Returned again to the western area of the Ojito Wilderness, out Cabezon Road to the gas line pumping station, then right on Pipeline Road for about 2.4 miles.  This took us past the two-track turnoff at the corral (see Mesita de Ricardo Hike and Woodpile at Mesita de Ricardo Hike) and at the next two-track we came to, we turned right off of Pipeline Road into Arroyo Bernalillito.

The Hike

Hiking, we ascended to explore a mid-level mesa on the south (right) side of Arroyo Bernalillito.  Not finding a suitable way down when the mesa petered out, we retraced our steps to return to the Arroyo.  We then set our sights on revisiting the Petrified Woodpile that we stumbled across on the Mesita de Ricardo Hike.  We found the various logs visited on the past visits, and didn’t find anything remarkable for more photos – check out those other hikes.

After our coffee break, we headed in a north-westerly direction to skirt the south side of Mesa de Ricardo (I haven’t found that name on any map, but figure it is appropriate since a small, stand-alone mesa at the end of this mesa is “Mesita de Ricardo”).  We didn’t see anything of great interest on our way back to the truck, but as it is throughout the Ojito Wilderness, we marveled at the many different geological formations and objects.  We will return, to check out Mesa de Ricardo next.

Jay here: We knew it was going to be cold and windy but sunshine on the early portion of the hike lulled us into thinking we might catch a break. No such luck. By the time we stopped for coffee the cloud cover was complete, we were trying to stay out of the wind and the snow flurries started up. But what keeps us coming back is the extraordinary geology, the variety of hikes and the knowledge that in a few more months it will be too hot to hike here.

Statistics

Total Distance:  3.92 miles
Elevation: 5,889 start, 5,961 maximum,  5,849 minimum
Gross gain: 112 ft.  Aggregate ascending 475 ft, descending: 475 ft
Maximum slope: 19% ascending, 26% descending, 4% average
Duration: 3:00

I urge you to explore our hiking tracks with Google Earth. 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 2-dimensional screenshot above. For assistance: Using Google Earth Track Files.

Related Posts (in the vicinity)

All Ojito Hikes

References

BLM: Ojito Wilderness

Jay's Photos: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show.

George's Photos w/ Captions:: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show.

Today we explored another of the areas we thought would be interesting on the mesa south of Cabezon Road (see Ojito Mesa/South Hike). Striking out on our own, to explore an area that looked interesting via GoogleEarth.  Mesa Prieta is in the background, with Mount Taylor and Chivato Mesa on the horizon.

The Hike

Leaving the road on a two-track, we proceeded on somewhat rough terrain until prudence said “far enough”.  Then walking up the tortured two-track and cresting the rise, a wide open plain lay before us, with the mesa as a backdrop.  Approaching the face of the mesa, we decided to follow along heading south.  Soon we found ourselves in an area of amazing rock formations – colors, shapes, textures, and more.  As can be seen from our speed (the blue area on the profile graph on GoogleEarth image), from the .5 mile point until .8 mile, we spent a lot of time marveling at the rocks and terrain in this area. This definitely made this a great hike.

We continued south along the face of the mesa, looking for an area where we might ascend to the mesa top – none presented itself (although another .25 mile or so a canyon extending into the mesa appeared to offer such an opportunity).  Along the way we had to slide under another fence, much as was required on the Ojito Mesa/South hike (I suspect this is another section of the same fence line.)  

The weather alternated between sunny and warm, and cloudy, breezy, and cool; we found a protected area up near the mesa side for our coffee break.  We watched a rain/snow squall move across north of us, further than where we parked the truck, but uncertain of its path we headed back across the grassy plain.  Nearing the place where the truck was parked, Mother Nature visited us with drizzle that turned to snow pellets, just enough to get us damp.  And enough to wet the two-track so the clay was becoming slick – we were happy to get out before it became unmanageable (happy to have 4-wheel drive, too).

Jay here: There are two simple reasons we keep going back to the Ojito Wilderness. Number 1 is the incredible geology of the place. There’s endless variety to marvel at and it always comes with some amazing backdrops. Number 2, we’ve barely scratched the surface of possible known trails and unknown trails. Number 3 (even though I said there were 2 reasons), the time to go is now. Summer will be too hot. Which brings me to the wicked sleet storm that descended on us during the last quarter mile of our hike. Only in New Mexico could a storm like that come up so fast and then stall over the top of us. It made for a slippery escape from an already hairy two-track, and yes, thank you 4-wheel drive.

