We love this hike but to complete requires significant skill and confidence navigating narrow cliff trails and climbing a slot canyon to the top. Well worth the views but NOT for beginners, children or pets.
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A steep but very rewarding hike. Views are stunning once you pop out of the trees and reach the first meadow. There was about 8 inches of snow on the trail and more as you broke from the trees. Was able to do most of the trail in just hiking boots and I think snowshoes would have be over kill.
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This is the new part of chimney rock trail. Views are great all along it. Hike is easy. Looks like it gets steep towards the end. It was getting dark so we terminated it.
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Nice loop. Long Canyon is lush, steep enough for conditioning, & a great out & back. Saw 1 solo hiker in that section. Next part of loop, a connector to the Gold Hill trail, is short & nothing special. Gold Hill trail back to Bull of Woods is drier, not particularly scenic, but easy to hike down. Bull of the Woods, the last 3 mile return portion, is just a rocky road/trail, 90% with loose rock one must be careful on to not slip/fall, has sounds of chain saws at times. & not scenic for 2+ of the 3 miles. The last 2/3’s mile (& first 2/3’s) is by the creek, coming largely out of Long Canyon, & tho also rocky, is a bit scenic.
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Harder than it looks, especially the last stretch up to the peak, but it is worth it. Bring plenty of water and electrolytes, not many streams once you start ascending.
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Great multi step waterfall. The farthest on the best with 80-100 foot drop. Lovely.
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Ellen’s hike, a little windy but clear. Great views. Treacherous road, snow and mud! A good winter hike ONLY if the trail is dry., and no one needs to return early.
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Travis and I took a Sunday ride from our campsite 2 miles west of Hopewell lake, following the highway for a couple of miles and then turning off on a forest road and then bushwhacking. Absolutely beautiful.
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Very few mountain hikes provide summit views that make me emotional at how beautiful they are. This is one of them 😎
Recommend to hike in the fall. If hiking in the summer, watch out for early to mid afternoon thunderstorms ⛈️
This is now my favorite hike ever 🤩
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This is day 1 of the 4 Peaks 3 nights 4 days backpacking trip.
Day one starts at Middlefork Lake Trailhead. Road to trailhead has water when you first look, but the road dries up quickly. We made it fine in an Outback.
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Didn’t quite get to the summit due to on and off showers…and the elevation. Around 12000 ft, the views from the switchbacks are absolutely majestic. Will be back to finish the hike! 😎🏔️
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Really amazing hike. Worth the tons of effort it takes to make it the last mile.
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This was a beautiful hike starting the ponds and the old hotel through meadows filled with flowers. Along a creek and then up around mountain following an old road of some kind. Not much of it would be passable even on an ATV now but provided a nice walking space. Climbed another section of the rock wall and then came back.
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The trail is well maintained, lots of loss rocks but a gradual descent. Lots of people in town but didn’t see another person the full distance down.
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Being from Vermont, this hike was very different for me. The cliffs and desert are beautiful! Take that easy reading with a big grain of salt! I hike a lot, and I’m used to some rough going, but there is a very short section of this trail just before One rises onto the Mesa, which is very exposed wood bad footing. That’s followed by a very short but very challenging little chimney through the rocks very much, a hands and feet scramble, which makes coming down more challenging than going up. Getting up there is worth it but even if you stop before that the scenery is amazing.
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Did the hike two days ago. Weather was perfect. Trail conditions great. Very well marked trail. Difficult hike due to elevation gain. Took me longer to come down than hike up. I was spent by the finish.
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I started under head lamp at 4am to beat out a storm that was forecast. I reached the summit right at 7am with sunny skies and 30mph wind. The trail is very nice, easy to follow and not difficult. It is one of the most enjoyable high point trails I’ve done. I would recommend this hike for anyone wanting to reach a states highest peak. Just check the weather because of afternoon thunderstorms are common.
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Beautiful but only made it a mile before snow and ice turned us back. Had micro spikes but kept postholing.
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Beautiful but only made it a mile before snow and ice turned us back. Had micro spikes but kept postholing.
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Beautiful but only made it a mile before snow and ice turned us back. Had micro spikes but kept postholing.
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Nice hike with slow inclines until the top. It got a little icy in spots. Jan will do that. Spikes or snow shoes are a good idea.
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This wasn’t a very long hike but the elevation kicked my butt. If you like the magical feeling of being deep in the woods then I recommend trying it!
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Found a lost dog that had been out for 4 days in this hike. Totally beautiful area, and the thru hike was one of the best to date!
