[Cdt-l] S Nm CDT logistics

Mon Feb 9 13:59:41 CST 2015

Hi--I used a Big Agnes fly creek tent every night. I like privacy (you
may end up hiking and camping with others much of the time) and the
security away from rodents and night crawling creatures. It also added
a little to the warmth factor. I am a cold sleeper, so need all the
help I can get. I also agree with Bob about the wind--you don't think
of it as unusual a year later to mention because it is gusting
constantly.

I think you can be pretty confident others won't take your water.
Everyone has labelled their water and the CDT people label the water
put out for you. When I was camping at the caches, I saw no one taking
water that wasn't theirs. One of the reasons for this may be when
people have surplus water they don't need and leave it at the cache,
they usually label it for general use, putting a line with a marker
through their names. This water is available to all to use first come,
first served. People also usually put an ETA on their containers or
say something like 'Keep until XXXXX date". That way you know whether
it is OK to use it  if it isn't yours. I carry a short Sharpie marker
with me for stuff like this.

I never saw any sign of border crossers from Mexico along the CDT. On
the AZT and the PCT you see sign of them--old clothes, trash, carpet
for tieing around shoe soles to obscure footprints---but I saw none of
this on the CDT last spring. 

Good luck
--Fireweed

----- Original Message -----
From: "b j" 
To:"Bob Sartini" , "Mary Kwart" 
Cc:"CDT Emaillist" 
Sent:Mon, 9 Feb 2015 19:10:47 +0000 (UTC)
Subject:Re: [Cdt-l] S Nm CDT logistics

Hi Bob and Mary,
Thanks for sharing your experience.  Did you cowboy camp or tent (I'm
kindof trying to get a feeling about what's best with the cold).
When you put water in the water caches, did you feel fairly confident
that noone else would be drinking it (especially since it's so close
to the border)?

-Porsche

-------------------------
 FROM: Bob Sartini 
TO: Mary Kwart  
CC: CDT Emaillist ; xthrow at yahoo.com 
SENT: Sunday, February 8, 2015 6:38 PM
SUBJECT: Re: [Cdt-l] S Nm CDT logistics

I did NM in 2013 and found it to be windy pretty much all the time.
Also cold every night without exception. I guess that's a clue that
every year is different. Also we filled our own caches (meaning we put
water in the boxes) and 4 of five were right off of paved roads.  

On Sun, Feb 8, 2015 at 6:27 PM, Mary Kwart  wrote:
Hi, Porsche:

I completed the NM section of the CDT last spring. I got a ride to the
Mexican border with the CDT van on the first day they took
reservations--April 10th. I was staying in Lordsburg, but Teresa
Martinez picked me up the night before and we drove to SIlver City,
where we stayed at a trail angel's house and then picked up more
hikers in the early morning at SIlver City. I believe they will now
pickup at Lordsburg. Contact Teresa Martinez from the CDTC.

I don't remember any major winds in southern NM when I did it last
year. One thing I remember about NM was how cold it was north of the
desert. Our water bottles froze in our tents and our boots wet from
wading in the river froze on several days within and north of the Gila
WIlderness. I was glad I had a sleeping bag rated to 15 degrees. 

You could leave water at the caches with your own vehicle if you
wanted to start earlier, because they are secure metal boxes and you
can label your containers. Your car would have to be able to tolerate
some dirt road travel--I don't know if 4wd is necessary for any, but
the ones I saw had decent dirt roads coming up to them. There were
trail angels filling water containers for the caches at a market in
Lordsburg. I think some were volunteers from out of the area, but some
were locals. I don't know if they would cache for you outside of the
CDT van shuttle framework of dates.

The most important thing for the first day was hiking about 13 miles
to get to the first cache--no water before then at all from the
border. 

 I also did a little detour around flood debris on the Gila above Doc
Campbell's on alternate trails. You might want to find out about the
status of the flood debris this year.

Ghost Ranch is not to be missed--I made reservations for a room ahead
of time and stayed there for two days.

Have a good hike and contact me if you have any other questions. My
journal is at postholer.com [2]

--Fireweed

--Fireweed

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Links:
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