This hike is a continuation of the hike the week before – Iron Gate Road Hike. Having acquainted ourselves with the road out of the Canyon up onto Hamilton Mesa, this week Pat drove up the steep road (on a very steep hillside), onto the Mesa and to the meadow where we turned back last week.
The Hike
Iron Gate Campground Hike.Pat.2020-05-21
Starting out on Iron Gate Road, headed for the Campground.
We began our hike by staying on Iron Gate Road. We were tempted by what appeared to be a hiking trail off to the right not far from the meadow, but not knowing where it might go, we stayed on the Road. That made for an easy walk of 1.5 miles to the Campground. Along the way we passed through more semi-residential areas; most appeared to be retreats rather than full time residence. Where we passed through areas open to views, Santa Fe Baldy and other peaks made for great views like that above.
Trail Junction a short distance from the Campground.
Reaching the Campground, we checked out the 14 campsites – a number appeared suitable for our small R-Pod camper. We continued through the far end of the Campground to the trailhead. There we found helpful information for hiking further north on the Trail, a log for hikers, and other general information. Looking for another route back to the truck, we checked USTopo. It showed a ‘dotted line’ depicting a trail that paralleled the Road headed back to our meadow. A couple of hundred yards on the trail into most pleasant woods, we encountered a sign that identified destinations of trails further along the Mesa.
Trail junction up Monte Vista Trail, to Valle Largo Trail.
We headed uphill on the Monte Vista Trail to the Valle Largo Trail which would take back to the truck. Again we found a signpost identifying trails from there. Valle Largo tracks nicely along the edge of Hamilton Mesa. The view to the left is down a steep hillside (aka cliff in places) to the Rio Mora river. Across the Rio Mora valley we enjoyed great views of the mountains to the east including Valle Largo and Valle Medio (which appear on the topo map to be not a valley but a ridge above 10,400 feet).
One of the aspen groves on Valle Largo Trail.
Just to explore, we hiked a quarter of a mile up Valle Largo, having in mind finding a nice place not too far from the campground for a future mini-backpacking trip. Finding a nice open overlook we stopped for our mid-hike break. Valle Largo is a really easy trail, trending generally downhill through open forest. In places it wanders through wonderful stands of aspen. We stopped often to enjoy the views of the green forested mountain slopes to the east, to look down the Rio Mora valley, or to enjoy the forest around us. About half way back we stopped again for our lunch break.
Signpost at entrance to Valle Largo trail (just off of the road near the meadow).
Having enjoyed very much the scenery along the edge of the mesa, we followed the trail as it turned downhill back towards Iron Gate Road. It goes through still more beautiful aspen groves before turning parallel to the road. Then … we discovered that the trail which we had seen leading off of the road as we started is … the terminus of the Valle Largo Trail. Next trip we will drive to the Campground and … what lies beyond??
Statistics
Total Distance: 4.77 miles
Elevation: start 8,958 ft, maximum 9,563 ft, minimum 8,958 ft
Gross gain: 605 ft. Aggregate ascending 925 ft, descending 931 ft
Maximum slope: 20% ascending, 30% descending, 6.5% average
Duration: 5:01
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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.
References and Resources
USDA Forest Service: Iron gate Campground
Iron Gate Trailhead
Hamilton Mesa Trail #249
Sangres.com: Santa Fe National Forest Trails
ExploreNM: Iron Gate
AllTrails: Hamilton Mesa via Iron Gate Campground
Hamilton Mesa #249 and Larkspur #260
ASCHG: Hamilton Mesa Hike
The Dyrt: Iron Gate
Another Walk in the Park: Sweeping Vistas from the Hamilton Mesa Trail
Best Wildflower Hikes: Hamilton Mesa Trail (book exerpt via Google Books)
