Black Range - Gila National Forest - July 5, 1998 - Member Trip Report
| Hike Name: | Black Range - Gila National Forest |
|---|---|
| Country: | United States |
| State: | New Mexico |
| Trip Rating: |  |
| Trip Date: | July 5, 1998 |
| Duration: | 2 days, 8 hours |
| Trail Conditions: | Fair |
| Trail Traffic: | None |
| Trip Weather: | Partly Cloudy |
| Trip Winds: | Heavy |
| Trip Precipitation: | Rain |
| Trip Temperature: | High: 61-70, Low: 31-40 degrees Fahrenheit |
| Trip Report: | Day 1: Mike, Brian and I are excited because we have been planning this trip for a long time. The weather looks threatening, but we can't reschedule now. Brian and Mike sleep all the way to Winston, leaving me to deal with everything. We finally arrive at the lookout around 10:00 in the morning, and unload our gear. After sleeping all the way, the guys decide they need a nap before we leave, so we dont' actually head out onto the trail until 3:00. Needless to say we don't make it too far before darkness comes creeping in. We set camp about 3 miles from the fire lookout and have dinner. After a few beers we call it a night. Day 2: I roust the guys at 6:30 to try to make up for lost time. They fool around long enough to delay our departure until 9:00. We finally straggle onto the trail, and almost immediately it starts raining. Not real heavy, just a steady sprinkle of ice cold rain. Brian is ready to give it up after an hour, but I have the keys, and nobody gets out of this one. We find a miners shack about noon, so we step inside for lunch. The shack is fairly well preserved, and doesn't leak rain. It also has a stove, so we find some dry wood outisde and start a little fire. An hour of drying clothes and a hot meal later, we step back outside. The rain is serious now, and we decide to hot foot it for that nights destination. We head out at what the GPS says is a little over 5 mph, and move down the trail toward the CDT. After 2 hours, we are cold and blown out. All of us have slipped a time or two on the trail, and there are bruises and scrapes galore. We find a dry mine shaft, and drop our gear. The shaft has a vertical shaft coming in somewhere behind us, so we start a fire and it draws great, with almost no smoke. The rain never doees let up, so we spend the afternoon and evening drinking coffee and Bailey's and playing poker. We all crash at about 9:30. Day 3: The sun is out and all is well when we wake up. The only problem is that now the forest is steaming and the humidity is like Viet Nam on a bad day. We have a solid breakfast, and start down the trail towards our jumpoff point. Just after we leave the CDT, we find a great mining complex with all sorts of abandoned buildings and equipment. We don't have that much time, but we spend about 2 hours poking around before we head back toward the truck. The mud is drying rapidly, so trail conditions are improving by the minute. We jumped a herd of elk about 2 miles from the truck, and Mike managed to drop his new camera in a large mud puddle trying to get a photo of them. Needless to say, he isn't happy. After enduring his wrath, we make our way back to the truck and a meal before we head out for home. I had a great time, but Mike says he has had it, and Brian says nothing at all. Brain has never gone with us again! |
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