Tis winter, and again for this hike we choose territory without lots of trees, reserving such shaded areas for summertime hiking. I visited San Lorenzo Canyon back in 2014 with Vince, and thought there must be more to explore, so headed down Socorro way with Pat on this chilly winter day.
The Drive In
We drove to the Lemitar exit, then headed north on the frontage road on the west side of I-25 for about 5 miles where a sign pointed us left/west for San Lorenzo Canyon. (At this point, the frontage road turns right to go under I-25.) After about 2 miles on a well-graveled dirt road, we turned to the right, into the wash of the Canyon and continued for a bit over 3 miles to a rock face blocking the canyon. Along the way we passed through areas where steep walls narrow the canyon – areas for future exploration.
The Hike
San Lorenzo Canyon Hike.Pat.2018-12-04
Disembarking from the car, Pat looked at the side canyon going south and off she went. The “trail” is the bottom wash of this small canyon, generally firm sand with occasional rocky surface. Approaching the head of the canyon, it appeared to require some rock climbing so we opted to ascend a steep incline to the mesa top. From there we had a nice view down the side canyon, into San Lorenzo Canyon, and beyond. 
The geology (rocks) hereabouts are quite different from other places – they look mostly like large globs of mud – rounded, dark brown, but quite hard. The surface is mostly gravel and sand with a sprinkling of stones and small rocks, sometimes loose, sometimes embedded in a matrix of sand. ‘Tho there were footprints in the wash of the canyons, we didn’t encounter anything that appeared to be a trail (although at times we did follow a game trail).
Now atop the mesa, we proceeded up-canyon to see if we could descend back into to the main Canyon, above the aforementioned rock that blocked us when driving. After a couple of look-sees over cliffs, we saw ahead a more gradual slope down to the Canyon floor. It was an easy descent; we then proceeded further up the canyon where we encountered a rivulet of water (with a skin of ice over the running stream). It seems we had come upon San Lorenzo Spring (per the Topo map). This made a nice place for our mid-hike break – in the sun and protected some from the light breeze of the day.
As the shadow of the Canyon wall started intruding into our break-space, we packed up and headed back down the Canyon. We wondered if we would find an easy down over the blocking rock or would we have to find a way bac
k up atop the mesa to get around it. To our relief, it was simple to descend on the south side of the rock, back to the lower Canyon and to the truck (climbing up that route would be a challenge).
There is more to explore here, other side canyons to the north, further up the Canyon to the west – worth a return visit. Note: On the way home, I made it a point to check out the frontage road on the east side of I-25, from where one turns west into San Lorenzo Canyon. It appears one could exit at San Acacia (closer to Albuquerque), then take the east-side frontage road to the underpass and road into San Lorenzo Canyon.
Statistics
Total Distance: 2.68 miles
Elevation: start 5,259 ft, maximum 5,552 ft, minimum 5.259 ft
Gross gain: 393 ft, Aggregate ascending 703 ft, descending 703 ft
Maximum slope: 42% ascending, 46% descending, 9.4% average
Duration: 2:57
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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.
References
BLM: San Lorenzo Canyou
Visit Socorro: San Lorenzo Canyon
AllTrails: San Lorenzo Canyon
SummitPost: San Lorenzo Canyon
