Hiking in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

Dear Blog.  On Saturday, May 11, 2013, we decided to go for a couple hikes in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains just to the north of Santa Fe.  The Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Spanish for "Blood of Christ") are the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They start in southern Colorado and end in northern New Mexico.  The mountains contain a number of fourteen thousand foot peaks in the Colorado portion, as well as all the peaks in New Mexico which are over thirteen thousand feet.

We started our hike in the Hyde Memorial State Park. This area used to be part of an old ski resort.  It is named for scouting enthusiast and outdoor educator Benjamin Talbot Babbit Hyde.  The old lodge and ski rental buildings are now used by the park service.

For our hike, we picked the West Circle Trail.  This 2.2 mile hike is considered difficult due to the significant elevation gain of over 1,000 feet in one mile.  Since the trail is already up in the mountains, we started at 8,400 feet and reached the "Top of the Trail" at 9,440 feet.  We need to start hiking at elevation if we are going to get into condition to hike in Colorado, where many of the trails start at over 10,000 feet.

Needless to say, the trail was all uphill on the way to the top.  A convenient trail map was located at the summit.  Here is Kathy pointing out our location.

From the summit, we had great views looking north toward the Ski Santa Fe ski resort.  Due to the recent rains in the area, the mountain tops are now covered with snow again.

Looking south, we could see all the way down to the center of Santa Fe.  It is a shame that our photos just don't do justice to the amazing views.

At one point a passing cloud dropped snow flakes on us.  It passed quickly and sun was soon shining brightly again.  However, we did have to bundle up because the temperature dropped quickly.

While it took us over an hour to get to the top (with frequent "breath breaks" and "photo ops"), we were back to the truck in no time flat.

Our next stop was the Chamisa Trail.  Here is the description of the Chamisa Trail from Backpacker Magazine:

"Stop and savor the butterscotch aroma of ponderosa pine bark on this 4.7 mile, dog-friendly, out-and-back hike just outside Santa Fe.  Weaving through the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the Chamisa Trail departs east of its trailhead, ascending ridge contours through open evergreen forest.  Before long, the sound of Hyde Road is exchanged for the chirping of birds and the rustling of wind wandering through the trees.  In some spots, rock outcroppings line the well-worn trail and flecks of mica glitter in the sun. The trail descends to the Tesuque River and rolls along past aspens and junipers as the sound of the river gradually increases."

After reading that, how could we resist? Here is the view from the ridge looking through the open evergreen forest they mentioned.

As for the glittering mica, the mountains are full of 1.65 billion year old pink and red granite, which is a coarse-grained igneous rock that cooled deep in the Earth that is made up mostly of quartz and pink orthoclase feldspar.  In some places, the granite is unusually quartz-rich, containing up to 40% quartz crystals. It really did sparkle as we walked passed it.  All that red rock gave the trail a particularly pinky glow.

Here is the Tesuque River.  It doesn't look like much of a river because New Mexico is currently in Extreme Drought.  The banks are lined with aspen trees that haven't leafed-out yet because of the high elevation.  The white, leafless aspen trees gave a ghostly appearance to the scene.  This reminded us of a view we had on the West Circle Trail earlier in the day, seeing whole stands of ghostly, white aspen running down the mountainside.  We had thought at first that we were looking at a wave of dead trees, but we learned that it was just our beloved aspen in their early spring garments.

Remember that part of the description that said "dog-friendly."  We met many canine hikers and their owners out on the trail.  Here is George, a Pitbull/Bulldog mix, carrying home his prize - a rather large section of log.  It was way too big to be called a stick.

We felt that the "dog-friendly" trail notation should probably be changed to "friendly dog" trail instead.  Especially if you count the number of scratches, pats, licks and pets per mile.  For example, here is Kathy getting help from Charlie the yellow lab as she fixed a blister pad onto her heal.  (Oh, the pain of breaking in new hiking boots.)

We got hit with another passing cloud.  This time, since we were lower in elevation, instead of snow flakes we were sprinkled with rain drops.  The little bit of moisture really brought out the fragrant aroma of the ponderosa pines.  Here is Kathy checking to make sure the bark really smells like butterscotch or were they just taking literary license in the trail description. After taking her scientific sample, Kathy can testify that the bark really smells amazingly just like butterscotch.  In fact, the smell is so sweet, she was tempted to take a bite!

Well, it seems that this trail lived up to its description.  And so ends another great day in the mountains.