Statistics

Total Distance:  3.27 miles
Elevation: 5,843 start, 6,038 maximum,  5,843 minimum
Gross gain: 195 ft.  Aggregate ascending 475 ft, descending: 475 ft
Maximum slope: 38% ascending, 33% descending, 6% average
Duration: 3:00 

I urge you to explore our hiking tracks with Google Earth. 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 2-dimensional screenshot above. For assistance: Using Google Earth Track Files.

Related Posts (in the vicinity)

All Ojito Hikes

Jay's Photos w/ Captions: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show.

George's Photos w/ Captions: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show.

Having exhausted the hiking tracks from others, we’re setting off on our own in the Ojito Wilderness area.  This time we explored a prominent mesa south of Cabezon Road and the boundary of the Wilderness.  Using an exploration via Google Earth,we selected from 3 potentially interesting areas, a southward track up a canyon that splits the mesa, then across the top to descend to a “prospect” marked on the Topo maps (“prosect”: a potential mine before a claim is made?).  

The Hike

Parking just off Cabezon Road, we headed east to the entrance of the canyon, crossing a 10′ deep arroyo with frozen water where the sun doesn’t shine.  Rounding the north eastern point of the mesa, we encountered a partially collapsed rock building, dug partially into the west face of the canyon.  The wood supports of the roof had collapsed onto a table in the middle of the approximately 15′ square room, but windows and doors were still in place.  In the area were other signs of habitation, including what we think must have been a small corral with a smaller rock structure.  (See photos below.)

We continued south in the canyon, beneath 100′ t0 150′ walls of the west side of the mesa. The ground was largely dirt, with rocks nearer the canyon walls  Overall the hiking was easy (especially when we could follow the numerous cattle trails).   We encountered one of the best-built barbed wire fences we’ve seen, very tight wire not allowing one to make enough space to slip through – we ended up crawling under the bottom wire. When the slope up to the mesa top became easy, we ascended to very open,  generally flat, and nearly level terrain; oh, we had to cross that fence again.

Using “US Topo Maps”, an App that I carry on my Smartphone and Tablet, we navigated to the “prospect”.  We found what looked like an old excavation: a hole and an adjacent mound of soil, and figured we had found it.  The descent off of the mesa was a bit steep but easy.  At the bottom we encountered another fence, decided to get across it by going through the space between the canyon wall and the last fence post.  Now standing beneath a 100’+ sheer wall, we marveled at it’s overhang and the large clefts in its face, the result of water running between cracks in the caprock that washed out a “split” in the cliff. And looking up at one of these we were amazed to see daylight through the back of the cleft, behind a bridge formed by two “kissing” sections of the caprock. (See photos below.)

Jay here: What a surprising hike. Guess that’s what happens when you make your own trail — you never know what to expect. Cowpaths were abundant through much of the hike until we got up on top of the mesa and that helped in the early going. Coming upon the old stacked stone building was quite a surprise. Crawling under well maintained barbed wire fencing wasn’t too onerous but if we had to do it more than twice it would have gotten old. The kissing caprock will definitely require a return visit in later afternoon hours to really capture the uniqueness of the geology there.

Statistics

Total Distance: 2.73 miles
Elevation: 5,869 start, 5,957 maximum, 5,815 minimum
Gross gain: 142 ft.  Aggregate ascending 380 ft, descending: 378 ft
Maximum slope: 31% ascending, 35% descending, 5% average
Duration: 3:08

I urge you to explore our hiking tracks with Google Earth. 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 2-dimensional screenshot above. For assistance: Using Google Earth Track Files.

Related Posts (in the vicinity)

All Ojito Hikes

Jay's Photos w/ Captions: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show.

George's Photos w/ Captions: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show.

Another beautiful day in the amazing Ojito Wilderness.  Temperature was a bit chilly leaving the car, 38 F, with just enough breeze to make us bundle up with gloves and ear coverings.  As always happens here in the Mountain West, with the elevation, dry air, and crystal blue skies, temperatures rose by noon, causing us to start shedding layers.

The Hike

This hike is a followup to our recent outing, Hoodoo Pines, when we thought we were heading towards the Dinosaur Dig, but … we started at a different trailhead and were using a different ASCHG track.  Today, tho’ we got on track, followed Dinosaur Dig Hike, (with a half mile backtrack, if you look at the GoogleEarth .kml track closely), and found our way to the Logs, the Cave, the Dig, and the Petroglyphs.  

