John Canfield
Site Team
My plan for Saturday was an 'easy' trail after doing three hard-rated trails for previous three days - not bragging but a moderate-rated trail for me now is fun without too much excitement, so I signed up for the Dona Ana - Moderate trail. There is a Dona Ana Hard where the added 'fun' is a very steep long descent called the "Alpine Slide." Our trail leader said the Dona Ana trail is one of the most dangerous in the area (Hmmm.)
To my surprise the very first part of the trail was a fairly long and steep climb, after we got to the top of the ridge we waited and waited. I walked back to see what was going on and there was a Suzuki Samurai at the base of the hill that could not make the climb. The trail leader decided if this guy couldn't make the climb, then he would not be safe on the rest of the trail so the tailgunner was going to take him around to do the easier parts.
Then a short while later was a fairly steep off-camber tight descending turn to the left that our trail leader spotted everybody through - I was grateful for the good spotting. I have a great dash cam video of this that I'll get up asap.
Running this trail kept me on my toes and paying attention for a good part of the day - we had steep climbs and descents and a little shelf to climbon up on a long steep grade here and there. The trail reminded me a bunch of the Fins 'n Things trail in Moab where you are going up and down hills and riding the ridges.
In spite of the extra excitement I wasn't expecting, it was a very fun day with the very best trail leader we've had at the 2013 CC - thank goodness for the good spotting, especially for that first tricky spot.
To my surprise the very first part of the trail was a fairly long and steep climb, after we got to the top of the ridge we waited and waited. I walked back to see what was going on and there was a Suzuki Samurai at the base of the hill that could not make the climb. The trail leader decided if this guy couldn't make the climb, then he would not be safe on the rest of the trail so the tailgunner was going to take him around to do the easier parts.
Then a short while later was a fairly steep off-camber tight descending turn to the left that our trail leader spotted everybody through - I was grateful for the good spotting. I have a great dash cam video of this that I'll get up asap.
Running this trail kept me on my toes and paying attention for a good part of the day - we had steep climbs and descents and a little shelf to climb
In spite of the extra excitement I wasn't expecting, it was a very fun day with the very best trail leader we've had at the 2013 CC - thank goodness for the good spotting, especially for that first tricky spot.