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| Hiking | 4.50 Miles |
583 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.50 Miles | | | |
| 583 ft AEG | 8 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | I hiked a short portion of this in 2015 and today I finished the segment from the upper trailhead down to the waterfall. You can also get to the waterfall from below it on another portion of trail, which is shorter. I will do that on a future visit to the area. It was a very warm and humid day, and most of the hike is exposed, so this became somewhat uncomfortable on the uphill return to the vehicle (did it midday too). When I started, another vehicle pulled up with Texas plates (pretty common around here) and an elderly couple were gearing up to do the hike. I chatted with them briefly while getting started, but figured I wouldn't see them again on the trail.
The hike follows the old rail bed most of the way, which had quite a few trestles over bigger cuts along the way (now long gone). In those spots trail work arounds exist, some a bit steep. (In general the trail gradient is mellow, since it is on an old train route). I enjoyed looking for old railroad artifacts, and especially liked the old wooden culverts. Just before I reached the waterfall, an old abandoned ranch/homestead was encountered. The topo map shows there was a road down to it from the main Fresnel Canyon Road 162C at one time.
The waterfall is about 40 feet high and carries water down an unnamed canyon that empties into the larger Salado Canyon at this point, with perennial flow continuing downstream probably the majority of distance to where Salado empties into Fresnal Creek. Fresnal Creek then continues down to the village of La Luz (a beautiful place), where the City of Alamogordo has some of its water intakes. The source of this fairly impressive flow is strong springs up in the High Rolls area, near the start point of this hike. The first green, grassy, well watered spot you encounter early into the hike is the same flow that later reaches the waterfall. It represents a pleasant change from the otherwise dry environment.
There were two other hikers at the waterfall when I arrived; they come up from the easier lower approach. After a short break, I started back the way I came. I had gone about .75 mile, and left the trail to see if I could get a photo of a silted up old rock dam I noted on my way in. This is at about the point where the rail line crossed Salado Creek to climb up toward High Rolls. It is then that I heard voices above. Lo and behold, it was the elderly couple slowly making their way down the trail. I yelled up at them to say hi, and they asked me how much further to the falls. I told them they had nearly a mile to go. (I was actually surprised to see them, as the man was moving quite slowly when I encountered them at the start of the hike) They briefly dropped out of view, then I saw them again starting to head back. They decided to call it a day, which was good considering the exposure and warm humid conditions. I regained the trail and caught up with them as they were taking a break under a large juniper tree. Had a nice visit, and they informed me they were from the Dallas area and not used to hiking at this elevation. We talked about camping, etc. and found out they were tent campers like me (not the RV crowd). He is 87 years old and his wife 83 and they still camp. How about that!  The man said the only concession they have made in recent times is to switch to sleeping on a cot, because it was becoming too difficult getting the old bones up and down off a surface mat. I can relate! They said they were fine and had plenty of water, so I headed back up the slog to the truck.
I was pretty well bushed by the time I got back to the vehicle, but I was still concerned for the couple trying to make their way back. My plan was to drive on down the main road to La Luz, before heading back up to Cloudcroft on US 82 and on to my camp site. My gut feeling was that I needed to be sure those folks got out OK. I had the option to drive back up the short distance to High Rolls and tell someone to come down and check on them, before proceeding down the mountain. I decided to wait awhile at the trailhead to see if I could spot them coming back up. I had moved my truck and parked next to their vehicle for a better view. After about half an hour they came into view, and paused at that spot for about 15 minutes before slowly moving up the trail again. At that point I decided to head back down the trail to check on them.
They weren't too far from finishing when I encountered them again. They were calm and knew what they were doing, just pacing themselves, and taking another break. I told them I just wanted to make sure all was well. They thanked me for my concern and assured me all was fine. The woman said, "I am going to tell folks back home that we had a trail angel looking out for us on this hike." That made me happy and gave me enough peace of mind to continue on with my plans. It was an interesting little hike.  |
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