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| Backpack | 41.64 Miles |
6,795 AEG |
| | Backpack | 41.64 Miles | 4 Days 17 Hrs 39 Mns | | |
| 6,795 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | We spent 5 day backpacking through the San Pedro Parks Wilderness in early May 2014. This adventure was planned using online resources, so we were not sure exactly what to expect. I purchased the USGS quads, knowing that the actual trail names used do not match the USGS. The Forest Service map (San Pedro Parks Wilderness) does give the correct trail names and is highly recommended if you are not using a route from a GPS. The Quads and GPS route worked well, but we still had to double back a couple of times after heading in the wrong direction.
The Parks are beautiful, very isolated once you get a couple of miles away from the trailheads. The only boot prints we saw in five days were on the CDT section, and that one set!
We hit patches of deep snow when the trail went through deep forest, but mostly the going was clear. The trails in general were well marked and easy to find (except when buried under snow). We had one issue with trail 452 (Corralitos) between CDT and 451 (Cecilia) which we never found, even though we crisscrossed the theoretical track based on the GPS route. The way was nothing but downfall for over a mile, exhausting, and to be avoided until it is cleared.
There was plenty of water in the streams at this time of year, in fact even the streams that were indicated as intermittent were all flowing well. Most streams were brown with tannins, but many of the intermittents were clear.
All that water leads to many marshy areas, so if you wear Ventilator style boots you are going to have wet feet most of the day, which I am ok with, bring a couple of spare pairs of socks. Waterproof boots would have been a blessing on this trip.
We saw Eagle, Elk and many other small animals. Plenty of Bear scratch on the trees but no signs of current activity.
Good weather up to the penultimate day of the hike when the wind came up and a couple of flurries came through. We dry camped along the Clear Creek trail that night and hiked out the next morning in a heady snow storm for an hour or so.
This is a beautiful area and a great multiday backpacking destination. Not too tough, although the elevation made 9 miles a day seem like about 12 miles! The Post Holing through snow, or circumnavigating it also added to the difficulty. |
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