2024 goals retrospective

Drafted Dec 5, 2024, finalized/updated/rewritten Jan 6, 2025. The plan for 2024 goals is here.

We are close enough to the end of the year for me to do a retrospective. This shouldn’t be long, but it actually was an active year, at least compared to the prior five years when I was supporting my mother through my father’s dementia. That phase of life has passed, fortunately, and while I got far more consumed by my business than I wanted to this year, quite a lot still got done.

The most notable thing is just the time I got on trail. I did not cover all of the route of the thru-hike this year, but I covered about 90% of it — everything except for the section from Ripley point down into Agua Piedra, and the Lake Katherine area from Puerto Nambe to Winsor Creek. All that trail time was documented; mapped in Gaia on my phone and on my Garmin. I also took more than 5,000 photographs, and that is a conservative estimate.

Another major win was confirming “The Corridor” — a forest track in Carson that goes from FR 440 to FR 438 (also known as Diablo Canyon… the Taos Diablo Canyon). This little 4-mile section only existed on The National Map, but it is absolutely lovely. Ample water, great big healthy forest, good trail minus a few blowdowns, and almost undisturbed. Walking it for the first time was magic — it was exactly the sort of amazement and adventure and beauty that pulls me back to this project over and over and over again.

Another big win, route-wise, was finally recognizing the obvious: That going up Tesuque Creek Trail and then over Tesuque Peak, Deception, Lake and Penitente Peak, then down into Puerto Nambe is a super-cool alternate to getting mowed down by a mountain bike on Winsor Trail below the Ski Basin and the Norski trail. Tragically, I did not get to do this loop (the weekend I could have done it there was paving up to the Ski Basin… I pushed the envelope a little trying to get through but eventually had to comply and turn back). But I did take the little trail up from Aspen Vista towards Tesuque Creek. It’s right along “Big” Tesuque Creek almost the entire way. It’s steep and rough trail, but it was neat to see “Big” Tesuque Creek at its origin, a mere six inches wide. I may list this “Big” Tesuque spur of the alternate route as an alternative alternate, because very few people are going to want to go up that way. Everyone is going to want to just go up via Aspen Vista “trail” (it’s actually a forest road) because that’s far easier and perhaps prettier and feels less like bushwhacking. Aspen Vista isn’t along water the whole way, but can remember at least two additional and reliable water sources on the way up past where Big Tesuque Trail crosses Aspen Vista. And, of course, there’s water at that intersection, too. 

Another significant route revelation was the Ojitos Trail near Drake Canyon in Taos. The original route of the thru-hike brought people up from Drake Canyon, then took them down into El Nogal via the South Boundary Trail. South Boundary Trail, if you did not know already, has become something of a destination for mountain bikers. I continue to work on appreciating and having positive feelings toward mountain bikers, but it is… something I continue to work on. But forget me – the real issue with it is that a mountain biker, coming down that trail, after not having to deal with hikers for miles (most of South Boundary is now exclusively for mountain bikers), could very easily crash into a nearly exhausted backpacker who might not be able to get out of the way fast enough due to muscle fatigue and their 35-40 lb pack. The trail down El Nogal is also not optimal. It’s not bad, but it’s enough that if you’re tired and have 40 lbs on your back, hiking poles would be a good idea. Coming down into El Nogal is also exposed to the sun, and hot. It’s just kind of a less-than-ideal situation all around.

Ojitos Trail solves a lot of that. It’s nice wide trail – wider than South Boundary coming down the hill, and much more shaded. There is no water (alas, as this section from Drake Canyon into El Nogal is the longest part of the thru-hike with no water), but the trail is much flatter and easier to walk on. It’s a gradual slope down. And while the mountain bikers can access it, there’s not anywhere near as many of them as on South Boundary. The trail is also wide enough that a mountain biker and a backpacker can pass each other easily; nobody is going to crash into you. Apparently there are also Forest Service plans to make Ojitos the go-to trail for hikers, and let South Boundary just be for mountain bikers. So me re-routing from South Boundary is just a good pre-emptive move.

