The Happy Hiker: Taking on the mighty Crest Trail

Editor’s note: This is part one of a two part column series on hiking the Crest Trail.

When serious hikers and backpackers visit Happy Hiker Ruidoso, the first question is usually, have you hiked the Crest Trail? My answer used to be, well, most of it, in sections.

I could always see the disappointment on their faces. So, I traded Anna workdays. I get to hike the Crest Trail for two days and she gets the weekend off to visit grandkids. Win-win baby.

Anna is my Trail Angel. She keeps me from wandering off the trail and is an accurate gauge for dangerous weather. I could see a small bit of concern on her face when she dropped me off on the Crest T25 Trailhead at Monjeau Peak. I was not concerned as I headed into the wilderness with a full backpack including a map, compass and rain gear.

Anna’s trail angel duties were half done. The next day after work, the plan was for Anna to pick me up at the end of my 22 mile adventure at Nogal Peak.

As always, I was excited in anticipation of my adventure. Secretly, I was hoping not to get soaked by rain or get lost when I started to daydreaming. There was a chance of scattered thunderstorms and sometimes I get lost walking to my car in the Albertson’s parking lot.

The first six miles went by fast. I had my backpack positioned correctly on my hips and shoulders, everything felt good. I started doing the hiking math in my head… I was going to finish the Crest Trail in one day and camp in the Nogal Peak area. The next morning I would call at 7 a.m. for my trail angel pickup. I was going to be Superman and even help Anna in the store after my 22 mile hike. Anna would be so impressed.

This dream of being a superhero hiker ended quickly.

The first of my three misadventures started when I saw a cairn with a red painted object on the top. The red cairn was where T25 meets a spring and I wrongly followed my trail instincts. I mistakenly hiked to the cairn instead of hiking on the muddy path. The small trail then led to nothing but downed trees.

I could have returned to the red cairn but I saw what I thought was the Chino Ski Slope. I love Chino when on skis so I crawled over a few more trees and hit the slopes. The problem was it was not Chino but Moonshine Ski Trail. I was at the bottom of the mountain not the top. I checked my hiking app to find the shortest distance to Crest Trail. My phone was at 10 percent battery life left. I turned my phone off to save the battery for my pick-up call then headed up Moonshine Ski Trail.

After accomplishing Moonshine and about half way up Chino I spotted the unmapped Ice Spring Trail that led to Lookout Trail and back to Crest Trail. I was back on course but my legs paid the price of my hike up two ski slopes. I realized at that time, the red marker on the cairn meant – do not go here.

The second misadventure was about two miles before White Horse Hill. The grass was down on the trail and then the trail turned to rock. I had lost my way.

I grabbed my “Ruidoso Area Trail Map” and decided that the trail goes around the smaller peak. I deducted that all I needed to do is keep the mountain on my right side. I backcountry hiked and found the trail on the front side of the mountain and all was well again… except my backpack was starting to get heavy. I was around 10 miles into my adventure.

The last misadventure of the day happened because I was loving the trail and daydreaming. After White Horse Hill, there were serious switchbacks on the trail map. When I started the first switchback, I did not turn but just wandered on a game trail into the wilderness to the next mountain. I looked back and noticed the switchbacks were where I was 20 minutes ago. I had to scamper down the mountain to get back on the trail only to head back up to the next ridge.

My Trail Angel Anna would have caught the trail error immediately. My legs were starting to burn with each step.

Despite a few missteps and some added miles to my journey, I was still thrilled to be on Crest Trail. I was very happy. At this point on the trail, I had stirred up four gangs of elk, two herds of mule deer and hundreds of birds. For those that do not know me, I am a bird expert. I spotted ten blue mountain wobblers, four hairy chested woodpeckers, nine golden-throated humming birds and at least a dozen green tuft wrens.

My favorite species are the ground nesting wholly cow birds. Wholly cow birds are those birds that lay right next to the trail and fly up right before you step on them and you yell, Wholly Cow. As you can tell by now, I am not a birder. I am trying to impress Anna that I noticed the many colorful birds on the mountains.

I also spotted the very rare wholly cow deer. As I was trekking through the backcountry, I almost stepped on a wholly cow baby deer.

As I got closer to the Argentina and Crest Trail intersection for my evening campsite, I noticed a storm brewing. My observation was it was a very angry storm. Even with close to 17 miles on my Lems Boulder Boots, I quickened my pace.

I wanted to get my tent set up before the storm arrived.

Rich and Anna Dozier love an adventure. Rich adores Anna. They learned early in their marriage that life is a journey. As a couple; they have hiked, biked, RV'd, camped and played in most of the western region of the United States. They also have had escapades in eight different countries. Ruidoso, New Mexico is their favorite place in the entire world so they settled down and opened Happy Hiker Ruidoso.

1st pic - Waiting for the storm on Crest Trail. (Rich)

2nd - The start of Crest Trail at Monjeau Peak. (Rich)