A friend and I want to hike the CDT southern start to Silver City (possibly Gila) beginning 4/8. We have Sam Hughes taking us to the border and caching water for us at the first 3 BLM boxes. Sam says he doesn’t do the 4th and 5th boxes to Lordsburg. Any contacts of people we might pay to stock these boxes and maybe Burro Peak area? How likely are the private stock tanks to have water? I understand that the ranchers disable the windmill system if not cattle are in the area.
climber00
When I came thru there in November of last year, most of the stock tanks had water, but some of it was of very questionable quality. Here are my notes that I sent to Jonathan Ley to update his maps for '13 (if you have the Ley Maps, these might be useful):
NM39a #1 Great Water. #3 had a DEAD RAT & BAT in tank!!!
NM39b #3 Actually, there is water here - its from an electric well which feeds an old tire & two other tanks. (can’t access source, but the tank water looks OK)
NM39e top of map - GREAT new Solar Well @ end of road just northwest of Oak Canyon (about .3 off trail) - there is a hose/tap in fenced enclosure to fill bottles from.
NM39g #3 BLOATED, DEAD Javalina in old tire tank in November ‘12!!!
NM40a #3 I went cross country here thru Old Hachita - AWESOME! the ‘downtown’ area of the ghost town is really cool. You can see how the old adobe structures were built. SB from downtown, there is a road just south of the massive black slag field near the smelter that leads directly back to the CDT. The route was shorter, faster, and WAY more interesting than the other routes. However, if you need water, then the red route with the ‘electrified’ water may be a better option…
NM41a top of map: I would recommend drawing in a new purple route which connects the
existing purple route near #5 to the red route just south of hwy#81 along the road. The red route south from this point to #8 is tedious, poorly marked (cairns with sticks vs signage) & thorny.
The Burro Peak area had a water cache near the highway and the box spring north of the peak was flowing.
I often waived down locals on the BLM or 4X4 roads and asked for water when I needed it & they were always happy to give me some if they had extra.
Happy Trails!
freebird
Climber00,
I updated about the water I found this week on the Crazy Creek route. I am using my kindle, so my tech ability is limited. You can read about this on cdt-l or on my trail journal.
Good hiking,
BDD
Big Daddy D
Thanks for the info and advice on Ley’s maps. I downloaded the ones for NM and compared them to the ones by Jerry Brown. I think I will take both to use for alternate routes and possible water sources.
Climber00
EXCELLENT information BDD! Thanks for the most recent updates. I just finished putting the info on my maps based on your journal enteries. Unfortunately it is another hot spring, but we couldn’t get started any earlier. Jobs and other nonsense seems to get in the way. Hopefully the sun god will be more forgiving than last year; 100 at the trailhead in '12 and we didn’t even bother. Safe hike and lots of adventure BDD.
Climber00