We must like NoName, this is the 7th time we’ve hiked this canyon. (Note: I’ve written before, that “NoName” is -our- name for this canyon, since we haven’t found any other moniker to use.)
The Hike
NoName-Quartz Outcrop Hike.Jay.2018-09-23
This time we had a goal, visit the Quartz Outcrop above the upper end of NoName. Jay had hiked to it with another group, a tough route going up and down over the ridge above NoName, and together twice we had hiked up NoName to a point where we could see the outcrop. This day we were determined to -visit- Quartz Outcrop.
We’ve published descriptions of the trail from our other hikes, particularly 02/12/2017 and 9/17/2017; there is not much to add except for the scramble up a steep hillside to reach -the- Outcrop. Of course, we used the Outcrop as the spot for our mid-hike break, enjoying the wide range of colors and shapes in this geologic formation.
Statistics
Total Distance: 3.49 miles Elevation: start 6,086 ft, maximum 7,267 ft, minimum 6,086 ft Gross gain: 1,181 ft. Aggregate ascending 1,355 ft, descending 1,352 ft Maximum slope: 45% ascending, 40% descending, 13% average Duration: 3:49
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.
Meeting in Santa Fe these days, we’re exploring trails in the southwestern Sangre de Cristos. For this our first hike, we headed up Hyde Park Road, passing a couple of areas with cars parked alongside the road (but no trailhead evident), then stopping at the first turnout that appeared to be a trailhead. This proved to be the Chamisa Trail, #183.
The Hike
Chamisa-Saddleback Hike.Jay.2018-09-16
Just a short distance from the road we encountered a junction, where there was a sign: “Alternate Route More Difficult”. Not ready for that, we headed up to the right. Immediately we were going uphill, not steep but steady with a few switchbacks; certainly not “difficult”. Into the hike 1.5 miles, atop a ridge (the “Saddleback”?), we encountered another junction, a trail coming up the canyon from the left – we suspected that this was the other end of the “.. More Difficult” trail (confirmed later on our way down). We continued on the ridge for another 3/4 mile where, with good views from northwest to south, we took our mid-hike break. We returned to the “Saddleback” junction and decided to take the “.. More Difficult” route down through the bottom of the canyon; it was not so difficult (at least going down).
Statistics
Total Distance: 4.01 miles Elevation: start 7,826 ft, maximum 8,545 ft, minimum 7,826 ft Gross gain: 719 ft. Aggregate ascending 1,364 ft, descending 1,345 ft Maximum slope: 40% ascending, 35% descending, 12% average Duration: 3:07
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.
This is our second hike in the Magdalena Mountains during a 3-night stay in the campground in our R-Pod camper. The first day we did the Mesa Trai l#15 hike. We planned to stay only two nights, taking a “short hike” before heading home. But looking at opportunities near the campground, on the Topo maps (courtesy USTopo on our Android tablet), we noticed springs and -mines- up Fork Canyon, on a two-track leaving the campground. Since that sounded interesting, we headed out for a “short” hike.
The Hike
North Fork Water Canyon Hike.Pat.2018-09-13
Our ‘trail’ followed an old two-track going up the bottom of the North Fork canyon. Hardly suitable today for any but the best off-road vehicle as it meandered back and forth across the creek, it made for easy hiking. At about 1.5 miles up the canyon, as expected from the Topo map, we came to a Y in the canyon. Although the mines were further up the canyon to the right, we turned left up Dark Canyon towards a spring marked on the Topo map. We didn’t find the spring, and to return to the canyon towards the Cabin Spring and the mines, we climbed a side canyon (with a couple of good sized rock faces) and over a saddle to the “mine canyon”.
About 2.7 miles into the hike, back on a sometimes rough two-track (apparently this provided access to the mines), we spied the first mine, on the far wall of the canyon below the two-track – a cave with tailings. We continued on up the canyon to the second mine site, finding a large cave with standing water in its entrance. And .. many tracks in the mud along with droppings – we surmised that this was a gathering place for elk. The return to the campsite was a most pleasant part of the hike, stopping to admire the flowers and a view across Water Canyon of the outcrops that make it’s eastern cliffs (and encountering some droppings which we concluded were bear scat).
This turned out to be not such a -short- hike, so we stayed another night in the campground.
