As someone who has moved to Santa Fe relatively recently, it's hard for me to picture the city without the Dale Ball trails. It's not that these trails are immediately obvious to anyone passing through the area, but for a resident, and outdoor enthusiast, the trails are essential to the feeling of Santa Fe. A short distance from the heart of the city, you can meander up through juniper and pinon forest and eventually find yourself at scenic overlooks and hilltops, looking at over the city. The network branches out in a myriad of different directions, allowing one to wander away from the city, but always feel close to it as well, a wilderness escape in one's own backyard. I was surprised to learn that the trails were created only recently, between 2001-2005. I was even more surprised to learn a secret about the trails creation.
Anyone with a knack for journalism and research can find the story of how the Dale Ball trails came about. A particularly good story can be found in the Santa Fe Reporter from 2013. But it is harder to find any details about the secret... because as far as I can tell it was never publicized. I myself would never had known about it had I not a chance encounter with a hiker one day. It was a beautiful fall day and I had been hiking the Dale ball trails all morning. At a particularly nice spot, I stopped for a lunch break at a little rock outcropping. Another hiker was eating some trail mix nearby, an older lady, maybe in her early 70s, and we struck up a conversation. I had remarked about how lovely the trails were and how lucky Santa Fe residents were to have such a great system of trails right at their fingertips. She wholeheartedly agreed, and our conversation drifted to other wonderful hikes to be done in the area. Being new to town, I was eager to learn about the best trails to be hiked, and also the most obscure, ones that only the locals would know about. All you geocachers can understand this, exploring a new area is exciting, there is just so much to see and do, and I wanted to dive right in. We talked for what seemed like a long time and I must have mentioned geocaching, because soon we were talking about treasure hunts, or at least I was. She gave me a funny knowing smile as I went on about geocaching and looking for treasure that is hidden in everyday places, but that no one knows is even there. It was then that she told me that she had once been interested in treasure hunts too, back when she had helped create these very trails, and that the trail network themselves held a secret. And then she abruptly told me she had to get going, and turned to hike off.
As I hiked back to where I had parked, I could not help but think of her parting words. What secret could these trails possibly hold? Was that nice old woman referring to a hidden treasure, something akin to geocaching? I may not have given another thought if something hadn't caught my eye as I passed one of the many trail junction signs. There was a little something there that was tucked away so as not to be obvious, but looked like it was intentional. I got up close for inspection and saw the following little message: GC71H8P #20 CODE=DMYHFY. Obviously it was a clue to something, but there was no context for it whatsoever. And at once I thought back to the the woman's words. I took a quick snapshot of the clue I had found and once I got home started searching on line for a secret treasure located on the Dale Ball trails. I didn't find much, in fact I found basically nothing. The only mysterious aspect about the creation of the Dale Ball trails was that they were funded by an anonymous donor. Could that woman have been the donor? Was there a reason for her anonymity? And what in the world could that clue have meant? I have spent the last year thinking about this off an on, but so far have not been able to piece much together. But who know, maybe by posting this here, someone will be able to figure out what that woman was talking about, and see if there is any truth to the secret treasure of Dale Ball.