Headed to Gallina for Letterboxes

I have been having clues for three boxes in the Gallina area since last summer. We had tried to go then but the forest was closed at the time due to high fire danger and then after they reopened the forest we never found the time to get out there. So, we decided today was the day. We headed out around 8:00am and the drive took two hours. We arrived at mile marker 23 on NM96 just outside of Gallina and turned onto FR103. The clue told us to look for where the Continental Divide Trail crossed FR103. On our first pass we missed the trail and drove about five miles along the road never seeing a CDT sign. So we turned around and only a short distance from NM96 we found the trail. The sign was more on the side of the tree and we missed it from the direction we were heading at first but it was easily seen from our return direction. So we parked on the side of the road and followed the clues heading east on the trail.then the clue says "Cross an old dirt road, down and up 2 hills, and through a stile marked with a CDT tag. Cross 2 old dirt roads, down a hill then back up, past a large rock with an interesting cut out. Continue on, eventually walking down a rock path into the canyon. Pass the giant name rock and find the 6th stone cairn." It didn't give any distances. We ended up walking about two miles before we got to the 6th cairn. Thankfully, the trail is pretty level with only a few ups and downs that weren't that bad. Once at the 6th cairn it became a little cofusing. From here we had to take compass readings and steps four different times to get to the box. At first we weren't all that accurate because we were no where around the box. But we looked all the same. Then we returned to the cairn and started again. This time we were closer but still not where we needed to be. But instead of starting over we just decided to look at the picture provided and see if we could line up at the same angle - we did it and found NM Moose by Dragon D's. I sat and stamped in and the weather took a turn for the worse. The wind started blowing and clouds moved in fast. So I got the box back in place and we returned to the trail and headed back to the car. Remember, we have two miles to walk to get to the car. About five minutes into our walk it started to spritz, then that eventually turned into a steady drizzle. By the time we got to the car we were wet, not soaking, but still wet. Thankfully, the worst of the rain waited until we were in the car.

So we decided that this was the end of letterboxing for the day and we would come back in a few days. It ended up raining the entire way home. But we were still glad we got out and did a little hike. The area is beautiful and we are looking forward to finding the other boxes and seeing more of Gallina.