Statistics
Total Distance: 5.72 miles Elevation: start 6,909 ft, maximum 7,940 ft, minimum 6,909 ft Gross gain: 1,034 ft. Aggregate ascending 1,602 ft, descending 1,605 ft Maximum slope: 29% ascending, 29% descending, 8.8 % average Duration: 7:12
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.
Returning from Tucson by way of Glenwood, driving along US 60 some 20 miles west of Socorro, a sign to Water Canyon Campground caught our attention – we thought that there might be camping and hiking in those Magdalena Mountains. And it’s about the same distance from Albuquerque as our favorite mountain range, the Jemez Mountains. Back home, we did some research, learning about Water Canyon and it’s National Forest campground and hiking trails. With that information, we planned a two-night trip with our R-Pod camper.
In preparation, I gathered information on trails and scrutinized the topographic maps with the Earth Point Topo Map plugin for GoogleEarth. From that I sketched a hike from near the Water Canyon Campground, following for some distance the dashed trail lines on the topo map, then up what appeared to be gently rising terrain to the top of the “North Mesa” (my name, but marked as Water Canyon Mesa on a topo map). Subsequently I uncovered on AllTrails a .gps track for Mesa Trail #13 which followed my sketch but continued further to make a loop back to the trailhead. We chose this as our hike for the first day.
The Drive In
The trailhead is about .5 miles up FR 235 from the campground, with signs, a large parking lot, and a pit toilet. The signs were interesting – they told us to go further at our own risk, proceed only with 4 wheel drive, locked hubs, and .. serious caution. (This I had discerned from looking at this road on GoogleEarth and the Topo overlay, so we had made no plans to go further although the view from atop South Baldy and the observatory must be stunning.)
The Hike
Mesa Trail 15 Hike.Pat.2018-09-12
The trail entrance is obvious, the trail well used. It begins with a quite good climb for the first 1/4 mile, then a short respite until it connects with the original trail (which crossed private property, thus this new segment). The rest of the hike was definitely up hill, a steady but not terribly challenging climb, generally a rocky surface ‘tho solid underfoot. Then, 1/2 mile into the hike the trail enters a narrow canyon some .2 mile in length which contains an amazing “garden” of wildflowers. There are so many different flowers, often mixed together, that we moseyed through this garden for over a half hour enjoying their beauty (and taking photos – see the Gallery below).
From there, continuing uphill we left the somewhat narrow canyon to enjoy views towards the south and west, across South Canyon to the primary peaks and high ridges of this eastern portion of the Magdalena Mountains. At some point near the top of our ascent we saw to the west the road zig-zagging its way across the mountain to get to the top. And the observatory came into view in what appeared to be a large, open meadow extending down from South Baldy. At the top of our hike we could see north across the plains to Ladron Peak. We enjoyed a half hour mid-hike break for lunch (thanks, Pat), then headed back down pausing again to enjoy the Garden.
Redux
There were only 2 or 3 other occupants in the campground, and we encountered only one other couple on the trail. Our hike followed quite well the sketch that I had made and the AllTrails track for Mesa Trail #13. The AllTrails track is a loop that extends a half-mile further than where we took our break, continues up towards Water Canyon Mesa and round back into Water Canyon to a trailhead closer to the campground. An alternate hike would be to continue on up onto Water Canyon Mesa where the views to the east, north, and west should be amazing.
Statistics
Total Distance: 4.43 miles Elevation: start 6,930 ft, maximum 8,221 ft, minimum 6,930 ft Gross gain: 1,291 ft. Aggregate ascending 1,596 ft, descending 1,616 ft Maximum slope: 38% ascending, 43% descending, 13% average Duration: 5:54
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.
Note: I’ve updated the Nifty Tools page under Using Google Earth Track Files menu with additional resources that I’ve discovered provide additional avenues of research and planning.
Leaving D and D’s Organic Haven headed for home, again we looked for an opportunity for a hike along the way. Heading north on US 180 from Glenwood, we “spontaneously” stopped at a small campground, and it looked promising.
The Hike
Cottonwood Canyon Hike.Pat.2018-09-04
So up the canyon we went. There was a two-track for a while, but then it was following along Cottonwood Creek. The canyon bottom was open forest, with some sections bounded by interesting rock faces. With the recent rains across New Mexico, there were many flowers in full bloom. ‘Twas a short hike, but we still had quite a drive ahead of us.
