Section 24 is 176.1 miles long and runs from Pie Town, NM to Silver City, NM. This includes the Gila River Alternate route which was so breathtakingly beautiful that it will be broken up into three subsections.
The first is 91.1 miles long and runs from Pie Town, NM to Gila River Alt Route marker 103.6. November 15th - 18th.
Day 145. 13.6 miles to Davila Ranch
I was still feeling a bit tipsy when I woke up. Hoppah and the Trio tried to convince me to take another Zero-Day with them which I gave some serious consideration but eventually escaped the vortex. Everyone was sticking to the official route which was more road walking on the paved Highway 60 instead of taking some dirt roads to Dalvia Ranch. The ranch stocks a little “CDT Outpost” with a shelter, running water, and a dirt-floor kitchenette equipped with a gas stove and fridge filled with, eggs, bacon, and potatoes. I thought the choice was obvious. After more miles on a long and boring dirt road, the sun began to set and I finally got the chance to use my new Sony E 16-50mm lens since my old one finally died. It served me well for 7,000 miles of backpacking through rain, snow, desert heat, and high altitude passes so I sure got my money’s worth! I was the only one at Dalvia Ranch so I claimed the single cot that was set up in the corner. I then cooked an absolutely massive feast of bacon, potatoes, and eggs while leaving a good portion in the fridge for breakfast the next day.
Road walks themselves aren’t very interesting, but all of these elaborate ranch signs were pretty cool.
Day 146, 26.2 miles to Highway 12 Trailhead
It was great having my leftovers to add with some fresh eggs in the skillet and I was soon back to devouring some calories to start my day. I packed up and took some photos of the surrounding scenery. Some more uninteresting miles down a dirt road to a water spigot at a rednecks house who allegedly had a very territorial bullmastiff that had chased off many hikers. Luckily, I did not meet him. I sluggishly made my way up Mangas Mountain which had a nice firetower on it’s peak but it was locked. I climbed the stairs for a better vantage point for some photos, had lunch at the locked ranger cabin’s porch, and then continued on. More hiking on forest roads, I passed a few hunters in their trucks, I caught a nice sunset as I ticked off the final miles to the trailhead but then was not pleased to find it packed with hunters, RV’ers, and glampers. I tried to Yogi some food but the folks were all pretty dismissive. It took me a bit to find a suitable tent site that was out of earshot of their generators and not on rocks. I then nabbed some nice astrophotography shots before going to bed.
Dalvia Ranch’s CDT Outpost was amazing.
They also had old decaying vehicles all over the lawn.
And a dilapidated cabin.
New Mexico Sunsets are truly something else.
Day 147, 24.7 miles to the Gila River marker 103.6
I slept well but was rudely awaken by the hunters who fired up the generator before sunrise. I got packed up and found some amazing campsites with fire pits on the other side of Highway 12...D’OH. I soon got to a massive water tank which was the start of a 22 mile carry to the next sure source, chugged a lot of it, and did some stretching. I soon hit real trail, actual dirt tread, and it felt so good to be on soft ground again. The trail went back into tree cover, up along a ridge for a bit, but the day remained overall mediocre compared to Section 22 behind me and the anticipation of the Gila River just ahead. Down off the ridge was a couple miles littered with neat crags and boulders that would have been fun to climb but I was just too tired.
I tried to top out on an ascent to catch a stunning sunset but was stuck on some switchbacks running through sticker bushes and burned trees. I soon departed from the official trail and began the Gila River Alternate. A short stretch later was the Dutchman Spring where I caught up to Hopper and PS! We realized that we all camped at the Highway 12 trailhead last night, on our own, each scattered off in a corner, with no idea that the others were right there. We were also ecstatic to have linked up right before the Gila, that we would have a crew to hike through that section which is consistently voted the in the top three most beautiful stretches of the entire CDT.
Day 148, 26.6 miles to Dripping Vat Campground
A bunch of howling coyotes woke me up throughout the night and it sounded like they were getting closer. Then big logging trucks came barreling down the road as soon as the sun came up and I struggled to get a few more winks of sleep. As everyone was packing up I walked about two hundred meters into the woods to look at a small lake I noticed on my maps. Then I saw a cow carcass that was fresh. It was gruesome. It was new. It was what the coyotes were feasting on the night before as they howled and caused all that noise. Very close to where we were sleeping. I hit the road, saw some dump trucks go by, and remained cold as the walls narrowed in forming a shaded gulley. Eventually it widened out and dumped me into a long open stretch with no trees and plenty of sunshine beating down. We all caught up at a big fenced cow pen to get water which required some Ninja-Warrior’ing over obstacles in order to keep your feet out of the mud.
Sorry for the gruesome image - but this was about 200 meters from camp and the cause of howling coyotes all night.
PS up ahead, just a speck in the road.
A 14-mile water carry used to seem so daunting and impossible but now it was standard. We three hiked together for many of those dry miles this afternoon. We blasted through them in no time and took a rest at the next water where we decided to camel-up and camp short of the next source which was the actual Gila River, which might be in a narrow canyon without tent sites. We were funneled into another gulley that blocked the sunset and then arrived at Dripping Vat Campground just after the sunlight faded away. This campground is right next to Snow Lake but it apparently has a bad toxic algae issue which is why we had to camel up on water.
PS and Hoppah.
PS did not realize I was taking a long exposure shot.
Milky Way.