<font color='black' size='3' face='Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif'>guess I have to have one out of 19 that is rude<br>
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<div><STRONG><FONT size=3>el coyote</FONT></STRONG></div>
<div><STRONG><FONT size=3>Keith</FONT></STRONG></div>
<div><STRONG><FONT size=3>Deming, NM</FONT></STRONG></div>
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<div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Bill <luttge.bill@gmail.com><br>
To: ks1007@aol.com<br>
Sent: Wed, Mar 17, 2010 1:50 pm<br>
Subject: Re: [Cdt-l] Gila River route water levels and Black Mtn route snow levels<br>
<br>
<div id=AOLMsgPart_2_5a479b35-27fe-4f3a-8a34-744f1eb6686b>On 3/17/2010 3:21 PM, <A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated href="mailto:ks1007@aol.com">ks1007@aol.com</A> wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><FONT color=black size=3 face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">well? which route?<br>
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<div><STRONG><FONT size=3>el coyote</FONT></STRONG></div>
<div><STRONG><FONT size=3>Keith</FONT></STRONG></div>
<div><STRONG><FONT size=3>Deming, NM</FONT></STRONG></div>
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<div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Bill <A class=moz-txt-link-rfc2396E href="mailto:luttge.bill@gmail.com"><luttge.bill@gmail.com></A><br>
To: <A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated href="mailto:ks1007@aol.com">ks1007@aol.com</A><br>
Sent: Wed, Mar 17, 2010 8:25 am<br>
Subject: Re: [Cdt-l] Gila River route water levels and Black Mtn route snow levels<br>
<br>
<div id=AOLMsgPart_2_29190d98-3d22-405d-ab2d-ff5456e67ed3>On 3/17/2010 2:15 AM, <A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated href="mailto:ks1007@aol.com">ks1007@aol.com</A> wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><FONT color=black size=3 face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">are you doing the columbus route? have we spoken about it if you are? apparently from what I have heard the water will be worse in the southern portion - as it gets closer to april 5th I will contact a USFS ranger to find out what's happening and the routes - roads and trails<br>
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<div><STRONG><FONT size=3>el coyote</FONT></STRONG></div>
<div><STRONG><FONT size=3>Keith</FONT></STRONG></div>
<div><STRONG><FONT size=3>Deming, NM</FONT></STRONG></div>
</FONT></FONT></FONT></div>
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<div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Bill <A class=moz-txt-link-rfc2396E href="mailto:luttge.bill@gmail.com"><luttge.bill@gmail.com></A><br>
To: <A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated href="mailto:cdt-l@backcountry.net">cdt-l@backcountry.net</A><br>
Sent: Tue, Mar 16, 2010 2:55 pm<br>
Subject: [Cdt-l] Gila River route water levels and Black Mtn route snow levels<br>
<br>
<div style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma,Verdana,Arial,Sans-Serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); FONT-SIZE: 12px" id=AOLMsgPart_0_b0d56c09-f2ad-4f0d-a171-35f8184c42c6><PRE style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt"><TT>I'm planning on a NOBO thru-hike starting mid-April and I'd sure like
some advice on the best route to take between Silver City and Pie Town.
I know that most folks take the beautiful Gila River route, but from the
postholer.com reports I see that NM has a lot of snow this year, so the
Gila River should be flowing fast and deep - a definite concern for an
old/short guy like me. The obvious alternative is take the Black Mtn
range route (aka, CDTS official route), but this would put the trail up
high enough that snow could be a real problem. I don't mind snow, but
it would be nice to know what to expect.
Yogi's Town Guide mentions a NM-15 road walk option to Gila Hot Springs
thereby avoiding the southern part of the Gila River. Wouild this solve
the high water problems?
In a cdt-l report El Coyote suggests taking NM-35 (from NM-15 or from
CDTS route?) to FR-150 and then hiking north on forest roads to Pie
Town. Would this solve the high water problems?
Any suggestions or corrections would be appreciated.
FireBall
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</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>Keith (El Coyote),<br>
<br>
Thanks for your comments. I'm still studying the various options. My friend (30-30) and I will be leaving from CrazyCook on April 15 or 16. My wife (Hot Chocolate) will be driving us to the trailhead and helping with the water cache drop offs.<br>
<br>
Bill (FireBall)<br>
Cross Creek, FL<br>
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</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>Keith (El Coyote),<br>
<br>
Thanks for your continuing interest.<br>
<br>
As I thought my e-mail above explained, my friend 30-30 and I will be leaving from the CrazyCook monument and hiking north to Lordsburg, NM. From there we will follow JLey's route to Silver City, NM. From there we will hike JLey's route north until we have to decide to follow the Gila River north or head east over the Black Mountain range route -- and eventually arrive in Pie Town. My original e-mail was a request for advice on the pros and cons of these latter two routes. I now realize that the Gila River water depth may well be different below and above its confluence with Sapillo Creek and/or above and below the cliff dwellings. These added complications generate a series of potential options.<br>
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If the southern portion of the Gila River is deep, but that above the cliff dwellings is passable we have at least four options. 1) We could take the Black Mtn route (i.e., the "official" CDT), or 2) we could follow JLey's route to Sapillo Creek and then head east on Tr-247 (Spring Canyon Trail) to NM-15, turn north and road walk to the Gila Cliff Dwellings, or 3) we could follow the Black Mtn route until it junctions with NM-15 and then proceed north to the cliff dwellings, or 4) we could follow NM-15 all the way from Silver City to the cliff dwellings.<br>
<br>
If the southern portion of the Gila River is deep, AND the northern portion is also impassable, then we have a least three options. 1) We could take the Black Mtn route, or 2) we could take JLey's route to Sapillo Creek, turn east on TR-247, turn north on NM-15, turn east on NM-35, and finally turn north on FT-150 until Pie Town, or 3) leaving Silver City take NM-15 north, turn east on NM-35 and finish after turning north on FT-150.<br>
<br>
Just today, I've ordered copies of USFS topos for the Gila Wilderness and the Aldo Leopold Wilderness. I also have down-loaded the waypoints for both the JLey route up the Gila River and the official CDTA route through the Black Mountain range.<br>
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So in addition to deciding which of the various routes to take, I now need to decide if I want to purchase snow shoes to supplement my ice axe and crampons...<br>
<br>
Best wishes,<br>
<br>
Bill (FireBall)<br>
Cross Creek, FL<br>
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