Continental Divide Trail: Trailhead 74 to Jack's Peak

On Thursday, October 13, 2016, we decided to set our boots on the Continental Divide Trail (sometimes referred to as the "CDT") - something we have been aching to do for years.  In New Mexico, the CDT runs about 700 miles.  In the stretch north of Lordsburg, New Mexico, where our RV was parked, it passes through Gila National Forest.  Part of the forest, the Gila Wilderness, was formally established in 1924 by the U.S. government as the first designated wilderness reservation. Aldo Leopold Wilderness and the Blue Range Wilderness are also found within Gila National Forest.

The Continental Divide Trail is a National Scenic Trail that stretches 3,100 miles along the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains from Mexico to Canada. With the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail it is part of what thru-hiking enthusiasts call the "Triple Crown" of long-distance hiking in the United States. In establishing the Continental Divide Trail as a National Scenic Trail in 1978, Congress set aside a 100-mile wide corridor for its construction.  The CDT passes through the states of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. Only about two hundred people a year attempt to through-hike the entire trail. Hikers of the CDT can continue north into Canada on what is known as the Great Divide Trail, as far as Kakwa Lake north of Jasper National Park.  Occasionally along the stretch of the trail, you'll find trail markers like the ones we saw as we began our hike:

We first came to know the Continental Divide Trail when we attended an annual dinner of the Pennsylvania chapter of our hiking club, Appalachian Mountain Club, more than 10 years ago.  The speaker that night was Cindy Ross, an outdoors writer who, over five summers, from 1993 to 1998, hiked the CDT with her husband, Todd Gladfelter, their children, then ages 1 and 3, and four llamas. She wrote about their thru-trek of the CDT in a book titled, "Scraping Heaven," which is fascinating reading for anyone who loves the outdoors as a family activity.  Here's a photo of Cindy, Todd, the kids and the llamas along their journey:

More recently, our appetites were whetted to the breaking point when we were introduced by our good friends, George and Nan Finlayson, to our now also good friends, Dick and Gaila Mallery, at the Quartzsite Boomerville encampment in January 2016. Dick, publisher and founder of the bird-feeding and nature newspaper The Dick E. Bird News, fulfilled a 30-year dream in 2003 by completing the Continental Divide Trail from New Mexico to Jaspar, Alberta. Instead of leaving his family behind, he shared the adventure with wife Gaila and daughter Maggie, who followed in the front country in the family's 27-foot motor home towing a Saturn.  The family began their adventure in 1999, the year Dick turned 50. That year, he walked 3,200 miles along the Continental Divide from New Mexico to the Canadian border — a trip that would take him through five states in five months. Gaila and Maggie, then 12, were his support team, driving the motor home to campgrounds paralleling his route and meeting him on his weekly exits from the trail for more supplies and a little R&R.  Their adventure resulted in a book titled, "Crossing the Divide: A Family Adventure along the Continental Divide” (MalleryBooks).  Here's a photo of Dick heading back out on the CDT in 1999 after resupplying in Twin Lakes, Colorado:

Unlike the Appalachian Trail, the CDT is a do-it-yourself bushwhack rather than a civilized, constructed path. A mirror of the untamed land it crosses, the CDT has fewer directional markers, fewer places to grab a hot shower and square meal, more places where a mistake will kill you.  There are very few water sources along the CDT where it passes through the Gila National Forest. Local volunteer groups place water caches (usually a pile of plastic gallon jugs) at strategic points along the trail.  As we arrived at our trailhead (known as Trailhead No. 74), we spotted these examples of trail magic:

Our path started slowly uphill, and soon we caught sight of our destination - Jack's Peak, in the distance in the photo below with large cell towers perched at its summit:

Turning west and more steeply uphill, we started to see interesting geologic formations, including this rock dressed in colorful lichen:

It is autumn in the desert now, and we were surprised at the abundance and variety of desert blooms we encountered as we hiked.  A glance across canyons and arroyos along our path showed landscapes splashed in bright yellow.  Up close, the yellow blossoms were beautiful against the dried greys and browns and silver-greens of the desert environment:

Occasionally, we ran across red blossoms and foliage, which stood out all the more for their sudden, rare appearance in this landscape:

About 2 miles into the hike, we were high enough to encounter rock outcroppings and high enough to get dramatic views from them.  Here, David looks out across the valley to our south:

Climbing further, we started to get high enough to encounter greener grasses, which we assume could survive due to heavier rains as the clouds swept across the hilltops:

Suddenly, along one ridge where the canyon floors dropped away from us on both sides, Kathy spotted a huge field of quartz rocks strewn among the sandstone.  Some prior hiker had spent the time gathering his or her most favorite quartz nuggets and piled them on this rock for our pleasure:

Higher yet, and on the north side of one of the larger ridges, we experienced a complete change in the environment.  This zone was suddenly full of scrub oak, live oak, ponderosa pine and other non-desert plants and trees:

We entered an area that obviously had burned in a wildfire.  Some hiker had come across this rusted pot, discolored with carbon from the fire, and had hung it on one of the cut tree branches for those who have followed to see:

As we climbed further toward the summit of Jack's Peak, we came suddenly upon these ruins - we learned later they are the foundation of one of the staff houses for a Solar Observatory which operated from 1938 to 1946 on Jack's Peak:

A look around the area revealed numerous concrete foundations which we assume were from the same observatory, its staff housing and supporting facilities.

Eventually we reached the summit of Jack's Peak.  We found the survey marker, which Kathy admires in the photo below:

Although much of the summit was occupied by radio and other transmission towers, nevertheless the views were striking.  You might start with this 360 degree view from Jack's Peak, which will put in context the following two photos -- one looking toward a unique, pointed peak to the south --

-- and this one looking west, with a brilliant, scarlet clump of vines of bushes splashed on the near side of the rock outcropping in the center of the photo:

After a leisurely lunch at the top, we started down, encountering two Forest Service rangers who had driven up a fire road to inspect the tower complex.  The only other soul we encountered on the whole trip was this lizard who obliged us by posing long enough for us to get his portrait:

By the time we returned to our trailhead, we had logged nearly 10 miles of up and down on rocky terrain.  David slipped on the sand and pebbles on one rockface and skinned his elbow, but otherwise our return was uneventful.  We felt this was a dramatic success, for having chosen this stretch of the CDT solely for its convenience to the RV campground where we had stopped for two nights.  It merely increased our desire to get out on yet more sections of the Continental Divide Trail in our future travels.