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Easy trail for moderate drivers with excellent views which after a hard day, you can enjoy local breweries at red river
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Difficulty: 4 - Rocky, steep 2 mile shelf road with amazing views. Mostly single lane with little bypass areas. Not for the faint of heart. Only ATV and UTV recommended. No MC, Jeep or larger recommended. One way up where it dead ends and you have to come back the way you came. Summit is about 10,500’
Scenery: 4 - best at overlook #1 and campsite summit
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Difficulty: 2 - two lane dusty gravel road with full size vehicles also using the road.
Scenery: 4 - at the high mountain clear lake
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A hike with the chilies for 6.3 miles. Just far enough to get to see Chimayosos Peak. The trail was very wet and we finished before another afternoon thunderstorm began. Discovered one new flower called Ocean spray.
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A short but challenging for a flat lander like myself. Incredible views of the rocks that were Georgia O’keefe’s muse. It was hot, hot, hot and accidentally walked through a dust devil.
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Cross country skiing at 9700 feet and great weather 48 degrees in New Mexico
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The high road area is really having issues the past few years with vandalism, so please be careful parking in this area.. Penasco and surrounding areas (Chamisal, El Valle) are villages that are currently suffering from a terrible influx of crime fueled by heroin and meth. A friend of mine had all the windows smashed out of his Subaru at Trampas Campground (one of the places to park for San Leonardo Lakes hike). The road up to the higher parking area for San Leonardo is entirely impassable if there's been snow or rain - I was stuck there once. That higher parking lot makes me nervous because it's so remote. The hike to the lakes is wonderful although my more elderly and knee-sore family wasn't able to make it to the top because it was too strenuous at this altitude. The last mile and a half is truly steep. Also, there are so many cows on this trail, and in 2020 there was a very large bull with them, and he was displeased -- we felt rather trapped in the narrow canyon. And, the 10 miles of washboard dirt road from the highway also was too much for me. I won't be going back here. Too remote, too steep, too risky. Going to stick with Windsor Trail if I want to get up that high.
★
If you love wildflowers and lush trails this is not the trail for you. You will be heartbroken by the devestation inflicted by the herds of cows that wipe out every bit of vegetation they can reach from the thimbleberries and raspberries to the red elder and twin berry to the maples and young aspens. They stomp through and muck up all the springs. The influx of humans also has taken its toll with stupid "survival shelters" popping up, dog poop in plastic bags sitting on the trail, trash, human feces.... This aint your Granny's wilderness any more, sorry to report.
★
My most favourite hike in Northern New Mexico.
An hour of driving to Ghost Ranch, checkpoint before office parking lot: checking reservations and taking temperatures. BTW $10 fee for day hikes this year!
I want to bring some correction into my track, which I started from the top of Kitchen Mesa down to ranch.
This whole hike was 6 miles round trip, and we started at 11:30AM and finished at around 2PM, which makes it no longer, than 3 hrs.
Hike was spectacular! Moderate and comfortable in the beginning, little harder at the top portion of the hike, especially with a dog, where you have to squeeze yourself climbing between the rocks, but we all made it: 7 brave older women with a big dog!
I wanted to stay on top of kitchen Mesa forever! Just breeze and look around, taking numerous pictures and videos of this marvelous place!
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Beautiful aspen and ponderosa forest hike. Great for snowshoeing in winter. Want to try mtb in summer.
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Pretty great views, gradual uphill climb. I hike like a turtle so it took me 4:45 to complete.
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Nice, fairly easy ride and the fall scenery was really good.
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Beautiful, rugged drive from near San Miguel, New Mexico to Colorado 17 near Cumbres Pass via FR 87A/87. Passes above Cruces Basin Wilderness/Brazos Ridge Overlook (~ 10,600’) and Apache Canyon. Turnoff to Osier possible (did on ATV years ago) but was told road is not being maintained. Definitely a 4WD route and probably a good idea to bring a chainsaw in case of downed trees across the road.
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Great ride and a shuttle from FR 42 to Hopewell makes it really enjoyable.
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“Up and over” Taos Ski Valley I work in the ski valley and love this hike as an alternative to some of the more busy trails. I start at the base of lift one and make my way up the access roads that take you up tot the top of lift 2. From here you can see kachina and wheeler in all their glory. Cut down the access roads on the backside and make your way to the return trail that will take you back to lift one. Great loop!
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There is a long ridge walk between S Jicarita and Trouble Peak all above tree line. The views of the Truchas Peaks and Chimayosos to the south are incredible. Great views of the Wheeler peak area to the north and the Mora valley to the east as well as Jicarita peak and the Jemez range to the west as well!
