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I live and work along six miles of the cdt trail just south of Lordsburg, NM and have noticed several signs have fallen down, after closer examination it seems the sign posts that have fallen were barely in the ground when orginally installed. It seems the rocky ground was too hard or the crew too hot and tired, and many through my property are on hill tops, some on solid rock. I mentioned this to the crew leader of the BLM crew that installed the signs thru Hidalgo County and he kind of rolled his eyes when someone said they thought cows had knocked down some of the signs. It could be that the trail will never be as well marked as it is now. I hope all hikers will be safe, especially in this challenging area.<BR>
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good luck,<BR><BR><STRONG><FONT color=#0c0c0c face="Comic Sans MS">Ed "Bim" Kerr</FONT></STRONG><BR><STRONG><FONT color=#0c0c0c face="Comic Sans MS">Kerr Ranch Tours</FONT></STRONG><BR><A href="mailto:edkerr52@hotmail.com">edkerr52@hotmail.com</A><BR><STRONG>575.313.2606</STRONG><BR><STRONG><A href="http://www.kerrranchtours.com/" target=_blank>www.kerrranchtours.com</A></STRONG><BR><BR> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <BR>
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From: spiriteagle99@hotmail.com<BR>To: rick.ostheimer@sbcglobal.net; cdt-l@backcountry.net<BR>Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:32:45 -0500<BR>Subject: Re: [Cdt-l] Well marked? Hah!<BR><BR>
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ROTFLMAO!!! <BR> <BR>You shoulda been there in 1999 - It IS well marked now - comparatively. <IMG style="BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: none; BORDER-RIGHT-STYLE: none; BORDER-TOP-STYLE: none; VERTICAL-ALIGN: text-bottom; BORDER-LEFT-STYLE: none" title=Smile alt=Smile src="http://gfx1.hotmail.com/mail/w4/pr04/ltr/emo/smile.gif" width=19 height=19><BR> <BR>The operative statement in your post is - One really has to pay attention to navigation.<BR> <BR>Congratulations - and welcome to the Society of the Frequently Lost <IMG style="BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: none; BORDER-RIGHT-STYLE: none; BORDER-TOP-STYLE: none; VERTICAL-ALIGN: text-bottom; BORDER-LEFT-STYLE: none" title=Smile alt=Smile src="http://gfx1.hotmail.com/mail/w4/pr04/ltr/emo/smile.gif" width=19 height=19><BR> <BR>Walk softly,<BR>Jim<BR><BR><BR>http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/<BR><BR><BR> <BR>> Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2010 17:04:26 -0500<BR>> From: rick.ostheimer@sbcglobal.net<BR>> To: cdt-l@backcountry.net<BR>> Subject: [Cdt-l] Well marked? Hah!<BR>> <BR>> Chance,<BR>> <BR>> I hiked from Crazy Cook to Steamboat Springs in '10 and plan on picking <BR>> up the hike nobo this summer at the end of June. The CDT is NOT well <BR>> marked. On BLM lands in NM, there were posts about every quarter mile <BR>> some of which had blown down or been knocked down by cows. You could <BR>> barely see from one to the other and frequently would have to go beyond <BR>> the post you were at before you spotted the next one. Occasionally <BR>> there were blazes cut into pines in the wooded sections. In many places <BR>> it is cross country. Sometimes there was a herd path, but frequently <BR>> there wasn't much of one. Since it was a high snow year, in S Colorado <BR>> the trail was frequently hidden under the snow. That said, the portion <BR>> of the trail that coincides with the Colorado Trail is usually better <BR>> marked----except, where turns off one dirt road onto another aren't <BR>> followed by a sign to let you know you've turned onto the right path. <BR>> Hah! I had two of those the same day, but at least the afternoon <BR>> thunderstorm was over the trail dirt road rather than the longer road <BR>> that I was following.<BR>> <BR>> I was rushed in my final prep work and when I loaded OOO's GPS track, <BR>> the Delorme software kindly dropped a lot of points so it would all <BR>> fit. It did warn me, but I didn't realize how much that would degrade <BR>> the value of the GPS. (I've fixed that indiscretion for this year.) I <BR>> misplaced the trail frequently due to not checking my map frequently. <BR>> After learning the hard way, when I finally made a point of orienting <BR>> myself on the maps relative to the topography I could see around me <BR>> frequently, the "misplacing" of the trail diminished. I learned to <BR>> double check on the maps at every trail and/or road intersection, as <BR>> every time I failed to do so, it seemed I'd be heading the wrong way. <BR>> One really has to pay attention to navigation. I carried an MP3 player, <BR>> but only felt secure in listening to it on long road-walk sections like <BR>> the trek into and out of Pie Town. Also, I found that the Wolf Guides <BR>> were very difficult to translate from sobo (as they're written) to nobo <BR>> (as I was travelling).<BR>> <BR>> I guess what I'm saying is, if you and your lady plan for some alone <BR>> time, you need to both be comfortable with navigating with map and <BR>> compass, and have your own sets of maps. I second the 4 eyes are better <BR>> than 2 comment. The brief times when I was hiking with others tended to <BR>> be times I didn't get misplaced, because one or the other of us <BR>> questioned a wrong turn quickly and we put our heads together to <BR>> interpret the maps.<BR>> <BR>> In spite of these navigation difficulties, the CDT was the wildest, most <BR>> beautiful of the three long distance trails I've been on to date.<BR>> <BR>> Handlebar<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> _______________________________________________<BR>> Cdt-l mailing list<BR>> Cdt-l@backcountry.net<BR>> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/cdt-l<BR><BR>_______________________________________________ Cdt-l mailing list Cdt-l@backcountry.net http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/cdt-l </body>
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