Day 11, Saturday August 30, 2004, book days 51-56: We headed out this morning with high hopes after yesterdays trail problems. The trail left the pavement a few miles south of Cuba and it was a pretty well maintained dirt road except for the deeper loose sand at times but we could still run a good speed. The road dipped down into ravines occasionally and crossed dry riverbeds, which would be dangerous in a heavy rainstorm. This part of the ride was what I imagined for New Mexico with views of distant mountains with lots of tumbleweeds and cactus.
Mark's Pics 1681,1683, Kens 467
We passed the designated hunters camp, where a few had trailers setup. The road became much rougher as it started to climb into the pinion trees. We get a couple of miles before we come to a forest service gate that's locked! Damn! A sign says that the road is closed, so we turn around and check if there is an alternative to backtracking 60 miles.
Kens 469, Bill's 123
Mark & Bill, what now? Backtrack I
guess!
It looks like we can backtrack about 25 miles to a dirt road that heads north thru the Indian Reservation to SR 197. We start off and Bill sees another road on his GPS, so he takes the lead. It leads us through many cattle crossings and 10 or so gate openings and the sand is getting pretty tough.
Ken's Pics 471, Mark's
1684,1685
Mark & Bill deciding rather we're having fun
yet!
Mark's leading using his GPS.
Mark goes down in the deep sand but isn't hurt. I get out of the track and hit deep sand in the middle causing me to slide it sideways and then back sideways before I regain control. Wow, sweaty armpits now! That would have hurt and probably damaged the bike real bad since I was doing 50! The GPS says the road connects but it doesn't so we keep on going in a circle and eventually get back to the road we came in on. We locate the road thru the Indian Reservation and ride it up to pavement. We ride a few miles and pull into a gas station on the reservation, since we've already gone over 120 miles and we're only about 10 miles out of Cuba, where we started!
The ride down SR 197 and 509 into Grants crossed the continental divide twice but wasn't very scenic at all. It was basically all high plateaus with rolling rangeland. We gassed up in Grants again since it's the last gas before Silver City, which is 262 miles away.
After leaving Grants, we decide to stop at the local ranger station to find out if any more roads might be closed along the route. The helpful ranger did not think so, which did make us feel better. This area is very unique, on the west side of the road was ancient lavascapes and on the east side was awesome rock formations. We stopped at the natural bridge formation and took some pictures.
Ken's Pics 472, 473
The next 42 miles is a mix of ranch lands with lots of windmills and rolling hills of pinon and other pine like trees. The dirt road was very well maintained along this stretch and we could travel at 50+ mph. We stopped at Pie town to get a pie, but alas, the store was closed. Next time!
Mark's Pic 1693
The next 30-mile section of the trail to our campsite at
Valle Vences was gorgeous. The road was
a mix of gravel and dirt but very hard packed.
It ran along several creeks and did climbed up and down in some
beautiful forests. We were over 8,000
ft the whole time and it was getting late and a little chilly. We finally got to our campsite around 7:30
pm and setup our tents. We had a
fantastic night up there that night. I
wish we had planned our stops so we could have camped more often! Next time!
Bill's Pic 062
Day 12, August 31, 2004, book days 57 & 62: It was a gorgeous morning and not freezing when we packed up, unlike the Leadville, Co. campground. We headed out through the forest on a well-maintained dirt road coming down from the Mangas Mountain area where we camped. Crossing paved Hwy 12, we kept going on through to the Plains of San Agustin and the Gila National Forest. It started out through this really cool narrow canyon along a creek, and then it opened up into an almost flat valley with some really rutted roads. Rain would have made it impassable. In this area we have to spread out quite a bit due to dust. This can cause problems like when I took the proper fork in the road, Bill and Mark took another, because they couldn't see me anymore!
Mark's Pics 1698, Ken's Pics 474,475
Mark & Bill checking out our rock
formation.
After Collins Park, the trail starts climbing and we cross the divide again at 7,670 ft. It continues up and down the mountains and after 35 miles we head down to a beautiful lake with a really nice campground. This would be a nice place to spend a few days.
Ken's Pic 476, Mark's Pic
1699
The next 17 miles are very scenic and fairly easy until you get to Black Canyon, where the trail becomes more difficult, but that wasn't half as bad as leaving Black Canyon! The road is very steep and twisty with loose rocks and lots of washouts. You can see that a grader has tried to repair some of the major washouts. What a job that must be! I almost fell in a couple of turns in 1st gear due to how tight they were with loose rock.
Coming down the backside of these mountains we crossed several streams that just ran across the road. We did 5 or 6 water crossing on the main trail! I guess they don't believe in culverts in NM. I was going a little too fast on one of the downhill sections where the grader had recently spread some gravel. I got caught in the deep gravel and it pushed me into the graded ditch on the left at the bottom of the hill. The bike decided to try jumping the back of the ditch with me on it! I found myself in the middle of a field filled with boulders and two graders. I managed to miss all of those things and stay upright, so I decided to stop and take a breather. When they got down, Bill and Mark looked a little confused seeing me in the field. I don't think they wanted to follow either.
We did stop at the top to take some pictures of what lay ahead.
Ken's Pic 477
A few miles after Black Canyon we cross the divide again and actually ride down it for a few miles. The rest of the way into Silver City was well-maintained dirt roads and we made good time. I ran out of gas just before we got into town so I finally got to use my 1-gallon can I'd carried since Montana.
After gassing up, it was about 2:00 so lunch at subway was the choice. At lunch we discussed the possibility of getting into deep sand and getting into a bad storm that seemed to be chasing us down, but we pressed on anyway. We checked the book and the maps and decided to make the run to Mexico today! A few miles of pavement and then were back on dirt. We crossed a few dry streambeds and the trail was starting to become less maintained and the storm was almost on us, so I stop to talk to Bill and Mark about it. Bill goes flying by me with a big grin on his face and only gets about 100 feet before he wipes out in the deep sand. He twisted his knee and ankle pretty good but didn't hurt the bike. We all agree, lets get the hell out of here! We backtrack the 5 miles or so out to the pavement and stop to air up the tires when it starts raining. The storm moved into the area we just left and started pouring. If we had kept going, we would have stuck in there for several days!
Ken's Pic, 478, Mark's Pic 1700
Bill trying to get out of the deep
stuff.
We headed down the pavement to Lordsburg and then onto I-10 to the turnoff for Antelope Wells. The only town on this entire road, all the way into Mexico somewhere, is Hachita, which is where we got gas.
Ken's Pic, 479
We saw signs after we turned off I-10 saying the border closes at 5:00 and about 5:15 two border patrol cars pass us. I'm sure they're wondering where were going! The views were really different from what we're used to. Large cactus and tumbleweeds and a few cows here and there, but off in the distance, mountains on both sides.
Mark's Pics 1704,1707,1708, Ken's Pic
480
Here comes the storm.
We make it to the border and stop and take our pictures. I was hoping for a store or bar so I could sit down and have a celebratory Cervesa, but know such luck!
Ken's Pic 484,Mark's Pic 1714, Bill's
Pics 059, 093
Mark & Bill at the border.
The three Amigos at the border! We did
it!!!!!
Mark's Pics, 1717,1719
Will we beat the rain?
Watch out for the flying
tumbleweeds!
We finally stopped at a motel in Deming after a 385 mile day
and had a good dinner and a few Cervesas to celebrate. WE DID IT!