New Mexico Trip #37: Wheeler Peak Expedition, Part 2

Hike #2

We scheduled a full day off between hikes, enabling a few scenic drives and visits to other towns.  With our first big hike behind us, we took a relaxing drive through the mountains, heading south from Sipapu to Mora and Las Vegas.  We have visited Mora once before, and wanted to do so again.  Largely it is a small Hispanic mountain town that time seems to have forgotten.  Our main interest in coming here was to revisit the Mora Valley Spinning Mill and Coffee Barn.  This is a beautiful shop, with locally produced and manufactured (by hand) woolen and alpaca goods.  Deb ended up buying a winter hat and gloves.  Mora is only about half an hour from Sipapu, following a highly scenic drive.  The town itself is surrounded by unique mountains.  Half an hour south of Mora is Las Vegas (NM), a much larger town with a train station and interstate access.  The town straddles the mountains to the west and the Great Plains to the east.  We visited the Old Plaza here once again (it had been many years), greeted the Southwest Chief at the Amtrak station, and had lunch at El Fidel, located near the station and within a working, historic hotel.

Our Sipapu room had a fireplace, and we were able to stock up on firewood in Mora.  It was an adventurous day spent in civilization, after being completely alone all day yesterday.

One does not need to hike to enjoy the autumn splendour of NM.  The drive to Mora from Sipapu crosses a high mountain pass before descending into the Mora Valley.  This photo looks back at the pass we crossed on our way south.

Hermit Peak looms over Las Vegas, NM.  There is exciting hiking to be done in this area, which remains unexplored by us.

Southwest Chief pulls into Las Vegas station, heading west.  We have passed through on the Chief twice westbound and twice eastbound, but this was our first "outside" station visit to Las Vegas.

 Early moonrise, as seen from our balcony at Sipapu (Apartment 9b).

 Friends came to visit us on our balcony, too.  Even more often when we began handing out peanuts.

HIKE #2:  South Boundary Trail:  7.9 miles; 7200'-9215'; 6 hours:  This hike was a bit longer than the first one, and involved more elevation gain.  However, last hike we had begun at 9200', and today we ended at that elevation.  This hike begins only 2.8 miles west of the main Plaza in downtown Taos, so it is a busy one.  Bicycles were allowed, but not hunters.  We saw three bikes all day, and two of them passed us while we were at our off-trail day camp.  We did meet about 10 hikers, and ended up chatting and mostly walking back down afterwards with two young women.  We were in no rush to get started, enjoying a leisurely breakfast at our cabin, but were climbing by about 10 am.  Much of the time we were in the pinon-juniper belt, with the landscape dominated by these two types of trees.  The trail was very good, though rocky in places.  It was a steady uphill pull, with some sections becoming very steep.  At about the 8500' level, ponderosa pines took over the forest, along with other mixed conifers.  There were aspens near the summit.  This was not a mountain climb, though stupendous views opened up early on.  We hiked to the junction with a major trail at the 9200' level, found a place to relax, and enjoyed our time aloft.

 200' contour map of Hike #2.

 My source of drinking water today was the Rio Fernando.  A small

footbridge crosses the Rio from the parking lot, and the trail begins.

The trail follows the river a short distance before it begins to climb.  It felt like Lothlorien!

 Deb gets ahead of her photographer on the South Boundary

Trail.

River of Gold!!  Once we gained a bit of elevation, we could see the cottonwood 

trees along the Rio Fernando, and also Hwy 64.  Looking east.

Aspens in the high country!

Wheeler Peak from our day camp.  It is the peak on the far left of centre, way back.  Our view today was  much closer than from Hike #1.  It was hard to believe we would be attempting to get up that mountain in only two days.  My knees felt all wobbly.

Deb at our Hike #2 high point and day camp.  Wheeler Peak in back left sits 4,000' higher.  It kept beckoning to us.

Looking northwest back towards Taos.  The thin, black, horizontal line in the mid-distance is the Rio Grande Gorge.

Interesting clouds above our trail.

After the hike we went back into Taos for coffee.  Then, after a stroll round the plaza, we went for dinner at Eske's Brewpub.  Their green chile beer and green chile enchiladas are pretty hard to beat.  And there is always lots of food left to take home.  Next day we came back to Taos, visiting a different brewpub.  We also made a major art purchase at our favourite gallery, a stone knife made in prehistoric fashion by one of the masters of the trade.  I will try and include a photo of it in the third and final blog entry...

