Tour Divide 2014 Day 2 CDT

Saturday morning, I woke up with cows grazing around me.  Packed it all up and headed into Silver City, past the Tyronne mine on pavement.  I ran into a cyclist at the first gas station that I came across and she recommended "Vickys" as a good breakfast place, so I headed there.  After breakfast, it was time to find some supplies and then head to Pinos Altos.  We get to make our second Continental Divide crossing right outside Pinos, and that was the last time my phone would work until I got to Grants, NM ( except for wi-fi in Pie Town ! )

Divide Crossing

Buckhorn doesn't open until 3 pm !  

 Got that last Coke and ice cream in Pinos and then up into the Gila National Forest.  After a few miles of forest road, the route connects with the Continental Divide Trail.  This was a pretty nice piece of singletrack, except for a few fallen trees.  The forest road had recently been graded to support the firefighting activity for the Signal Peak fire that happened in May, and it was loose and hard to ride on in several places.  I could see the tracks of the other riders before me, and at one place suddenly they turned around.  Zoomed in on my GPS and figured out that the trail was back a bit, and finally found it.  The CDT was fun to ride for the most part, with some interesting drop-offs in a place or two.  It finished at the Sapillo campground, and then I was on 35 for a little while until I turned onto FR150.

CDT was officially closed due to the Signal Peak fire

CDT Trail Markers and trail to the side

FR150 immediately started to climb and climb and climb, for about 6 or 7 miles. I stayed on it until sundown and then looked for a place to camp for the night.

Looking toward Mimbres from FR150

Darkness came and I lay on my back and watched the satellites go by.  Then I fell asleep.  A bit later, I was awoken by the sound of something moving, but it went away.  An hour or so later it came back, and in the moonlight of a near full moon, I could see a male deer and hear his hoofs on the ground.   He left and it was a good nights sleep.