Re: No back path . . .

IanLK Wrote:
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> . . . Where the old highway meets 17 up by
> the pass there's also a RG NF trailhead . . .

That's the beginning of the moderately steep trail – with several zig-zags – that gets you close to the top of the ridge where it's pretty much open ground over to the edge of the rocky cliff we NGDF'ers have come to know as "Roger's Rock".

Kevin Gilliam Wrote:
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> When I made an ultimately futile hike towards that
> spot waiting for the Eureka / Glenbrook (great plan,
> or so I thought), there were some people up at the
> rocks and it appeared that they came in from the
> back side — as in hiking from a spot closer to
> Cumbres station.  Is there a second path to the
> rock?  They disappeared over the ridge and did
> not come down the trail.


Hi, Kevin -

SFAIK there's only the one established trail — it's part of the "Continental Divide Trail" system that runs from Canada to Mexico, even though the actual Divide at this latitude is out on the flats a few miles west of Chama.  As I recall the forest is not extremely dense between the top of Cumbres Pass and Roger's Rock, but a direct hike from the grade crossing would involve almost as much elevation gain (about 400 feet) as following the zig-zags (roughly 500 feet), but without the benefit of a clear and well-maintained trail.  Here's Ernie Robart's topographic map of the area circa 1965, about ten years before the trail was established and several decades before the overlook was given its NGDF nickname:


Note that the red "X" marking the overlook has been added recently, and is not part of Ernie's original drawing.

- El Abuelo Histœrico, Greengo y Curmudgeoño de los Locomoturas Viejos y Verdes,
aka Der Grossväterlich DünkelOlivGrünDampfKesselMantelLiebHabender



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2022 09:38PM by Russo Loco.