[Philmont] Hart Peak to IW trail and the fire of 2002

John LeBlanc wrote:

> That is a burned over area and trails are really difficult to follow and
> also there are a lot of pseudo trails from the firefighters.
>
> It became imposible to follow their tracks. Besides when on the ridge
> overlooking McBride canyon one could hear voices in McBride. Not
> knowing the trail finding ability of the faster ones and not wanting
> them lost in McBride canyon, the guide and anotehr of the crew
> bushwacked McBride to make sure they weren't in there.
>
######################################

There is a real good discussion here for those of you who get to take
this trail next year.

There were probably three or four places in the trail where it was
possible to take a wrong fork. All of the "mistakes" became clear
within 100 yards or so. After walking back we saw attempts at barriers
(rocks, logs) where prior crews had tried to direct us to the proper
direction.

More important than the pseudo trails is the fact that the trail map and
compass bearings are pretty easy to follow in this area. Far more clear
than, say, the path from Miranda to Baldy where we also got turned
around for a couple hundred yards a couple of times. (Our Guide was
great, she let us get lost and found on our own, as did our guide in 2006)

John is correct, beyond that 100 yards you would probably be
bushwhacking the trail as it was not hard to tell the difference between
an old fire trail and something that has had many thousands of boots on
it since 2002.

John is also correct in that the wind blows thru the area creating what
sounds that could be mistaken for voices. We know there were four crews
on the Ranch that week and we saw the Austin Crew later that day. The
Ohio crew was at Baldy and the Dallas crew was probably at St. James
watching the football game<grin>. There were also some bear hunters so
maybe they had wandered to that area, none of us will ever know.

This was the first time I had really hiked thru a heavily burned out
area and I am grateful for the experience. Especially compared to the
contrast of those ares that had not been burned. If you are lucky
enough to hike this segment you should look on it as a positive thing
and help those who see otherwise what a treat they are getting.

Yep, this does mean that you may have to shape the youth's opinions a
bit if they don't see it this way. I do not think this is a bad thing.

Mark

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Received on Fri Oct 19 14:55:04 2007