<div style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT color=black face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></FONT><SPAN style="DISPLAY: inline-block" contentEditable=false></SPAN>I lead field trips for our local rock hound club - on my last trip with 12 cars we met an agent right where we were going to search for rocks - I asked him if he had heard anything about us being down at the border - he said "no" so I told him what we were doing - when my friend Li Brannfors was sobo to CC I called the BP in lordsburg to tell them about him - I met up with six agents and not one of them had heard anything - the amazing thing is that the first agent I met didn't call the others on shift to tell them - there is no communication between agents</div>
<div style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">on a side note - someone might want to check the news coming out of the bootheel and SE AZ - the BP is finding hundreds of pounds of weed left in the desert - whether it's being left there for someone else to pick up is unknown - when you get to CC you will see a barbed wire gate in the fence line between the u.s. and mexico - a lot of the contraband is coming in through that gate according to the BP agents I met - of course, it's all coming in at night - I'm not mentioning this to scare people away from starting at CC and doing the columbus route - just be aware of your surroundings </div>
<div><FONT color=black size=3 face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><FONT color=black size=3 face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><FONT color=black size=2 face=arial><STRONG><FONT size=3>el coyote</FONT></STRONG></div>
<div style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: black; CLEAR: both; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
<div><STRONG><FONT size=3>Keith</FONT></STRONG></div>
<div><STRONG><FONT size=3>Deming, NM</FONT></STRONG></div>
</FONT></FONT></FONT></div>
<div><br>
</div>
-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Jonathan Ley <jonathan@phlumf.com><br>
To: Frank Gilliland <frankgilliland@comcast.net>; cdt-l@backcountry.net<br>
Sent: Mon, Mar 29, 2010 9:43 pm<br>
Subject: Re: [Cdt-l] Fwd: Contact Border Patrol<br>
<br>
<div id=AOLMsgPart_3_e661a9f4-8e7b-4d26-99d3-d8cf290c1f95>You'd think they would have some kind of morning meeting and it'd come up. Or, there would be some chatter over the radio or something. Anyway, I guess it doesn't matter... even if they know there are hikers out there, they'd still have to come check you out to verify who you are. I did meet at least one BP who knew all about hikers, and asked me a bunch of questions (he couldn't grasp why anyone would want to hike the CDT... poor guy). <br>
<br>
Frank Gilliland wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite">Yep, I called, they didn't want any information from me, I offered my name and what I looked like and even tried to tell them what shoes I would be leaving tracks with, I got a thankx for calling and "click".
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Then on my 2nd nite from Crazy Cook, at 2 am two Border Patrol Officers with flood lights on full blast, drove full speed up to my tent (along the well marked trail) interviewing me as if I was doing something wrong. They kept asking what I was doing. I kept pointing to the CDT sign and said "I was hiking the CDT and was camping here along the trail".</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Strange that they had no knowledge of the trail even though they were "driving" on it with reflective signs every few hundred feet!</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>They concluded their visit by saying "don't do anything illegal"</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Don't get me wrong, I respect the hard job that the Border Patrol does. But, I felt like a crook in my own Country.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Just remember be very polite and keep answers short with "No Sir" and "Yes Sir". And as advised earlier, this is not the section of trail to be carrying any kind of questionable substances!</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Oh, I also had two low fly "bys" by helicopters, I just waived.....</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The trail was fun to walk, and despite the 2am visit, I will defiantly walk it again!!!!</div>
<div><br>
<div><SPAN style="WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium Helvetica; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px" class=Apple-style-span><SPAN style="WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium Helvetica; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px" class=Apple-style-span>
<div><SPAN style="WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium Helvetica; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px" class=Apple-style-span>
<div>
<div>
<div>StarMan</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</SPAN></div>
</SPAN></SPAN></div>
<div><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></div>
<div>*****************</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'" class=Apple-style-span><PRE>I used to contact the BP about hikers in the area so when I would run into one (a BP) I would ask them if they had heard about the hikers - they said no - there is no communication between BP higher echelon and the grunts in the field - don't waste your time - they will know you are in the area by the new footprints they find - el coyote Keith Deming, NM </PRE>
<div><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=monospace><SPAN style="WHITE-SPACE: pre" class=Apple-style-span><br>
</SPAN></FONT></div>
</SPAN></div>
</div>
<PRE> <HR SIZE=4 width="90%"> _______________________________________________ Cdt-l mailing list <A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated href="mailto:Cdt-l@backcountry.net">Cdt-l@backcountry.net</A> <A class=moz-txt-link-freetext href="http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/cdt-l" target=_blank>http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/cdt-l</A> </PRE></BLOCKQUOTE></div>
<div style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fff; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; COLOR: #000; FONT-SIZE: 12px" id=AOLMsgPart_4_e661a9f4-8e7b-4d26-99d3-d8cf290c1f95><PRE style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt"><TT>_______________________________________________ Cdt-l mailing list <A href="mailto:Cdt-l@backcountry.net">Cdt-l@backcountry.net</A> <A href="http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/cdt-l" target=_blank>http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/cdt-l</A> </TT></PRE></div>