Continued...
Ute Mountain
Eric had been trying to sell Tom and I on Ute Mtn for the last week. A P2K and
Wilderness HP, it lies just south of the Colorado border in New Mexico. We
never took it very seriously, but now that Tom had left us and we'd completed
all our Colorado goals, I was happy to let Eric dictate the next few days as
we headed into New Mexico. Ute Mtn in San Luis Valley, an
old shield volcano rising to just over 10,000ft, the center of the newly created
Wilderness. Unlike the higher elevation summits we'd been climbing in Colorado
the last week, this one starts out in desert scrub, finishing with pines and
junipers but still quite dry. The outing is less than six miles roundtrip with
about 2,400ft of elevation gain. We grabbed a GPX track off PB and made
our way to the TH following Google Maps (it gets the directions wrong towards
the end, but it was easy enough to find the correct way), landing at
of a dirt road on the north side of the mountain and Wilderness
boundary. Our route started up no longer open to vehicles,
which lasted for about half a mile before petering out. Occasional ducks lead up
towards the summit through forest, sometimes on decent , but
mostly just forest and occasional . Following
isn't really necessary, but they provide some
gameplay on an otherwise less-than-exciting summit. We took almost 2hrs to
reach the top, a pretty casual pace for the most part. The summit, covered
in trees without any views, had a high and a summit
register in the familiar red can one expects from Richard Carey - sure enough,
he'd visited six years earlier. We ourselves and
took a short break before descending. It was on the return that we found there
was more than one set of ducks that can be followed. We were
by 10:45a, having spent almost 3hrs on the excursion.
Kachina Peak - Lake Fork Peak
Much driving followed. After returning to SR159 on the Colorado side of the
border, we headed south into New Mexico for a second time. We drove the
remaining length of the San Luis Valley, which collects itself and drains into
the Rio Grande, continuing south to the Mexican border, effectively
bisecting New Mexico. We turned east at Arroyo Hondo to drive into the heart of
the Taos Mtns in the Carson National Forest. We ended up at the Taos Ski Area
for lunch at The Bavarian, a restaurant on the upper half of the ski area. It
was your typically overpriced ski area restaurant, but the food and beer were
pretty good. We would find our way back here the next two afternoons as well.
While sitting on the outside deck (all the inside seating was closed due to
COVID restrictions, of course), we took in the beauty of the surrounding peaks,
the highest in the state. Wheeler Peak, the state highpoint, rises high on the
east side of the canyon, outside the ski area. Most of the west side of the
canyon is within the ski area, save for the the southernmost extent. We
could have climbed Wheeler in the afternoon, but decided to save it for
Monday when it would be less crowded and we'd have a whole day to devote to
a move involved outing. I was still itching to do something, and
Kachina Peak caught my attention. Eric had already climbed it on a previous
visit during ski season, but wasn't against redoing it again in the summer. He
also liked when I suggested we could ride the chairlift up and save most of the
elevation gain. The lift runs during the summer primarily to support the
mountain bike park that has become common summer use for ski areas. The only
downside was the hefty $20/person price, no discounts for single rides. I paid
it without hesitation though - after Culebra, it was a bargain. The chairlift
does not ride up to the crest, stopping at the 11,400-foot level, some 400ft
short of the ridgeline. After , we followed a trail
that we thought would lead us up to Kachina or at least to
. It started off encouragingly, but at
the start of what looked liked a pretty lame via ferrata with closed signs.
This would not do. We did some very steep up
one of the black diamond chutes to the left of the via ferrata and were soon
where open, grassy slopes made for easier going. We were
surprised to see no trail here, expecting Kachina Peak to be a popular summer
destination, but it seems not so. By 3p we reached with
clouds gathering not far to the east over . Looking
, I noticed the higher Lake Fork Peak
about a mile away and tried to get Eric interested in joining me for a longer
outing. He was content to stop at Kachina, preferring to head back to the
Bavarian for another beer before they closed at 4p, leaving me to continue to
Lake Fork on my own. This was the most enjoyable part of the day with a fun,
high ridgeline between the two, open views off both sides. Between the two was
an unofficially named summit called , offering some short but
fun class 3 scrambling , easier class 2 through talus
rubble off the west side. Someone had spray-painted on the
rock to mark a route through the talus, a completely unnecessary and unwelcome
bit of work. It took about 50min to make my way to
where I found
placed by Guy Dahms of Albuquerque in 2019. I've seen his name all over the
Western US, but this was the first time in his home territory. With more time,
I would have liked to continue south on the ridge to Peak 12,819ft, but the
weather was threatening more and it was nearly 4p. I headed back the
same way, finding the lift closed as expected when I reached it. I made a
beeline down runs
to get myself back to the parking area
by 5:30p. I found Eric napping in his car, rested up now. We had some concerns
on where to spend the night, noting that the high number of
No Overnight
Parking signs and similar deterrents. We eventually discovered that folks
in RVs and cars were welcomed to park overnight in the lower Coyote Parking Lot
near the start of the Bull-of-the-Woods Trail. This would be our campsite for
the next two nights and worked great - very little nighttime traffic, away from
lights, and a couple of flat spots, too.
Continued...