but then you’d be in high country again. There are some 9-11,000 sections north of Grants (Mt. Taylor, San Pedro Parks, the Carson NF). By the time you get to southern Colorado, the mountains should be passable.

Another option would be to start in Wyoming - either hike south from South Pass through Colorado or start in Encampment (or even Steamboat if you don’t mind snow the first week or so) and hike north as far as you can. The Wyoming desert is windy in June, but should have water. You would reach the Winds when there was still some snow - but it should be passable. Yellowstone would probably be snow free. The river crossings might be a problem if there is a lot of snow in the high country.

Ginny

#8

… Mags,

If I’m not mistaken (and I don’t think I am) the route between Grants and Cuba isn’t the “CDTA route” but was built by the New Mexico Mountain Club and the BLM.

Sly