[I’m quite pleased with my new camera, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS-100. It allows me to take photos the way I want to – it has a 20-1 zoom, giving me the 120 mm focal length that suits me so well. And auto-focus that works quite well for “close up” (with the zoom) or it’s macro feature. I still use my phone, a Galaxy S-5 particularly for panorama photos, but the Lumix has become my go-to camera.]
Statistics
Total Distance: 2.14 miles Elevation: start 5,807 ft, maximum 5,951 ft, minimum 5,807 ft Gross gain: 144 ft. Aggregate ascending 773 ft, descending 808 ft Maximum slope: 47% ascending, 56% descending, 11% average Duration: 1:39
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.
Our goal was to get in a hike on the first day of our return from Tucson to Albuquerque, planning to spend the night at one of our favorite BnBs, D and D’s Organic Haven in Pleasanton, near Glenwood, NM. After extensive research, we tracked down trails in the Pinaleno Mountains of the Coronado National Forest in east central Arizona. Some of the more intriguing trails were far into the Pinalenos, but reviewing road and topo maps led us to judge the road would be challenging, not for our appetite. But there were a couple of trails along the road before it started climbing the mountansides: Ladybug Trail and Noon Creek/Noon Creek Ridge Trails (also identified as Round the Mountain Trail, and Sky Islands Traverse on GoogleEarth). We chose the latter expecting that it would afford better views.
The Drive In
To get to the trailhead, drive 7 miles south on US 191 from Safford to Swift Trail Junction. Turn left on AZ 366, Swift Trail, for about 8 miles to the Noon Creek Picnic Area/Campground.
The Hike
Noon Creek-Ridge Hike.Pat.2018-09-03
The first 3/4ths of a mile or so is on the Noon Creek Trail, quite well used, easy going. Along this stretch we could hear water running in Noon Creek, but there wasn’t anyplace that afforded access. We then turned right to ascend on Round the Mountain Trail (both seem to be marked #302). Still a good trail surface, were then going uphill which continued at an even slope for as far as we went.
We set our sights on getting to the top of Noon Creek Ridge. But the trail became gradually less well traveled, occasionally quite narrow with steep drop-off or covered with brush. At 1.6 miles we encountered -very thick- brush which obstructed our further progress. and because it was a narrow section with very steep drop-off, we decided to go no further.
Despite not getting to the top of the ridge, we enjoyed fabulous views across the canyon of Noon Creek, and across the plains and San Simon River to the east and beyond the White Rock and Peloncillo Mountains.
Statistics
Total Distance: 3.22 miles Elevation: start 5,244 ft, maximum 6,244 ft, minimum 5,244 ft Gross gain: 1,000 ft. Aggregate ascending 1,129 ft, descending 1,129 ft Maximum slope: 32% ascending, 47% descending, 12% average Duration: 3:04
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.
Lanny and I had seen a video by Jeff Gilkey flying over Pueblo ruins atop a small mesa, specifically Mesa Pueblo. We located them using GoogleEarth, and headed that way.
The Drive In
Driving route from Grants to Cliff Ruins.
As you can see from the red track above, we missed a turn or two, found ourselves wandering among the diggings of the nearby coal mine operations, and when the tracks we were following with the GPS and USTopo became -terribly- rough, we aborted the attempt to get to Mesa Pueblo Ruins.
However, Lanny had a backup – Cliff Ruins. We located ourselves, and a label on USTopo for “Cliff House”, and judged that we were reasonably close. USTopo also indicated what appeared to be serviceable two-tracks from our position among the mine diggings towards Cliff Ruins. Along the way Nearing the site, it appeared that we needed to turn off of the “good two-track”, onto one we could barely follow. That brought us to a point adjacent to the site as indicated on USTopo; a short walk to the west and we were at the edge of White Mesa, looking into Cliff Dwelling Canyon.
The Walkabout
Walkabout on the mesa overlooking Cliff Ruins.
Walking around the edge of this canyon brought into view the Cliff Ruins, perched on a large ledge under a ceiling midway up the cliff face. We noted that the House appeared to be in excellent condition, walls almost all intact and the corners square; some fine workmanship. We could not see any reasonable path to ascend from the canyon floor to the House.
