Went to the Rio Puerco to hike with Jay and Nancy, her first visit to Tapia Canyon. From the large number of visits t0 my previous posts for Tapia Canyon, this is a popular destination.
The Drive In
Not much to add this trip to the description on my most recent visit to Tapia Canyon, Tapia Canyon Hike – 04/06/2020. See the Photo Galleries below for photos and comments on our drive in this trip.
The Hike
Notes about the Google Earth screenshot: the graph at the bottom shows elevation of the track (pink area) and speed (the blue line).
Descriptions from our previous hikes tell much the same story as for this hike. Tapia Canyon Hike – 04/06/2020 provides a good description overall, including the .gps track. And an earlier hike with Jay, Tapia Canyon & Tower Ruins Hike – 11/19/2016 (with .gpss track) describes the climb out of the canyon to see the Tower Ruins. (Note: Now I prefer to refer to “Ruins” as the “Tower Ceremonial Site”. The area is closed to the public for 2 weeks 4 times per year for “.. sacred native American traditional activities”. And there is little evidence typical of ruins at other sites that I’ve visited.)
An update, tho’, about the climb out: during this hike I had forgotten about the steps Jay and I found back in 2016. Jay had a clear memory of them, but not where they were located. As we hiked down-canyon we scrutinized the right-hand wall looking for something we recognized. Almost to the point of giving up, we checked one more suspicious break in the wall, and behind a couple of juniper trees were those footsteps (or footholds). Adding to our previous visit: this time we noticed some amazing petroglyphs on the wall at the bottom of the steps and more at the top.
So up onto the mesa we went, looked at the block building and kiva circles of rocks, then continued on to an easy descent back into the canyon.
Jay here: Funny (or not) how the memory is either crystal clear or hazy. In the case of the foothold path up to the mesa and the Tower, I remembered very specific details about the route but not how far back up the canyon it was from the arch. Only that it was on the right side of the canyon and that it was obscured somewhat by vegetation. Once you got close to the canyon wall, the route was obvious. Perseverance paid off and the path looked exactly as I remembered.
Statistics
Total Distance: 5.65 miles
Elevation: start 5,959 ft, maximum 6,168 ft, minimum 5,929 ft
Gross gain: 239 ft. Aggregate ascending 753 ft, descending 753 ft
Maximum slope: 29% ascending, 25% descending, 3.6% average
Duration: 4:10
| GPS Track Files for Download | |
84 Downloads | |
|---|---|
87 Downloads | |
If you haven’t explored these hiking tracks with Google Earth, I urge you to try it. With the virtual 3-dimensional presentation, achieved by panning and tilting the view, you can get a much better idea of the hikes and terrain than you can get from the screenshot above. For some ideas, check out Using Google Earth Track Files.
Related Posts
Tapia Canyon Hike – 04/06/2020
Tapia Canyon & Tower Ruins Hike – 11/19/2016
References and Resources
See the other Related Posts.
The next gallery are a few of the photos of petroglyph panels that I took during this visit. Check to other posts for other photos of these and other panels.
Once atop the ridge, we had marvelous views, east to the Sandia Mountains and west across Dragon’s Back itself to Cabezon beyond. From reconnoitering on GoogleEarth, we planned to take the loop clockwise so as to -descend- on the steepest section of the trail.
Thus we turned left (west) atop this mesa, then to descend on what a sign identified as the “Spine”. We shortly encountered a steep descent through a cleft in rocks. Then we continued on to the spine. And a spine it was, a narrow ridge (<20′ wide), descending gradually at first.
The soil is such that when wet, it becomes very slippery. To make the descent safe, we squatted, braced ourselves on the edges of the “trail”, and duck-walked down. With the weight of my pack, I was comfortable only by sitting down and working my way down a foot or two at a time.
Once we were down into the canyon, the trail was smooth and level – for 300 yards or so. We then began a climb up on the ridge that splits the middle of the canyon. Up on the ridge we had a great view of the length of Dragon’s Back, with Cabezon on the horizon beyond. Along the way we came upon one of the many springs that dot this area, surrounded by a mound of gypsum that continued downhill, from years (decades?) of evaporation of the spring water. I was curious, thinking maybe the water was warm – nope, it was cool.
We continued north on this ridge until our planned turn-around point. Before heading back towards the trailhead, we went a bit further to show Nancy & Jay the big hole Pat & I had discovered on our earlier hike (
The route back started on a two-track which we followed for about 3/4 mile, at which point we took the bike trail to the right. That went well, easy to follow and an easy surface. The views to the west across the canyon were studding, with many variations of red, white, yellow, even some bluish tints in the canyon walls, punctuated by snow in shaded areas. Continuing to follow the GAIA track of the bike trail, once atop the ridge we came to a Y junction; we chose the one to the left that followed the GAIA track. 
Some 300 yards on we encountered a -very narrow- section with a steep slope falling off to the right, and a sign that warned that it was a dangerous route – it was too risky for us. And it is hard for us to imagine that people would take that narrow trail on mountain bikes. So we retraced our steps to the Y junction and took the other leg that took us back to the top of the narrow ravine that we climbed through on our way from the trailhead.
We considered descending that ravine, but chose instead to continue west on the bike trail, then pick up the 2-track that would take us to Cabezon Road, then a third of a mile to the trailhead. ‘Twas a good choice to finish what had been a challenging adventure, an easy downhill trek, then head to Bernalillo and a beer at Bosque Brewing.
