Really great photo of the storm, the light, and the peaks!
The area around Pecos Baldy Lake is one of my favorites. Years ago I spent a September night under the full moon up there being serenaded by the coyotes and then the elk, to be followed by the crashing of a couple of bulls sparring that echoed around the basin.
As for the storms- I recall being on the trail that drops into the Pecos valley off Hamilton Mesa and hearing what I first thought was the wind roaring behind me, turning and seeing that instead it was a wall of hail coming up the valley. I barely had time to find a good sized blowdown, pull out my tarp and drape it over my pack and myself before spending nearly an hour being pelted by hailstones from pea to quail-egg-sized. Glad I was in timber when it came along.
Thanks Mike! Grand country indeed! The whole Trailrider's Wall vicinity has strong claims on the most spectacular views in New Mexico, and we all know there's stiff competition. I've had trouble getting up there in summer over the years though; I usually find myself there in the shoulder seasons when the weather is boring and the grass is brown. With any luck, I'd like to go one more time this summer while things are still green. Have you been in from the north via the Santa Barbara drainage?
Jackson- I've never been in from the Santa Barbara side, just a good ways up the creek while fishing. I've been most of the way up the Rio Medio Trail, 155, from the west side, but get nervous about leaving the truck up there by the Borrego Mesa Trailhead. Every time I've gone up there I've come in from Jack's Creek TH. I also greatly prefer taking the Sebadillosos Trail _down_ from Trailrider's Wall to Beatty's rather than grinding up it!
Yeah, I'd really like to hike in from the west some day, but I expect I'd only do it if I could get someone to shuttle my vehicle out of there and pick me up somewhere else.
We once backpacked in from Iron Gate, crossed the valley, and camped halfway up the Sebadillosos. We hiked up and around Trailriders the next morning and then out with our packs. Found a bunch of fossils up high. It didn't seem so bad on the way in, but going out felt pretty deathmarch-y. That's an itinerary I'm never doing again.
4 comments:
Really great photo of the storm, the light, and the peaks!
The area around Pecos Baldy Lake is one of my favorites. Years ago I spent a September night under the full moon up there being serenaded by the coyotes and then the elk, to be followed by the crashing of a couple of bulls sparring that echoed around the basin.
As for the storms- I recall being on the trail that drops into the Pecos valley off Hamilton Mesa and hearing what I first thought was the wind roaring behind me, turning and seeing that instead it was a wall of hail coming up the valley. I barely had time to find a good sized blowdown, pull out my tarp and drape it over my pack and myself before spending nearly an hour being pelted by hailstones from pea to quail-egg-sized. Glad I was in timber when it came along.
Grand country, innit?
Thanks Mike! Grand country indeed! The whole Trailrider's Wall vicinity has strong claims on the most spectacular views in New Mexico, and we all know there's stiff competition. I've had trouble getting up there in summer over the years though; I usually find myself there in the shoulder seasons when the weather is boring and the grass is brown. With any luck, I'd like to go one more time this summer while things are still green. Have you been in from the north via the Santa Barbara drainage?
Jackson-
I've never been in from the Santa Barbara side, just a good ways up the creek while fishing. I've been most of the way up the Rio Medio Trail, 155, from the west side, but get nervous about leaving the truck up there by the Borrego Mesa Trailhead. Every time I've gone up there I've come in from Jack's Creek TH. I also greatly prefer taking the Sebadillosos Trail _down_ from Trailrider's Wall to Beatty's rather than grinding up it!
Yeah, I'd really like to hike in from the west some day, but I expect I'd only do it if I could get someone to shuttle my vehicle out of there and pick me up somewhere else.
We once backpacked in from Iron Gate, crossed the valley, and camped halfway up the Sebadillosos. We hiked up and around Trailriders the next morning and then out with our packs. Found a bunch of fossils up high. It didn't seem so bad on the way in, but going out felt pretty deathmarch-y. That's an itinerary I'm never doing again.
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