 This place had over 20 taps--I managed to try three.  Hoping to return!!

 Pooh and I watch for honey bees in Taos Plaza.

Deb heads towards Taos Plaza.

Even the sewers are worth checking out in Taos!

Taos Mtn., seen from downtown Taos, NM.

The third and final entry in this series will describe our third and final hike, the "Bucket List Hike" to Wheeler Peak.  Hope you come back!

Mapman Mike

To be Cont'd... 

Colorado and New Mexico, Part 3 and Part 4

Part 3

Hike #2 was an important one for us.  We would be hiking from the Taos Ski Valley to just beneath Wheeler Peak, the highest summit in New Mexico.  Williams Lake is a little glacial pond that sits surrounded on all sides by some of the highest peaks we had ever encountered.  Just before reaching the lake, at the hike's highest point, is the turnoff to Wheeler.  Next October we hope to turn here and continue on up to its summit.  It will be our highest hike ever, should we make it.

 The hike begins by following a small but vigorous mountain stream, the same one we slept near last night, but now over 2,000' higher.  We had our filtration bottles on this trip, and put them to good use, saving us carrying a full day's water supply from the start.

The trail up to the lake is rocky and difficult underfoot, though parts of it are standard packed dirt.  Much of it was within high altitude spruce and alpine forest.  The hike begins at over 10,000', so we were short of breath a lot on the uphill portion.  

The scenery was breath-taking during the entire hike, beginning at the ski lifts.  We were beside a rushing stream at the beginning, then entered a dark and very pleasant wood.  Mountain views were constant.  Views really opened up as we reached Williams Lake.

Near the top of our hike, we were looking up towards the trail to Wheeler Peak.  I took a few extreme telephoto shots, and when we got home we discovered there were 4 people making the ascent today.  We even briefly saw someone at the very summit, two miles away from us and 2,000' higher up.  We climbed nearly 2,000' today ourselves.  The entire hike was 4 miles long, the same as yesterday's walk near Denver, but what a difference one day can make!

Two hikers can be seen up in the saddle, silhouetted against the sky.  Two others are in the green area, but can't be seen unless the full photo size is depicted.  Hopefully that will be us next year!  This is an extreme telephoto shot (24x).

 After a lot of uphill walking, we reached our incredible goal for today.  There were marmots  everywhere!  Williams Lake is a popular hiking destination, and today was no exception.  We did have the lake to ourselves when we arrived, but during our lunch we were joined by others.  On our descent we met many people on their way up.

We ate our lunch on the boulder beneath this magical cliff at Williams Lake.  It was a wonderful area for exploring, or just sitting and gazing around.

Our elevation high point for today, and for this trip.  It came at the top of the trail, just before the short descent to Williams Lake.

 Once back at our car, we were only 45 minutes from downtown Taos!!  It is just too amazing that something like that hike can exist so close to civilization.  We had lunch at Eske's Brewpub, a favourite stop when in the area.  They roast their own green chiles, using it in their food and their beer.  I had green chile enchiladas (vegan) and green chile ale, while Deb enjoyed green chile stew (vegan) and a home-brewed iced tea which she really enjoyed.  We had enough to take with us for dinner that night.

After lunch we visited the nearby downtown plaza, where I met up with an old friend.  Afterwards, we headed to Sipapu Ski Resort, which would be our home for the next 2 days and nights.

 Part 4

Our stay at Sipapu was not as glorious as the one three years ago.  The lovely outside bar/cafe had burned down last August and had not been replaced.  No more Starbucks coffee, no veggie burger, and no New Mexico craft beer.  At least the tables were still outside by the river, and the indoor cafe was open.  Hopefully this will be remedied.  We stayed once again in Cabin 9B, enjoying a roaring fire in the fireplace on our 2nd night.

 Foggy morning view from the balcony of Cabin 9b, Sipapu, NM

 Outdoor seating area at the cafe, Sipapu.  It is adjacent to a fast-flowing river.

 Pond life at Sipapu.

Sipapu has walking trails, too.

 

 This mountain river flows through the complex at Sipapu.

 

 Sunset at Sipapu.

Continued in Part 5...