There is also the issue of El Nogal. The road from El Nogal to Witt Road (Route 64, then Route 585) is fast. The thru-hike route, if you go on 64, is only 0.3 miles, but the shoulder is not great. I now have video of walking this section, both ways, and with good traffic, so you can see what it’s like to walk it when a 30 ft RV goes by. It’s not bad, and most people under 40 would probably just shrug and do it anyway, but as the Trail Steward or whatever, I do feel like it’s my responsibility to make this route as safe as possible. For every foot of the trail, I ask myself, “Can I take a dozen ten year olds on this? Could I do it myself, or with only one other adult?” You could take a group of kids along this part of the road, but it’s just really not ideal.

So I did find an alternate route. Or rather, I scouted at least six alternate routes, none of which are good, and picked the one that was the least bad. It starts from the intersection of South Boundary, “unmaintained trail” and the Ojitos El Nogal Connector (164B). It then follows a very well-worn track through an abandoned property, and pops out on 585. From there you just cross 585 and you’re on Witt Road. This alternate route is 0.5 miles. The route/trail it follows through abandoned property is also on several maps, making it thus “notorious” in the legal sense, which means there’s an implied easement. It’s not ideal, again, but it’s an option, and a good option. It’s the best option I have found after walking many other routes in this immediate area.

Another alternate route that I was dying to try but didn’t get to (due to our early snowfall) is the “442 Alternate“, or at least that’s what I’m calling it. It has two iterations at this point: One is shorter and takes people out on Trail 124. The other continues further on Trail 124 and takes people out along the idyllic-looking Palociento Creek. 

The purpose of this alt route is to reduce some of the distance on forest roads, and to fix the second-longest section of the thru-hike with no reliable water access. The alt route goes from the end of Trail 442 (about 1000 feet from Cerro del Oso) and then technically goes off trail for 3.66 miles until it reaches two ponds that are right next to each other. One is about 200 feet wide, the other about 300 feet wide. Then it goes down about 2000 feet to pick up Trail 124, heading northwest and continuing on to FR 439A. While the route is technically off trail for about 4 miles, it follows well-defined forest tracks in Carson that are easily visible on aerial/satellite map overlays. It also follows along the edge of a very large field for nearly two miles. I like this both because of the water availability, because of getting people off the road (though the road is very rarely traveled), because it’s got a much wilder and more restful and more beautiful feel, and because those two ponds would be such a lovely place to overnight, and without this route the overnight options in this stretch are sufficient, but not really nice. This little detour would make for a much more pleasant experience, basically. And the forest tracks are there. Basically the trail is there already. It’s not trail suited to bikes, probably, but that’s AOK with me. The bikes can take the road. The extended version of this alt route has people taking Trail 124 further east, then taking a right at Palociento Creek and following the creek north/northwest through 3 miles of “offtrail” forest tracks until they come out at the end of the Connector, about 300 feet short of Rita de la Olla and about 350 feet short of Forest “Road” (much more of a trail) 438. 

The last major route alteration is another thing I wasn’t able to get to. It’s at the Santa Barbara Divide. I actually went over the Divide this year, coming from Truchas Lakes over the Divide down into Santa Barbara. The trail on the north side of the divide (West Fork Trail 25) is steep and the trail is narrow. If you fell, you might well keep falling. I asked someone who went on this section what he thought of it, specifically with the “would you take a group of 10 year olds on that?” and he felt if they could get to it at all, they’d probably be okay. But keep in mind this is a 30 year old guy who can run 20 miles in a day, and who regularly does pretty serious, hard core technical mountain biking. Not somebody who’s got confidence issues. He was fine with it, but again… I worry. The trail down from the Divide also has a lot of downfall, and parts of it are in need of maintenance. It was bad enough to somewhat scare my husband, though his confidence on narrow, steep trail with nasty footing isn’t great. But again — really bad footing, steep unblocked fall, 40 lb pack, and muscles that are exhausted and clumsy… and you could have a situation.

An alternate route for this is to go past the Divide and stay on Skyline Trail (251) until it intersects with Pecos Trail (24) and MIddle Fork Trail (24). I have not been on this section of trail, though, so I don’t know if it’s worse than going down the north side of the Divide. I do know it crosses Rio Santa Barbara about a mile from the ridgeline, so there’s water. And I know that New Mexico Outdoor Volunteers did work on Middle Fork Trail this year. So I’m not sure about this alternate route, but I am very interested in it. East Fork Trail looks possibly even better. There are two small ponds about a mile off the ridgeline, probably within sight of the trail. These would be an ideal stopping point or a lovely place to sleep for the night.

