Forest Trail 71 to Goat Spring- Lincoln National Forest

 After lunch, to get out of the heat and the wind we headed up to the Lincoln National Forest to do a short hike on FT 71.  Be forewarned, Forest Road 441 gets very rough, very quickly after leaving the O-Bar-O Ranch and entering National Forest land. It does smooth over and level out at the beautiful upland meadow where trail FT 71 and FT 74 ( Johnnie Canyon) both begin. We did the Johnnie Canyon hike a few years ago, having to turn around short of making it to the top of Carrizo Mountain.

 It was little difficult finding the Trail 71 continuation after leaving the clearing. But it is there, across the creek,  and once we did, it was easy to follow the entire way despite seeing very little use and with  the occasional downfall to contend with. There was a little  water in the stream early on just below a rocky, but currently dry waterfall. Wetter than average years it would be a sweet sight.
 The trail then climbs steeply above the creek bed. It  eventually comes back down to the stream and then follows along, crossing back forth a few times. Intermittent water cropped up in a few spots. Doug firs covered the north facing hillsides, while on the south facing sides were alligator junipers and piñons.
 Gambel oaks, yet to leaf out, lined the trail as we went higher.  I reached out to greet the few grandaddy ponderosas and white pines that we met along the way. There was running water right where the trail left to go high above the creek again, and I thought if I just stayed in the now boulder filled water course, it would be a shortcut to Goat Spring, our destination. It was a little too rough for everyone to follow, so we backtracked. Seamus and I did follow the trail to the spring and then quickly turned around.

 We had seen bear scat and tracks in the  dried mud, so we were conscious of getting back before the sun got too low in the sky. There are some interesting alcoves and overhangs in the gold colored cliffs on the north side of the trail, that I looked longingly at, wanting to investigate, but there just wasn't enough daylight. This was a nice little hike, which we devised using the first leg of the Tucson Mountain hike in Laurence Parent's Hiking New Mexico. It certainly accomplished getting us out of the wind and heat in a lovely setting.