UNDER CONSTRUCTION

2014 NEW MEXICO ROAD TRIP March 23-April 2, 2014

With absolutely no one coming forward to hike, climb, ski, or even travel with me, I figured to use my car on this near 4,000 mile road trip. My thought for some exploration, aside from climbing peaks, is to travel about the scenic Pacific West. I have least visited New Mexico, so this had to be remedied. Now having driven over all of the major, paved highway crossings of the Pacific Crest, being the Cascades, Sierra, and Desert, it was my idea to complete driving the major, paved highways over the Continental Divide, within the United States. Though I am not willing to hike either the entire Pacific Crest Trail or the Continental Divide Trail, both long, lonely, and arduous efforts, I can still see the high country that these national trails pass through.

I had done slight research on the Net, and found nothing, in short searching, of anyone who has posted this accomplishment. I couldn’t even find any list of the passes, or hardly even a good map of the Continental Divide. Having my 2007 AAA map, I determined that it was doable, and not that hard. I have already done a few in New Mexico, so I’d start south and work north. Plotting a route, it seemed to cover a lot of territory, passing by many high peaks, of which I’d snap photos. With no time to do a great job in mapping the crossings, I had to rely on my auto club road map. I knew that it wasn’t that accurate, with non-existent peaks, used by the founder of the hiking club peak section, way back in the 1970’s. But it was the only sufficient map that I had of the crossings, usually good on roads.

So, for fun, I’d drive out to the Southwest, then to do video and photography, and record in HD for anyone interested and enabled. As with my peak bagging, someone may come forward to do a better job, as I didn’t fully record all of my pass crossings, due to the makeshift system that I was using. Super if someone does this all in 4K, and professionally done, or much better than with me!

March 23, 2014: Interstate 5 to 7th Standard Road, to U.S. 99, CA 58 to Barstow, CA
March 24, 2014: CA 247 to Joshua Tree National Park, then Interstate 10 to Willcox, AZ
March 25, 2014: Interstate 10 to NM 338, NM 9, side trip north on NM 113, back to 9, north on NM 146, jog east on Interstate 10, north on NM 90, jog west on U.S. 180, north on NM 15, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, southeast on NM 35, east on NM 152, north on Interstate 25 to Truth or Consequences, NM
March 26, 2014: East on NM 52/NM 59, back to Interstate 25 north, west on U.S. 60 to Pie Town, NM, back east to NM 12 west, north on NM 32, then NM 36/NM 602 to Gallup, NM
March 27, 2014: East on Interstate 40, north on NM 371, east on Navajo 9/NM 197, jog northwest on U.S. 550, back to NM 96 north, then jog on NM 595, to NM 96/U.S. 84 to Espanola, NM
March 28, 2014: South on U.S. 84/U.S. 285 to Interstate 25 west, north over the Mariani Lake Road, Pyramid Rock (7,470’), Petrified Forest National Park, to Flagstaff, AZ
March 29, 2014: Elden Lookout Trail (9,287’)
March 30, 2014: Slate Mountain (8,215’)
March 31, 2014: U.S. 89 to AZ 64 to Grand Canyon National Park, south on U.S. 180/AZ 64, Interstate 40 to U.S. 93 to Las Vegas, NV
April 1, 2014: Las Vegas Strip
April 2, 2014: Home by I-15/CA 58/U.S.99/7th Standard Road/Interstate 5 north

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