I am also interested in this alternate route because you could stay on the ridgeline all the way to Jicarita Peak and over to Ripley Point (where you’d intersect with the current route of the thru-hike). This would be an epic route… but it’s just all ridgeline, so there are weather concerns. I thought the water situation was dicey until I found (and confirmed, via satellite overlay) a small pond 0.1 miles off the ridgeline, on Serpent Lake Trail (19) if you go east off the ridgeline about 1.5 miles south/southeast of Jicarita Peak. This means there’s water in two points – East Fork Trail and then the Serpent Lake Trail Pond. Those two points are 5.3 miles apart from each other. That’s close enough to resolve my concern about there not being “any” or enough water along the ridgeline. There is enough water from the ridgeline. 

I ran into a ridgeline runner up at Lake Johnson in October and we talked about this route, but before I knew about the Serpent Lake Trail Pond and the East Fork ponds. I believe his first name was Michael. He had the clever idea of attempting this while there was still a little snowpack left, so you could get water from the snowpack. It’s an excellent idea, but you’d have to time it right. Too much snow, and you’re in a potentially dangerous situation with ice on a steep trail. Too little snow would actually be the preferred thing.

Even if you were a trail runner trying to make great time, a 0.1 mile detour for the Serpent Lake Pond is no big deal. And this ridgeline would make for an incredible route. There are also two additional trails down that roll into Santa Barbara. So if you had to bail due to weather, you could.

So. Those are all the alternate routes and changed routes from 2024. I’m hoping this is all getting dialed in more and more, though I like trying things out. Having alternate routes is also good because it can reduce wear and tear on the forest; if even some of the population going on the thru hike decides to take a few alternate routes, those not-used sections of trail get a little rest. This is good trail management. It’s a way to be kinder to the forest.

So that’s about what I got done for the routes in 2024. Next? Media.

I did get detailed map sets made early this year. Those need to be updated again, just to make them better (add elevation lines, and all these new alt routes, for instance). But the section maps and the information packets did get created this year. That was big — the info packets work really well.

Another thing I did was get an upgraded camera. I got a good used Lumix g9, and I love it. It’s held up well, even when I fell on it once. It allows me to have very high resolution photos which will be great for the guidebook, posters, and other projects. I did also upgrade my phone to an Apple 13, so even my phone photos are now pretty good in terms of resolution.

I did also finally start posting to social media. Instagram and Facebook. I do this in fits and starts, but I got a bunch of posts and reels up and now that I’ve done it 30+ times, it’s easier.

Probably the biggest media thing I did this year was the REI talk. That was back in October, and it actually sold out. About 14 people showed up. The projector didnt work with my laptop, even after two REI people’s help. So I brought my husband’s projector in, which is a budget projector. It didn’t have enough lamp power to leave the lights on so people could at least follow along with the printed map sets I distributed, and the details the projector showed were not nearly what I needed to show maps. I made the best of it, and most everyone stayed through, but that was a disappointment. I have identified a better projector, and even found a nearly new one on eBay for $300. Haven’t gotten it yet, because I don’t have another talk lined up, but I should probably just get the one I found and have it on hand. I should do more talks. I picked up two people who said they wanted to volunteer just at that one REI talk. I’ll also know next time to have the slides be split, with a photo on one side and the map on the other side. Then a little inset map that shows where on the trail the inset map is from. People need that to orient.

I also learned that some people really do need very detailed tech support. I do need to get the trail info up on AllTrails. I have other detailed notes on what I’d do differently next time for a talk. One of those is having a helper. My phone decided to turn off during the presentation, so while I tried to record it, that failed, too. Technically, the talk was a bust. But I feel like I did okay. There was no hesitation or anxiety about talking in front of a group. That’s been a weird thing for a while. With my business, or personally, I am quiet and reserved. But the thru-hike lights me up so much I forget myself. I just dive in. It takes over.

I did do several other “presentations” that were one on one with people this year. More people are reaching out about the thru-hike, and so Zoom calls with Gaia up on the screen have worked really well. I enjoy these calls a lot. I love helping people plan their trips and to hear about where they’re going and to pick up information from them. But it’s also user research, and that is very interesting, too. 

