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| | | Fort Bayard Rec Trail, NM | | | |
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Fort Bayard Rec Trail, NM
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| Hiking | 6.20 Miles |
8,178 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.20 Miles | 3 Hrs 54 Mns | | 1.72 mph |
| 8,178 ft AEG | 18 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | On our return trip to Lubbock Ginny and I stopped off at Silver City for a couple days of hiking. Too dry in Tucson for hiking but not so in the Gila Mountains. Really green from the almost daily rains. After arriving in Silver City we headed to the Fort Bayard area and took the Big Tree Trail again, this time though we are going to go further up creek (Cameron Creek) from the big tree. No trail along this route but easy to follow game trails. We would then do a little bush whacking and head over to the wood Haul Trail #55 then return on the Stevens Ranch Trail #756.
Started out around 2:30 with thunder clouds overhead (they were heading to the northeast so luckily they weren't an issue.) We took the Big Tree Trail #755 to the Big Tree like on our previous trip but this time we headed further up Cameron Creek. Followed game trails along the west side of the creek and the going was pretty easy. Dropped down into the creek and the canyon becomes kind of dark and eerie, lots of enormous trees and signs of past ranching/mining. The source of the water in the pipe that we crossed along the Big Tree Trail I suspect is from Comanche spring in this canyon. Didn't make it to the spring due to the fact that it would require us wading through water in the creek. Quite a network of pipes in this canyon. Spooked out some bats from one of the rock cliffs and saw one of the largest bear tracks I have ever seen (baring the grizzlies in Glacier Park) Had to be from earlier today because it rained the night before. We followed the pipeline out which required some Bush whacking to get to the Wood Haul Wagon Trail #55. Spotted a large dead bird that turned out to be a Golden Eagle. Feathers and skeletal remains, The talons on this guy were 2 to 3 inches long. Very interesting Canyon and may require some more exploring on a future trip.
Cameron Creek was running in places. All other creek crossings had been running from the rains the night before but not running when we crossed.
Once on the Wood Haul Wagon Trail #55 the going was pretty easy. This is a two track trail as the name would imply. At the junction with the Stevens Ranch Trail #756 the Wood Haul Trail heads on up toward Black Peak and the Continental Divide Trail. We took the Stevens Ranch Trail back to our start point. |
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