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| Hiking | 12.12 Miles |
1,836 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.12 Miles | 7 Hrs 18 Mns | | 1.79 mph |
| 1,836 ft AEG | 32 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | On our third day we took the Aspen Vista Trail that we were on two days ago but this time we would continue on up to Tesuque Peak. The trail is actually a service road that leads to the upper reaches of the ski slopes and the radio/communication towers on top of te 12000 foot Tesuque Peak. The 6 mile trek gains 2000 feet in a steady but gradual climb, I thought it was a rather easy grade.
The first 1.5 miles of the trail as it passes through a dense aspen forest is quite heavily used but after that it thins out as most people have turned around by now. As I mentioned in my post on the Aspen Vista Trail, this has got to be the largest and densest aspen forest I have ever seen. It was pretty in the afternoon when we did this hike before and it was even better with the early morning light. The last 4 miles the trail/road passes through a thick fir and spruce tree forest and the aspen tree forest is below you. Great views to the west over western New Mexico. I believe I could see the mountains at Flagstaff but that seems a bit far, will have to do a little research to find out what other mountains are to the west of Albuquerque, can’t think of any that tall. There was a light cover of snow on the north facing slopes above the 11000 foot level left over from last week’s storm. The trail ends on top of the ski slopes and Tesuque Peak at 12000 feet. The other peaks along the crest of the Sangre De Christo Mountains can be seen all over 12000 feet. There were two options for returning, one was straight down the ski slopes in a little over a mile which seemed a bit steep for me the other was to return the way we came, we chose the latter.
I will have to make it a point to come back here again, there are so many more trails to be done. The down side to the Santa Fe area is that it is a tourist town (not as bad as Sedona) and can be quite crowded. This and the Lincoln National Forest in Cloudcroft are both good options for more hiking while in Lubbock Texas. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Extreme
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