It’s become quite clear this year that there are distinct user groups. There are the day hikers, who love the idea of a full thru-hike, but need a lot of confidence boosting and navigation and how-to support. Then there are the mountain bikers, who really aren’t my people, and tend to go a different route. They want speed, which is fine, but the route really isn’t for them. That said, I have better recommendations for them and a route for them. They aren’t happy on a lot of the trails, even if they can access them, because of downfall or steepness. Then there are the experienced backpackers and thru-hikers. They ask great questions – I learn maybe more from them than they learn from me. Most of them haven’t done the huge mega trails like the AT, but they have done other 100-500 mile thru-hikes. These are my people, really, though I really like the adventurous day hikers. The purpose of the SF2T as an organization is to give people a positive experience of the wilderness so they will take action to protect it. So being helpful to the day hikers, and to make the trail accessible (and safe… as safe as I can make it) is a major motivation.

This tips into another thing that came up this year: Trail guide applications. The forest service people were a little cool on my proposal to mark the route of the trail (and for very good reasons), but what they seemed especially supportive of was getting guide applications going for me. I got a live call/walk-through of the applications (which I took copious notes from, thankfully) and then had to put it aside because of work. There was just no scenario where I was going to be able to do guiding this summer; I was working 70-85 hours a week on my business, and had to be working that much. I am going to take another shot at the guide applications this winter. I have the medical chops to do it through my Wilderness First Responder certification, and I have done search and rescue, and I am alpha enough to lead a group. We’ll see where it goes. Part of me thinks it’s the most ridiculous idea ever, but I am also willing to just follow the breadcrumbs, ridiculous or not.

A lot of my other goals for the year were around outreach. As in outreach to people in the Santa Fe and Taos outdoors and tourism communities, and to other nonprofits. I did a little of this, but largely I failed. There just was no bandwidth whatsoever because of my business. Most of the spring, summer and the fall was just a white streak of impossible deadlines that I just barely made. Doing outreach for the thru-hike was not in the cards. The trail time I got in was in part because I needed that to stay sane and not melt down under pressure.

I do hope that next year business is not so all consuming. I think my husband hopes so, too. 🙂 I got through, and I learned a ton, and I did make some money, and I did produce a great book (especially given the insanely short time-frame we had to work with), but it came at a pretty severe cost. My health suffered due to the stress and the lack of exercise. My health is typically good… seeing a couple of routine tests come back with serious issues was disturbing. Again, I did the best I could, and I did okay, but I do not want to repeat that. Me not wanting to repeat that doesn’t mean it won’t happen, though. I’m just hoping a few new strategies I have will work out well enough so I at least don’t harm my health any more than I have.

Building an audience for the thru-hike also didn’t work out as well as it could have. I did get some of this done; just not done nearly as consistently and robustly as I needed to. One thing that did work really well was the video I made for the REI talk. I published it as a post, and then boosted the post. Got full-to-the-end views for 4 cents each. That’s 250 people watching a short video for $10. I have enough budget to do that once a week, or maybe even twice a week. If I can convert those views into email subscribers, that’s a decent start.

Nothing got done with selling merchandise on the site. That is another thing that just was not in the cards given my other work. It wouldn’t take a lot of time, and I could set it up pretty easily. And I did actually get bookbags, mugs, camp cups, bookmarks, postcards and notecards made. I didn’t sell them on the site, but I did get them made. That’s something. I’ve been doing the bookmarks for years. They work great. Would very much like to make a set of them, one for each section with a map on one side and a great photo on the other. I am also dying to make a yearly planner. I am just a little short on winter scenes, but I can fix that in the next few months.

One thing I did work on is the guidebook. This was often done in the wee hours of the night due to insomnia, but I know exactly what I want to do, how much it will cost. And as of this week, the guidebook is actually up on Amazon, available for pre-order as a Kindle book. It will also be available as a paperback. It will be published May 12th. That’s a reasonable deadline, but there’s no time to fuss around. If it launches on May 12, then I need copies in hand by April 12th. If I am going to get feedback from beta readers (and I am), then I need the manuscript to those beta readers two months prior, by February 12th. That gives me nine weeks to get the book through at least three drafts. It’s enough time, but as mentioned: It’s time to get to work.

I also completely failed to get the newsletter out, which bothers me no end, as doing newsletters is one of my superpowers. And I blew it with the Facebook group. That also stings.

It was a frenetic year. I have some modicum of peace knowing that I did the best I could with it. Actually, remembering what the deadlines and the weeks and months were like, I’m not sure how I pulled all this off.