[Cdt-l] Hope Well Campground between Cumbres andGhost Ranch

[Doug Carlson]

Last week I did the 100 miles between Cumbres Pass and Ghost Ranch sobo.
Took me 7 days.

 

I hiked it with a man I met between CC and Lordsburg.  WE hung a couple of
resupply bags at the Hopewell Campground between those two points.  When we
arrived at the campground Ed found our resupply bags on the ground, all the
cords on my Ursak and his bag had been cut and the contents dumped and
picked through.  What wasn't wanted was pretty much pushed back into the
sacks and left on the ground.  Missing were items like esbit tabs,
batteries, chips, a can of peaches, can of pop; about half of our stuff.
First time I have had that happen to me.  I reported the thief to the
campground host who I met when I was getting water.

 

Note about the S & R called on me.  I turned out to be a lost hiker.  Ed had
the official CDT entered into his GPS and I had the CDTS route that ended at
Ghost Ranch.  I mentioned to Ed if we got separated we would meet at Ghost
Ranch.  On Wednesday afternoon I fell behind Ed and lost his track in a
confusing intersection in a wooded area.  Unable to pick up his track I just
followed my GPS into Ghost Ranch.  Ed, unable to find me later that
afternoon, ended up hiking some long miles and eventually met up with a New
Mexico state trooper and notified S&R that I was missing. 

 

Hiking down off the mesa above Ghost Ranch I met two nobo hikers who asked
if I was the lost hiker.  I told them I didn't think so.  

 

When I arrived at Ghost Ranch Information/welcome center I found out I was
indeed the lost hiker.  That was news to me.

 

I cut my hiking skills on topo maps and a hand held compass and never felt
lost at all.  

 

Great hike.  

 

So this year I picked up about 270 miles of New Mexico: both ends and the
middle.

 

I think I have covered the best of New Mexico.  

 

Altogether, I now think I have covered the very best of the CDT except for a
section of MT I would like to still do sometime.  

 

I am now starting to look at long distance mt biking as an alternative to
backpacking.  

 

Everyone one this list, I have really enjoyed sharing emails/information
with you.

 

One final note.  On April 10 I started nobo from CC with Larry and Fireweed.
Larry and I hiked the section from just north of SilverCity up to Snow Lake
and then left the trail.  5 weeks later I started sobo from Cumbres and got
to meet Fireweek finishing New Mexico just a few days south of Cumbres.
That was a very pleasant surprise.  

 

I started out earning the name Keymaster because of van key problems and  I
ended up the object of a S&R search when I was never lost.  

 

I had just a great time in New Mexico!!

 

-Trew, Keymaster, etc.

 

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/cdt-l/attachments/20140615/0e18f3b5/attachment.html