Hiking the Deadman Peaks Trail on the Continental Divide Trail 3/18/2022

Jean R. led us on a great new hike. We did a portion of the Continental Divide Trail known as the Deadman Peaks. (And we think we discovered how it got its name--you have to view this blog to find out!)  It was absolutely beautiful as we saw hoodoos, beautiful colorful rocks, amazing rock formations, and great views of Cabezon, Cerros Colorados, Deadman Peak and a plethora of rocks that tempted everyone to add to their collections! Although those doing this hike usually do a loop (which meant we would return to the cars walking back on a road) our leader Jean R. made a great decision to do an in and out hike instead so the entire hike was far more interesting. We hiked ~ 4.5 miles with an elevation gain around 350 feet.

Off the dirt road that led to the Trailhead we had this nice spot to park the cars.  (The dirt road was incredibly smooth as it was recently graded)

The Hoofers: Rita, Annette, Jan, Julie, Sally, Tamara, Judi P., and our leader Jean R.

The Hoofers: this time Julie morphed into Rose... we are getting really good at this!

The trail took us past the Cerros Colorados peaks we just had to take a short walk along the road to get there

Heading to the trailhead

Turning off the road as we entered this section of the Continental Divide Trail

Notice the large cairn on the right the entire trail is marked with these easy to follow cairns

Off we go!

Practicing my over the shoulder shot at the rest of the group

I wasn't sure exactly where Deadman's Peak was... but seeing all those large rocks that had fallen off that ridge, and since they look like tombstones...I am going with this! (This is not the reason why we think it was called Deadman Peaks!  Keep reading!)

A beautiful day for hiking, and surprisingly it was not very windy

There was so much beautiful scenery to capture with my camera

And amazing colorful rocks

Climbing up the trail with a view of Cabezon in the distance

So many great views

That black cut is one of the many streams that were cut into the landscape from the mountains

Several more small canyons carved from the water coming down the mountains during times of no drought

The peak in the background is Cerros Colorados (7008 ft)

A nice chunk of volcanics mixed in with the sandstone in this cairn

A closeup... would have been tempted to take this home... but already have enough of this at home

This pretty pink rock also caught my eye, but saved that for future hikers to enjoy

Every once in awhile we would pass a juniper that met its fate by a bolt of lightning

My favorite rocks of all time. I call them nests, as they look like little rock nests... and usually you will find the little round stone that caused that round indentation

Could this possibly be how "nests" are formed?

What a treasure for any rock hound...

Like Annette! She was in seventh heaven!

We would have gone through this fence for a hike that would circle back to the cars.... but so glad Jean R. had better plans!

So we continued onward!

These clouds were formed by the winds high up in the atmosphere... I called them Angel Wings

Everyone was enjoying this hike

A fallen tree balanced on some rocks

So many different rocks and sandstone formations

Use the hikers for size comparison!  These are some huge boulders!

This sandstone has been carved by water or winds

Just a few more large boulders

Not sure how this one ended up in this position

Would be nice to have a geologist around to explain this formation

This could have been a cute face...back in the day

What a beautiful hike

I thought this would make a nice home for some critters

This brilliant yellow caught my eye

A few more trees that were struck by lightning

The whole group paused to look at the canyon below...and I notice Annette beginning to pose...which inspired me

Presenting the Happy Hoofer  Rockettes

So many different layers of rocks and sandstone

Some potholes that collect not only water, but rocks as well!

Now, this rock I would have taken home...but fortunately I left it for future hikers...it was way too heavy!

Even though there were lots of them all around!

Took this picture at lunch...more Angel Wings

Took only a few pictures of the Hoofers: Jean R., Jan, Annette and I believe that other white hat belongs to Julie

Rita and Judi P. having a deep conversation

Manage to get Sally in this group pic 

The reason I didn't get more Hoofer pictures... I was so enjoying the views

And this little critter which turned out to be just the outer shell of one

As I found out by trying to get different shots

And of course I was so preoccupied to get these pictures

So Annette figure out a way to get in a picture... she just loves to pose!

If you are into rocks... this would be your favorite hike!

So, one of the Hoofers noticed these black spots on the cliffs.  The consensus was that they are Bats.. And to me they look like pretty large bats.  I zoomed in to get this picture

Almost everyone tried to take that picture too!  As you can see in this picture, they were quite a distance from us at the top of that cliff.  

I took a picture of this rock on the way in...but missed the significance of it, so I had to take it again

Close up you can see it looks like a huge spine...could it possibly be a dinosaur fossil?  I think it is and I am sticking to it!

Heading back to the cars

So remember I told you that we figure out why they called this Deadman Peaks Trail.  Julie found this tee shirt...with a slew of bullet holes through it.  We place it next to a huge cairn so it would have a tombstone.

  However, the question came up...why was the shirt so clean with no trace of blood?  We discovered the answer later on in the hike.  Watch for it!

Just more views of this awesome hike!

I put a circle around our cars so that you could see where we had to go.  It came out rather faint, but the circle is just north and west of the center of the photo

A better picture of the tombstone-like rocks that have fallen off this cliff

Here is the answer to the tee shirt riddled with bullet holes and blood and how it got so clean.  Somehow the man  survived all those bullet holes and later washed his shirt as it was brand new and in spite of all the holes still worth wearing. He hung it up to dry on this rock by this clothespin.  But unfortunately it blew away never to be found until Julie spied it stuck on a plant.
The things you find on the trail!

The final trek to the cars

The following photos are from Julie 

Hoofers pause while Julie snaps a picture

This was once called balancing rock (LOL)

Group picture of our lunch spot

Close-up of the bullet riddled shirt that Juie found.  It was dirty from being blown around the desert for who knows how long!


The following photos are from Tamara

I didn't realize she was taking my picture

But now I did

Tamara's attempt at taking a picture of the Bats...she was further down the trail than I was and that tree was blocking her attempt


Tamara's GPS map of the hike.
It was a great hike and the weather was perfect.  Definitely a hike to keep for the future!