Bear Wallow-Winsor-Borrego Trails Hike – 09/02/2026

Another hot day at lower elevation. So like in previous hikes to these trails .. up Hyde Park road to the Borrego Trailhead and another “training hike” for our goal – to hike to Nambe Lake his fall.

The Drive In

The drive to the trailhead: from downtown Santa Fe, head out on Hyde Park Road (NM 475), 9 miles from the Santa Fe Plaza (by way of Washington Ave/Bishops Lodge Road, right/east on Artist Road, then continue onto Hyde Park Road). The trailhead will be on the left just beyond Hyde National State Park.

The Hike

Bear Wallow-Winsor-Borrego Trails Hike_Jay_2028-09-02
Notes about the Google Earth screenshot: the graph at the bottom shows elevation of the track (pink area) and speed (the blue line). Click on the image for a full-screen view.

Today we chose to do the loop clockwise. After the downhill on the Borrega trail, we took the left branch at the wye and continued downhill on Bear Wallow. The slope is moderate, continuous descent for the 1.5 miles down to Tesuque Creek (8,900 to 8,200 feet elevation). And it is a well used trail – wide enough to hike side-by-side and smooth for the most part.

From the junction with the Winsor Trail, we turned right to head up-creek alongside Tesuque Creek – ’twas nice to hear the running water in the creek. The ascent is steady (like coming down Bear Wallow), again generally smooth with just a few rock outcrops.

Highlight

Statistics

Total Distance: 4.24 miles
Elevation: start 6,882 ft, maximum 8,897 ft, minimum 8,205 ft
Gross gain: 692 ft. Aggregate ascending 1,263 ft, descending 1,266 ft
Maximum slope: 39% ascending, 35% descending, 9.5% average
Duration: 2:36, Average Speed: 1.6 mph, Shade: 75%

Bear Wallow-Winsor-Borrego Trails Hike_Jay_2028-09-02 (KML)	1 Download
GPS Track Files for Download
Bear Wallow-Winsor-Borrego Trails Hike_Jay_2028-09-02 (GPX)	1 Download
Bear Wallow-Winsor-Borrego Trails Hike_Jay_2028-09-02 (GAIA)	2 Downloads
If you haven’t explored these hiking tracks with Google Earth, give it a try. With the virtual 3-dimensional presentation, achieved by panning and tilting the view, you can get good idea of the hike and the terrain. For some ideas, check out Using Google Earth Track Files.