We switched to Cloudcroft 2 wks ago after seeing the Ruidoso fire from Alamogordo. The Rim Trail is really the only game in town; it's multiuse but all we saw were mountain bikers. Mostly good looking female mountain bikers (at least when we hiked it, but we had some good karma going). There's some other views but most of the time you are in the forest.
General layout: Generally north-south but the trail goes back and forth, with some vistas, then plunge into the forest again. What you measure in road mileage shuttling vehicles or caching water – just double it plus for trail miles. A guidebook divides it into 4 segments which translate to 4 high mileage days (10-12 mod or so). The guidebook does not have up to date road junctions though.
Water: None but plenty of opportunities to cache at road junctions. Maybe the monsoon season will cause some streams to fill but prep a cache plan.
Navigation: The main road (and some FS dirt rosds) can act as a handrail and at a few points you come into view with it. It can lead to a false sense of security though as they have new designations. If using a GPS, wait till the waypoint to your water cache is loaded before moving (our navigator got a wrong waypoint to our shuttle vehicle. I'll try posting some pics later but taking a break from work.
