Alchemist2000

I saw the request for info about Rancherias Trail in another post. Rather than hijack that thread, I thought I would ressurect this old thread and hope some of you experienced with the Rancherias Trail would chime in. We are contemplating a possible trip out there over spring break. I contacted the leader of the group from the Dallas Sierra Club (I am not a member and do not know any of them personally) that did the Rancherias Trail hike over Thanksgiving. He thought that the hike would be too hot over spring break (mid-March) since there is so little shade. Any thoughts from those of you that have done this hike? I was also anxious to know how it compared physically to something like South Rim in Big Bend. We enjoyed that trip tremendously, but I wasn't in as good a shape as I should have been. Finally, where do you go for good topo maps of a hike like this? I have the topo maps that go with MapSource (for my Garmin gps), but I don't think they are detailed enough for this type of hike with a trail that is apparently not very easy to follow.