PECOS BALDY LAKE, C-7. Fireweed growing along the trail to East Pecos Baldy Lake. I pass through a field overflowing with colorful wildflowers and arrive at the lake. Alpine wildflowers grow close to the ground and in mats. Hundreds of pink elephant’s heads decorate the marsh. Eighty feet. They graze as they go, fattening up on protein-rich plants’ new growth. My senses are at full attention. You'll find … Pecos Baldy Lake is displayed on the Truchas Peak USGS quad topo map. TWO STEPS FORWARD, PAUSE, BREATHE, repeat. After a long winter, their coats are patchy as they shed their outer layer. by Christina Selby. Walking high into these mountains makes me feel good, even if it’s a chore to get there. $('[data-sv-magazine-content-wrapper]').prepend(backBtn); A sign at the campground directs you where to park for overnight parking. It sits just 1 mile north of the town of Pecos, NM in a valley cut by the upper Pecos River on the grounds of the old Benedictine Monastery. North Fork Lake, in the Pecos Wilderness. if (document.referrer.match(window.location.host) && window.history.length > 1) { Dogs and horses are also able to use this trail. Receive exclusives on what's happening in New Mexico, our best recipes, and more. I tell them of my quest to visit all the alpine lakes in northern New Mexico. Pecos Baldy Lake Specs Difficulty: Strenuous Distance: 15.2 miles out and back Bloom season: June to September Peak bloom: July to August Flower Profile: Fireweed Fireweed is a common wildflower that often adds brilliant color to disturbed landscapes. As I stand there, a woman and her dog appear above me. If you are not camping at the lake, turn right to go north on the Skyline Trail – Trail #251. It’s the last mile and the most vertical. At this time of year, I expected a nearly bare ridge, but 2019 was a good snow year. The latitude and longitude coordinates of Pecos Baldy Lake are 35.9126027, -105.6474217 and the approximate elevation is 11,420 feet (3,481 meters) above sea level. Could it be the world’s grumpiest rodent is having fun sledding in the mountains? The trail finally levels out as the afternoon sun cozies up to the horizon. Taos’s Wheeler Peak, the state’s highest, at 13,161 feet, is visible on the horizon, with several Colorado fourteeners beyond. This means wildflower enthusiasts need to make adjustments to when they hike to the high country to catch the outstanding displays in New Mexico’s mountains. Take an overnight trip to a scenic alpine lake in the Pecos Wilderness, just outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Unlike the many avian or larger mountain wildlife species shifting their ranges north or to higher altitudes, pikas have nowhere else to go. He repeats this several times. // if we are coming from the same domain then we show the button, otherwise a user got her from Google or some other means so we don't With higher temperatures in the mountains, wildflowers are abundant earlier because of early snowmelt. Cutthroat trout. Lew Wallace Building
These abundant but small mammals live above the tree line, where summers are cool and winters are cold—or once were. After setting up camp, we donned day packs and climbed East Pecos Baldy Peak, at 12,529 feet. Tag - Pecos Baldy Lake. They navigate the rocky terrain of the ridge with ease. Though Pecos Baldy is soft ranked, only rising 280 feet above its highest saddle, its … So much for my protector. A few steps later, a dark figure moves across the snow in the distance. The Pecos wilderness is located in the Santa Fe national forest which includes 1.6 million acres of pristine alpine wilderness. Fifteen years ago, at the end of a six-month road trip, Christina Selby visited Santa Fe and never left. East Pecos Baldy from the west. This is a 27.5 mile out-and-back hike with 8200 cumulative feet of elevation gain that takes about 10-14 hours to complete. “I would tend to say that mountain regions are more resilient than vulnerable, but that’s a more complicated story to tell.”. More than 35 natural snow-fed lakes dot the southernmost of the Rocky Mountains before those towering peaks subside into the earth at Glorieta Pass, southeast of Santa Fe. The ridge falls sharply to the north, opening a view to Serpent Lake, below. Right: Snowmelt gathers in Nambé Lake. Photograph by Christina Selby. I stop at the edge of Santa Barbara Ridge to catch my breath. AS COOL REFUGES FROM DESERT HEAT, alpine lakes, with their brilliant blue water, summer wildflowers, charismatic wildlife, and relatively few visitors, are attractive destinations for any hiker willing to put in the muscle to reach them. The view reminds me of a saying posted over my desk: “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but the moments that take our breath away.”. We laugh at our mutual unpreparedness. Flowing through hundreds of miles of streams and rivers, and recharging groundwater, snowmelt provides up to 90 percent of the water that New Mexicans in downstream communities use for drinking, growing food, and running industries that fuel our economy. Lake trail 400 ; trailhead at end of a six-month road trip, Christina Selby visited Santa Fe Area... Sphinx moth flits between low-growing arctic gentian wildflowers on the talus slope in the Pecos,. Essential to life in New Mexico Magazine / New Mexico 's 20th highest ranked.! Acres with a cornice of snow in July Bull and Lake Katharine 12,622! Earlier because of early snowmelt pikas have nowhere else to go north on the finally. 400 ; trailhead at end of a six-month road trip, Christina Selby Santa... About 7 miles round-trip on trail 31 ; trailhead at end of a six-month road trip, Christina visited... Lakes where stunning beauty rewards intrepid hikers senderismo, correr y caballos es. 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