From our camp on a perch near the mesa’s rim we watched the full moon arc across the sky last night, the sage flats below us shimmering with silver tips.
We got moving early to be able to make a good effort at getting to town. Cuba was 21 trail miles away and our success on getting there today, and most importantly getting there in time to get a room and dinner, would depend on the condition of the trail, an early start and some determination.
Crossing the mesa we had camped on involved a lot of rocky, short climbs. We traveled along the rim, mostly, but the topside sloped down away …
The dramatic landscape continues. We walk along the base of mesas and the tops of others and, in one place, along a shelf halfway up. There are a number of ups and downs as we also go in and out of arroyos, large and small, several bordering on being canyons. The trail follows the very rim of several mesas, offering stunning views and weak knees.
The day is hot, the hottest we’ve had in awhile, probably the hottest since we were in the “boot heel” between Crazy Cook and Lordsburg. The afternoon brings scattered clouds and storm cells with showers but somehow the sun shines on us most all the time, …
We continued our march across the mesa. The trail is well marked with cairns and posts but there’s very little actual “trail tread”. The ground is mostly rocky, so the footing is difficult
A coyote trots across our path, seemingly oblivious to us, until he looks right back at us.
We skirt the edge of the mesa with stunning view of the lowland canyons below, as well as volcanic rock buttes. When we come to the end of the mesa we begin a 2,000 foot drop into the sculpted landscape below.
Midway down, we watched the afternoon ritual progression of thundershowers during lunch as two strong cells missed us.
At the bottom, a quarter-mile …
We continue along desolate backroads along the highlands anchored by Mt Taylor to the south. The roads follow a series of mesas which are part of the San Mateo mountains. The walk is mostly flat with some long, gradual ups and downs.
The mesas are parlty covered in trees and partly covered with Sage and Rabbitbrush. Where there are trees, Juniper and Oak predominate with pockets of Ponderosa in some of the higher elevations.
Otherwise, it’s a desolate plain. The only wildlife, aside from cows, is an occasional prarie dog. We did see one very unnexpected pick up truck, as we did yesterday. The 4th of July holiday has brought out the …
A light to moderate rain fell through most all the night. The tarp tent kept us dry, though the bottom of the packs at the foot of the tent ended up wet. We slept in till almost 8am, waiting to make sure the rain had stopped. Nearby, Coyotes yipped back and forth, encouraging us to get up and get going.
A cool morning so we walked with a determined pace, just to keep warm. In a couple miles we came to the Gooseberry Trail leading to the top of Mt Taylor. A number of people were on the trail day-hiking to the summit. It seems odd to be sharing the trail …