Returning the Lanny’s Jeep, we were impressed with the view across the Rio Miguel to Chivato Mesa and Cabezon. Heading back towards Grants, Lanny chose an alternate two-track which to our surprise brought us to what appeared to be an old ranch-stead. We found a corral with stables (rock walls still standing) and what may have been an abode, with the fireplace still standing.
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.
“John Cortesy – That looks like one of the old stage coach stops on the route from Milan to Cuba. If you followed the road through the ranches, you passed a dry arroyo with a rock outcropping on the right that was a place where they watered the horses when it was flowing. The passengers would get out of the coach and carve their names and dates into the rocks above. We had taggers back in 1905 and 1897 if I remember the dates correctly. Can’t trust no one to not deface a property these days!”
“George Young – Thanks, John, for adding that information. Your suggestion would certainly make sense to me; the stable (building and fencing) appears to be more than one would use for a ranch. And I see on GoogleEarth that it is on a line from Milan to Cuba. I see also on a topo map that “El Dado Springs” is very close by. It might be worth another trip for us. From which direction did you describe the location of the “tagging”? Do you know of any more features, etc. of that stage line?”
This late summer we’re exploring trails close to Santa Fe. For starters, we chose this start of the Winsor Trail as it runs up the canyon of the Tesuque River. Parking is very limited, alongside a narrow residential road off of Bishops Lodge Road.
The Hike
Winsor Hike.Jay.2018-08-19
The trail continues on up the road for about 2/3 of a mile, between fences for private property on both sides. One then leaves the road behind for a -real- trail that proceeds up Tesuque Canyon, alongside Big Tesuque Creek. At about 1.2 miles into the hike, we encountered a bridge on which we crossed over to the north (left) side of the creek; we did note a trail that continued up the south side of the creek (later we used it to make a bit of a loop). This would appear to be a trail that is heavily used, so the trail surface made hiking easy throughout. Down deep in the canyon, there are no vista views, but the trail is shaded most of the time which made the hike comfortably cool.
Jay here: Santa Fe environs sure have a multitude of hiking options and just about all of them beat the summer heat. Hiking along a shaded stream most of the way out is what we call refreshing. And hiking at 7,000 plus feet in elevation is also a change of pace for us given that a lot of our hikes start around 5,800 feet and rarely get to more than 7,000 feet.
Statistics
Total Distance: 5.33 miles Elevation: start 6,987 ft, maximum 7,665 ft, minimum 6,987 ft Gross gain: 678 ft. Aggregate ascending ft, descending ft Maximum slope: 26% ascending, 23% descending, 5.3% average Duration: 3:53
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.
For our final outing of the trip, we took Thomas to Bandelier National Monument. After the ride from White Rock on the shuttle, we started in the shade of the cottonwoods along the river where it was cooler.
The Walkabout
Bandelier Hike.PatThomas.2018-08-16 (The track is truncated at the beginning; I forgot to start the GPS. Disregard the blue graph of speed; GPS signal was lost while in the Alcove House.)
It was a very pleasant walk up to the Alcove House. Of course, we climbed up the ladders to the House. Then back down and returning to the Visitors Center via the Tyonyi Trail.
Statistics
Total Distance: 3.02 miles (added .2 mi to adjust for late start of GPS tracking) Elevation: start 6,098 ft, maximum 6,387 ft, minimum 6,068 ft Gross gain: 319 ft. Aggregate ascending 1,088 ft, descending 1,118 ft Maximum slope: 62% ascending, 60% descending, 12% average Duration: 1:59
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.
Having spent the first night in the Vista Linda campground south of Jemez Springs, and its warm temperatures, and after a hike to Boletsakwa Ruins, we moved the R-Pod to the Jemez Falls campground. After setting up the camper, we drove to the back end of the campground and the trailhead to Jemez Falls.
The Hike
Jemez Falls Hike.PatThomas.2018-08-15
This was a very pleasant hike, with the cooler temperatures and easy trail to the overlook above the Falls. Returning to the camper, we set a fire to roast marshmallows and enjoy the cool of the evening.
Statistics
Total Distance: 0.66 miles Elevation: start 7,947 ft, maximum 7,947 ft, minimum 7,828ft Gross gain: 81 ft. Aggregate ascending 182 ft, descending 182 ft Maximum slope: 44% ascending, 50% descending, 10% average Duration: 0:32
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.
