We hiked down into the canyon in May, then did the loop depicted (Dragon's Back out, east ridge back, in June and it was very hot. Little cover available for shade. Used all 3 liters of water in each of our hydropacks. The views are great over most of the hike, especially Dragon's back, from where you see Cabezon Peak not far away. Coming back south from the farthest out point you go through a very interesting area with minerally outflows onto the rock surfaces. In the canyon below is a shallow "creek" with lots of mineral deposits lining and in it, crusting over nearby plants--a completely different environment than the ridges above and worth exploring. We didn't bike this, but there seem to be plenty of areas that most can handle, but interspersed among them are some very difficult sections that require a high level of skill. Overall, I'd wait until cooler weather to do a hike here, but it's worth the views and varied geology (much of it white owing to copious amounts of gypsum covering the surfaces).
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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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I hiked this trail with a group of teenage boys from church last night.
There is about 3 feet of snow. Winsor trail is really easy to hike because all of the traffic keeps the snow packed nicely. (Not icy at all.) After the turnoff to the Nambe Lake trail, though, we were walking through a foot of untouched snow. The depth of the snow combined with the steep grade was too much for some in our group. About a half mile from the lake, we backtracked to the clearing just above where the Nambe Creek meets the Winsor trail to camp for the night. Gorgeous hike and perfect winter conditions right now. We all had a great time.
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Beautiful trail (once you get past the fallen trees that have been decimated by drought, disease, or beetles). Don't count on any water to be available for filtering. I was up there on Labor Day and September 15th. On Labor Day, the stream was barely a trickle. Mid-September, the stream was mostly dry with occasional puddles. I was glad that we all brought sufficient water.
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