Clearly, lots going on politically down in that area. Thanks for the education everyone and forgive my dogmatic approach!<br>Ryan<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 10/3/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Ginny & Jim Owen
</b> <<a href="mailto:spiritbear2k@hotmail.com">spiritbear2k@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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Dick - <br>
The CDT has never been officially routed over Mt Taylor - they procrastinated on designating the trail that way because the mountain is one of the 4 sacred mountains of the Navajo. I lost respect for that argument in 1999 when we were sitting at the top of Taylor and a group of Navajos topped the mountain - on their bigass ATV's. I've since gained a little knowledge about the Navajo - and lost a lot of respect for the gutlessness of the Forest Service - and the gubmint in general. Of course, since I worked as a contractor for da gubmint for 40+ years, I've had lots of time and opportunity to lose whatever respect I ever had for the bureaucracy.
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In any case, last year they routed hikers along the road around Taylor when they closed the Forest - and allowed Tom B to put out water caches. Suspicion is that they did that as a test case as much as for the fire danger represented by the hikers. But then - I'm a cynic, too.
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Yes - the Mt Taylor route that we walked in '99 had springs - and in '06 there was a rumor that the springs were still flowing. But with the Forest closed, only a few hikers managed to go that way. One question that occurs is - how many of the SOBO's went over Taylor - and what was the water situation later in the year?
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Walk softly,<br>
Jim<br>-----------------------------------------------------------<br><a href="http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/</a><span class="q">
<br><br><br><br>Hi Jim: I must have missed something. Did the Forest Service route the trail around Taylor? I remember Gooseberry spring at the base and two others just the other side of Taylor (within a days walk) that were flowing water so cold you could chew it. Does the CDT still use T77 up and over Mt. Taylor? --Dick E. Bird
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