CDTbike Photos – Silver City to Grants

We’re back on the CDT north of Silver City!

It’s the official trail, but a section few hikers take.

Not because it’s hard (though we did push bikes!), but because there’s a better route and one that has more water (the Middle Gila).

It’s wilderness, though, so we get some more good miles of trail.

And some good chunk too.

We could only take it so far. No Sapillo singletrack for us. Eszter has ridden it as a part of Tour Divide, but it’d be new to me.

When pavement is this nice, I can deal, I guess.

Or when it’s divebomb downhill.

Lake Roberts was closed. Roberts Motel to the ice cream rescue!

Rolling the Mimbres Valley up to the divide.

Onto the Gila ‘wilderness’ road.

On into the sunset. Sunset aided by our first smokey night.

Perfect night at camp Gila. Warm, soft, and the bears left us alone.

What’s this? A hidden spring, right in the middle of the Gila, where many a divide racer has run out of water! Looked like a prime water source to me, that should be solid even a month from now….

Climbing out of one of many Gila-sized canyons. A motivated sweedish backpacker is climbing the road behind us. He was the only person or vehicle we saw in the 60? miles from the Mimbres to Beaverhead.

Wall Lake is still pretty solid. Flows in and out for filtering.

Gila tragedy.

And redemption! Thanks Anthony!

Back into the plains to sour our relationship with the wind.

Oh, O-bar-O mountain!

Trouble, the Dude and Argentine, watering up in a flood damaged Cox Canyon. Last good water for quite a few miles. Some hikers ended up backtracking 4 hours to get back to good water in this next stretch.

I think there’s a trail in here somewhere.

600-700 of hard earned descent, buzz-killed by forest burnt to toothpicks. No sign of even log #1 being cleared yet.

Golden nuggets of trail were greatly appreciated, savored.

Nom nom num.

Grass, baby heads and no trail. It may be rideable but borderline worth it.

Colorado-esque descending off Wagontongue Mountain!

Ironically, the trail got *really* good as we hit the burn area. Only a few trees to schlep over.

Sinuous bliss.

And… the trail ends here!

Usually trails get more and more vague before you finally decide you’re not on a trail anymore. This was the most precise end of a trail I’ve ever seen.

It was not far to this windmill, perhaps our favorite water source yet. Time to wash the ash and trail dust off, extracting cool pure water straight out of the ground (thanks to the blasting wind!).

There’s new CDT here, and it looked great. There must be some reason the hikers don’t take it, though, and our feed bags looked pretty bare.

Time to untangle the wires, pop in the head phones, and climb, climb, climb away!

9600′ and a setting sun were our destination.

La Manga lookout. Sadly not staffed this evening.

The sky painter’s office was well staffed.

I can only imagine the creative energy that goes into a light show like this.

Rubbly 2-tracks descending from Mangas.

Thru-hikers on the big road walk to Pie Town. Chimp and Tootsie.

Catching Sunset on the road out of Pie Town.

Chain of Craters byway, heading up to the badlands.

Bicycles, no.

No singletrack for you! Today, anyway.

Off divide route 2-tracks will have to do.

And a cairned hike.

To an incredible place.

Young rock.

You can be walking all over these tubes and not even know it. Seems like they are due to collapse further, in the near future.

4 windows tube, full of cold air.

A Ley route purple alternative gave us some ‘double track that rides like singletrack.’

And a perfect connection to Bonita Canyon, aptly beautiful in the morning light.

Zuni canyon is the next big road walk for the hikers. Dusty but scenic.

Showing off her courier skills, heading back from the Post Office. Computers and town clothes, yay!

We’re more than ready to turn in our computers and town clothes for bikes and trail clothes, now. Work is mostly done, photos are up, and we’re antsy for more CDT. Mt Taylor is next!