Along the way, we found other rock ‘assemblies’ that still puzzle us – the shape strongly suggests petrified tree trunks, but the appearance and texture of the outer surface and what would be the inside of a tree trunk appear nothing like petrified wood we’ve seen elsewhere.  (Where is the geologist when we need one?)  At the “Logs”, the rocks there were so much more like what we expect that we concluded they -are- petrified wood.  And they made a fine “coffee bar” for our mid-hike break.

The site of the Dinosaur Dig is a large area of sand, quite unusual compared to the terrain all around (and elsewhere, for that matter).  And it is near the end of this mesa, with a 200-300, maybe 400 foot drop-off to the valley floor – this seems unusual, but the mesa is clearly “held up” by a solid foundation of rock geology.  And closer to the end of the mesa than the Dig, we found the petroglyphs – unusual in that they were inscribed on a horizontal surface of rock (and at the mesa’s edge, so I had to take photos so Jay could see them up close).

Jay here: Okay, okay, so I don’t like being on the edge. But I did tackle about a 400 foot scramble up a lot of rocks to get to the top of the mesa, and I got there a lot sooner than someone else did. The Ojito Wilderness keeps giving back when it comes to fascinating rock geology and we have only just begun to explore what’s out there. Here’s to more Ojito discoveries.

Statistics

Total Distance: 3.80 miles
Elevation: 5,843 start, 5,926 maximum, 5,715 minimum
Gross gain: 83 ft.  Aggregate ups & downs:  ascending 499 ft, descending: 496 ft
Maximum slope: 47% ascending, 33% descending, 5% average
Duration: 3:21

Related Posts (in the vicinity)

All Ojito Hikes

References

ASCHG: Dinosaur Dig Hike
ASCHG: Dino Dig And Hoodoo Pines 
Dog of the Desert: “Dinosaur Dig” mesas in the Ojito Wilderness
BLM: Ojito Wilderness

Jay's Photos w/ Captions:Click on a Photo for Gallery Show

George's Photos w/ Captions: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show

Jay and I returned to the Ojito Wilderness; it is such an interesting place, not so far from home, and this is the best time of year to hike thereabouts.  We chose the ASCHG hike, Bernalillito Mesa Loop Hike.  We found the complete hike is -on the top- of Mesa Bernalillito.  This made for spectacular views (check out the photo galleries below), tho’ not much interesting geology like we found on the Meseta de Ricardo hike.

The Hike

As you will see in the statistics, there was not much elevation gain.  We could not find any discernible hiking trails, tho’ at times we could follow cattle trails.  In some areas, the surface was (almost) flat rock, but most was soft soil with fairly large clumps of grasses and shrubs making the surface uneven.  

A friend had reported visiting Pueblo ruins on a mesa near a pipe line pumping station (there is one near where we started), so we were on the lookout for signs of ruins.  We found some mounds that were suspicious, but none of the other signs that we associate with ruins: somewhat orderly piles of rock rubble from collapsed blockhouses, pottery sherds, and depressions reflecting the locations of kivas.

Jay here: While this hike certainly had no shortage of spectacular scenic views, I kept wishing that there was an actual trail to follow. Not that I mind a certain amount of bushwhacking, but the soft soil and the constant need to dodge nasty little cacti can get tiresome. Finding a cow path on the return loop was almost a relief. I’d much rather dodge cow pies than cacti. Either way, there’s a lot of looking down when you would rather be looking up at the great vistas.

Statistics

Total Distance: 4.93 miles
Elevation: 5,885 start, 6,217 maximum, 5,885 minimum
Gross gain: 332 ft.  Aggregate ascending 673 ft, descending: 673 ft
Maximum slope: 45% ascending, 52% descending, 4% average
Duration: 3:23

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 (in the vicinity)

All Ojito Hikes

References

ASCHG: Bernalillito Mesa Loop Hike
The American Southwest: Ojito Wilderness Area
Backpacker Magazine: Albuquerque, NM: Bernalillito Mesa 
Dog of the Desert: Mesa Bernalillito inthe Ojito Wilderness
TopoZone: Bernalillito Mesa Top Map in Sandoval County NM

Jay's Photos w/ Captions: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show.

George's Photos w/ Captions: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show.