Chamisa-Saddleback Hike – 09/16/2018

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

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