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| Clear Creek Trail - Cimarron Canyon, NM | |
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| | Clear Creek Trail - Cimarron Canyon, NM | | | |
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Clear Creek Trail - Cimarron Canyon, NM
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| Hiking | 3.92 Miles |
820 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.92 Miles | | | |
| 820 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | The reason for diverting from the Enchanted Circle and into Cimarron Canyon in the first place. I mean, really, who can pass up a Waterfall Hike? Certainly not me.
I made a small mistake right off the bat. There is a sign on the highway for the trail about 100 feet before the parking area. I assumed, (ugh, never assume) that the trail started at the parking area. But no, come to find out later, it is actually right across the road from the sign. But I found a trail leaving the parking area and crossing the creek, so I took it. It switches back and forth up to a ridge and it was rocky, but well defined. I followed it for about 1/3 of a mile and it appeared to come off the ridge and down into the canyon where the creek was. Once I got down there, the trail disappeared but after searching, I intersected the REAL trail.  So I got some elevation early on and made a reverse lollipop loop out of it. I think I would regret that later.
The description I found for this trail mentions A waterfall. I wonder how many people turned around after the 1st one. The trail was nice and then there's a spot before the first waterfall. It's a small fall there, but the rock on either side closes in pinching the waters. The only way to not get wet and possibly in the current itself was to traverse the near vertical rock. It was a little tricky. I ran into a couple before this and they had to turn around because they had a dog with and couldn't figure out how to get the dog past that point. I managed it and kept going up the trail and encountered the first of what would be 3 major waterfalls. The trail for the first rises above the fall itself, so it would have been a scramble and major bushwack to get to the actual base. I kept going along the trail and soon after, encountered the second. There was a use trail to take you right up to the top of the falls and then I picked my way carefully down a bit to get alongside the falls, but again, to get to the base would have been time consuming. Skies were getting pretty overcast and I was hoping to finish the trail, so I kept going to the third waterfall. This one was almost hidden with the noise just giving it away. You could see the water going over the edge, but the fall corkscrewed away from the trail and you really couldn't see much of the fall itself. To get to the bottom of that one and then hike up the creek itself, was the only way you were going to get a good look at that one.
By this time, I was starting to get pretty fatigued. I thought I would do better than this, it's not that long of a hike. But of all the hiking I had done to this point, any that were at a higher elevation were relatively flat. I think a variety of factors was making me run out of gas. I was wearing a heavier pack this time and the higher I went, the more trouble I had recovering my breath. I think working harder at that altitude was catching up to me. I kept going up the trail and the further I got, the worse the trail conditions became. My guess, most people stop after the third fall and maintenance for the upper trail wasn't as much of a priority. I finally reached a point, ALMOST to the end, where the trail took on a very steep section that was almost a scramble. I just flat out hit a wall at that point and decided that I was not going to make it to the top and see what I've read is a nice view. On top of that, I knew from what little I could see of the sky, that the weather was not on my side for the return back down. So I turned around.
It started raining before I was even halfway back down, so I broke out a very large poncho that I had bought years before and never used. It was a Frogg Togg so I thought it would be good. It sucked. I would have been better off without it and finally just took it off. It used snaps to close the fabric around, creating armholes, except the snaps were useless and nothing stayed snapped, leaving long pieces trailing along split in two. Absolutely useless. The only reason I kept it when I got home was in case I wanted to salvage some of the fabric for something else.
So towards the end, I got to see the REAL trail that I missed before and it was really nice. Comes out about 150' east of the parking area. Really interesting log project thing right at the end, just before you hit the pavement of the highway. Back to the truck, completely wiped out, made the drive to Red River for a quick dinner and then found my next campsite just out of town.
Nice hike, in spite of me apparently still being out of shape. I would do this one again, start earlier and do it in it's entirety. I hate not finishing what I start, so this one is a bit of unfinished business. Would like to also have the time to see all these falls from the bottom. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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| Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty & well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming, "Wow What a Ride!" |
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