Part Five: Hikes #3 & #4
We stayed two nights at Sipapu. They were building a new ski lift, and we were warned about an early morning helicopter coming on Friday and working throughout the day. We were checking out that day, so we didn't mind. We spent Thursday mostly at the resort, resting, writing, exploring. We had a wonderful fire Thursday night in the large fireplace. Three miles further up the road was Agua Piedra Campground. We ended up staying here Friday night, as our Friday hike began and ended here.
We left Sipapu around 9 am, watching the helicopter carry a cement bucket up and down the mountain. At the last minute we remembered to purchase rain ponchos at the little shop. We drove up to the campground, selected a site, paid and parked our vehicle there. We geared up for our hike. This was to be the biggest of the hikes we had planned, as well as the final one.
Hike #3: Trail 19A, Agua Piedra: The hike was 8 miles long, with nearly 2,000' of elevation gain. We began at 8500', and it was a steady uphill grind much of the way to a high saddle. From here we climbed further on a side trail, trying to achieve a bare summit. However, due to in-coming storms we had to abort mission to climb the hill. We ate our lunch at a beautiful overlook, sitting on a convenient log, then headed back down. The torrential rains caught us about half way back. The ponchos were life savers!
The trail begins at Agua Piedra Campground.
Near the beginning of the hike the trail skirts a lovely mountain meadow.
Even though we climbed to over 10,400', there was always much higher country all around us.
This should have been my summit conquering photo, but alas incoming weather sent us back downhill all too soon. We got properly drenched before we made it back to the vehicle.
From a distance we thought we had come across some red rocks. However, closer scrutiny proved otherwise...
Appearing like red rocks from a distance, the rocks were actually covered in orange lichen!
Jicarita Peak, at about 12,600', looms more than 2,000' above us.
We were soaked from our knees down by the time we returned. It was a big, bad storm, and thunder crashed around us and lighting flashed not far away. The trail turned into a downhill rushing streamlette. This trail had about 10 river crossings, where one has to pick his/her way over logs and across stepping stones (which tended to move a lot when stepped on). So though we walked quickly back down in general, we had to really slow down at the many crossings.
Once back at the car, we changed into dry clothes and hung the wet ones on our hastily erected clothesline. It stopped raining, and by sunset the nearly-full moon was rising. For a Friday night in August the campground remained remarkably empty. Besides us there was one other camper (in a trailer, quite far from us) in the entire huge section. So we spent a pretty quiet night. It was way too damp to attempt a campfire. Besides, we were exhausted from our hike. Bedtime came early.
Next morning we were up early. It was a chilly 46 F. We made tea and oatmeal, packed up the tent, loaded the truck and were ready to depart by 9:30 am. Today was supposed to be an epic drive, first through the Rockies and out the eastern end, then onto the plains for the afternoon. However, we had spied a spur trail yesterday. Trail 19C said "Indian Lake." We were intrigued. We had both survived the ordeal yesterday and were ready for a lesser hike today. So off we went!
Hike #4: This one came in at around 4 miles and 1,000', about half of yesterday's epic challenge. I ended up forgetting my camera in the car! Luckily Deb had a phone with her, and she took the next few pics with it. Otherwise, there would be nothing to show you. This is a beautiful walk through deep woods and up into the high country. The pond (no lake here, my friends) sits at about 9,500'. We were so used to altitude by now that we could breathe pretty normally up there. Being a Saturday we expected (and got) several other hikers. We had been completely alone all day yesterday. However, we managed to climb to the lake, visit it, rest there, have a snack, take pictures and then begin to head back down before we met anyone else.
Indian Lake is more like an alpine pond. Two ducks were happily swimming about!
This shot shows the incredibly beautiful park-like setting of Indian Lake. We walked around the pond and got comfortable by one of the big evergreen trees, taking our snack break and well-deserved rest.
This was the view back, taken from our rest area in the pines.
The author at Indian Lake.
View of the high country as we prepared to descend the trail (19C) and back to our vehicle. We still had a long drive ahead today, as we began our return east. We would still see mountains for the rest of today and most of tomorrow.
Part Six: Agua Piedra to Raton, NM
This is a long, very dramatic drive. Mountains, valleys, towns, villages, high passes--it is a fabulous journey! We climbed to over 9400' as we recrossed the Rockies, stopping in Mora, NM on the other side. We had lunch here at a little Mexican restaurant. They took good care of us! Next came a stop at a yarn mill. Deb was overjoyed! And they had espresso! Her feelings of joy could not be contained! I sat on a bench and waited.
Mountain scenery and dramatic weather equals a perfect drive in New Mexico.
Baldy Mountain near Eagle Nest Lake exceeds 12,000'. We stopped nearby at a ski resort town (Angel Fire), waiting out a bit of rain and lightning.
The Southwest Chief arrives in Raton, NM exactly when we did (5 pm)! We've been to the little station four times on this train, twice westbound and twice eastbound. It was fun to see it arrive and leave from the sidelines, so to speak. Note the puddles remaining from afternoon storms.
Portrait of Deb at Raton. We both would have loved to jump on the train and go!
View from our table and chairs at our little motel in Raton, NM.
It took us about five hours to drive from the campground to the town of Raton. Raton is near the border with Colorado. Though we were heading to a New Mexico campground tomorrow night, we would dip into Colorado next morning and afternoon before recrossing the state line.
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