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Taking the centennial trail then going up the ridge- gorgeous views on the peak. 14 miles and 3300 feet elevation from the campground.
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Absolutely gorgeous alpine lake destination. The trail to the lake is very rocky and makes for slow going for the majority of the total distance but you will be rewarded for the effort. Depending on the season you may encounter hunters on horseback. Pro-tip: Check when big horn sheep hunting season starts before setting out in August. I met one group already at the lake and two more groups on the way up. All were friendly.
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Impressive hike. We’ve been doing shorter hikes near Angel Fire for years. This summer I decided our kids were all old enough(14, 13 & 9) to take on something more ambitious. After some coaxing they all agreed. It took us about 3 hours to get to the lake and about 2:15 to return back. Amazing views along the way and the lake is really beautiful. We we’re all glad we decided to go.
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Beautiful, easy hike along stream! Ran into large downed tree covering path about 2.4 miles in.
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Solo hiked this and hammock camped at the top by one of the lakes. Epically beautiful. Has to be the best view in the state when you get to the lakes and can see the cliffs reflecting off the glassy smooth water.
Challenging hike but not really too bad. If this is labeled “difficult” I’d say it’s on the easier side of that spectrum.
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Made it up to about 12.5k feet before we heard thunder from the nearby clouds and unfortunately had to call it a day and turnaround right there. So close, but so far! Absolutely incredible hike and is now my favorite in the whole state. Challenging but not too bad if you’re experienced. Gets much steeper the closer you get to the peak. Makes the first ~2 miles seem like they were flat. Definitely recommend on a sunny day.
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This is an interesting hike to and along an abandoned aqueduct on the seasonally dry Petaca river which drains into the Rio grande.
It’s a bit of a ramble through rocks down to and back up out of the Gorge but not bad. Not easy walking along the aqueduct. Easy walking on the floor of the Gorge.
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An exquisite hike. I thought I was just viewing a tributary to the Rio Grande River but the variety and scenic terrain down into the gorge where three different river branches (all dry in April) converged was amazing. Easy to follow cow paths on most of it. Pretty easy trail, Rocky in places but certainly navigable. I turned around where the gorge seem to narrow and I was running out of daylight. There’s plenty of area to explore here. A couple miles further downstream there’s an abandoned aqueduct.
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Beautiful trail and lake. It is highly trafficked and care must be taken when passing and negotiating narrow parts of the trail.
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8/1/19
I started up 90 wheeler peak tr at 6:45am and didn’t see a single person on my way. I followed 90 up to Bull of the Woods pasture.
Then I took 64 Bull of the Woods tr to summit Gold Hill. Bull of The Woods was a great trail filled with great views. It’s a little tricky finding the true summit at Gold Hill there is a sign that says 57 Lobo Peak and has Gold Hill written in pencil under that. I trusted Gaia to lead me to the summit.
I planned to take 57 Lobo Peak back down 60 Gavilan and hike the rode back to the parking lot but I ran out of water at the summit and was certain that 57 did not offer any creeks so I took 63 Long Canyon trail back. 57 is all ridge top and a good deal above tree line leaving Gold Hill towards Lobo. Be sure to prehydrate and bring plenty of water if you plan taking 57 from Gold Hill.
Long Canyon 63 offered creeks and lots of beautiful wild flowers. I refilled my bottles there and enjoyed the nice long down hill after 3200 of vert on the first half this trail offered a nice long gentle downhill to carry you back to the trail head.
The weather is perfect in late July early August for hiking, backpacking, and trail running here. Highly recommended to take several days to explore these trails!
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This is a really beautiful hike along the Santa Barbara River near Taos, NM. You may encounter grazing cattle and riders on horses with accompanying fecal deposits. But it is just a lovely route in pine and birch forest.
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Pleasant moderate hike from the parking lot at the Taos ski area. Better for a rest day or a family hike than an adventure. Only real payoff is Bull of the Woods meadow at the top, which was spangled with wildflowers in July.
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A nice break from July’s blazing rays. The Italianos trail starts out criss-crossing a stream (11 crossings, according to our guidebook) amid tall evergreens. About a mile up, aspens start to intermingle. Then at about 2.5 miles, you encounter a series of mountain meadows (which right now teem with wildflowers).
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stars
Beautiful, rugged terrain. It's a great place to show off the beauty of New Mexico to out-of-state visitors. I made the climb with five kids ranging in age from 2 to 12. I was never nervous carrying my toddler up the steep ascent onto the mesa, but I have a lot of experience carrying kids on precarious terrain. We passed a few groups during our hike on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It never felt crowded.
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