Cross the Rockies by Trail Above Santa Fe; Incredible Hike

My 25 year old niece joined us for the beginning two miles of our annual “up and over” hike from the Santa Fe Ski Basin to the Winsor trailhead in Cowles. She gushed her delight at reaching the freshly bubbling Nambe Creek by saying “I can’t believe this is so close to Santa Fe!”

Having lived here on and off for decades I still think the same thing. We have high mountains with alpine and subalpine conditions very close to one of the most culturally interesting towns in the West. We can go from busy streets to complete solitude among wildflowers and lakes in less than an hour.

The Winsor Trail goes from Tesuque to Cowles, which is directly across the main chain of the Rockies from the Santa Fe Ski Basin. Cowles is an extinct town where there are three trailheads into the Pecos Wilderness. The Winsor goes directly wst toward Santa Fe while Jack’s Creek and Panchuela lead to the great north.

Winsor Trail filters out the weak immediately next to Ski Santa Fe with a strong uphill to the top of Raven’s Ridge. Here the designated Wilderness begins and mountain bikes turn around. The trial goes through a long decline through Engleman spruce and corkbark fir, north facing forest. Incredible cool and beautiful forest, full of deep snow in a good winter. You cross the trail to Nambe Lake to the south and find the beautiful creek babbling through green moss and wildflowers.

The Nambe Lake trail is steep also as it climbs up into an alpine basin immediately east of the ski area. The lake reposes in a granite bowl that looks like anywhere in Colorado, high and clean. Once in a while you may encounter cattle belonging to some rancher up there destroying vegetation, defecating in the stream and lake. This is sanctioned by the US Forest Service which manages the Pecos Wilderness, but they will warn you not to camp too close to the lake or pollute water yourself. Its okay for the cows to fill the water with bacteria and stench but not you! That being said Nambe Lake doesn’t have cows most of the time and local conservationists are campaigning to have the cows removed from this area.

Beyond the Nambe Lake junction we didn’t see anyone until we got to Cowles. You go through the beautiful meadows at Puerto Nambe where you can look out at the Rio Grande Valley and look up at the imposing side of Santa Fe Baldy. You cross the Skyline Trail which winds north to Lake Katherine and down you go eastward into a forest of mostly dead Engleman spruce that faces out east. It is a strange and desert like place with little growing on the forest floor and dead trees gray as the ground below them. These trees have been killed by bark beetles, drought, and climate change as the drying and warming trend takes its toll on forests around the West.

Across The Divide

At last you leave the dead forest and again walk in the shade cast by living trees. You pass Spirit Lake which was silent but for birds and the wind in the high slopes above it. We opened our four pack of Tractor Hard Red Cider from Tractor Brewing in Albuquerque and enjoyed the sweetness with our lunch of raw veggies and goat brie. (We got our hard cider at Trader Joes but I’m sure there are other places to get the stuff – perfect for a mild drink at 11,000 feet.)

Once you cross the divide above Puerto Nambe there is no more evidence of cows, and the view spreads out before you of the eastern Pecos Wilderness far beyond the Mora River where almost nobody goes. The great meadows Valle Largo and Valle Medio rise beyond Grass Mountain with its bald head looking down on the Mora Canyon. (All of this country is accessible from Forest Road 223, the Iron Gate Campground road that takes off from State Road 63 out of Pecos.) Big waves of forested mountains roll to the east, most without trails and without visitors. True wilderness. All of this is well to the east of your perch high above the Pecos River Canyon.

Beautiful steep downward trail takes you toward Stewart Lake. Here you start to see more evidence of people as three trails lead to Stewart Lake which is popular with fishers going after the stocked fish that lurk in the lake. Why not take off your clothes and swim in the lake?

You have two choices for places to meet your pickup vehicle. Continuing past Stewart Lake junction, you will find a trail that goes downward toward the Winsor trailhead parking area. This trail has been abandoned by the Forest Service and you will find big trees fallen across it and washed out places. But you can work your way down if you insist. The other main trail beyond it loops way around the ridge with an additional two miles of distance to get you to the Winsor trailhead.

The other option is to take the trail to the south that cuts down to Holy Ghost Canyon where there is a great campground and trailhead. This is the closest trailhead by car. You can see these trails by getting the Cowles Quad topo map at Travel Bug in Santa Fe.

Up and over, over and over. Get up in the high mountains. Enjoy the southern Rockies right out our door. Find peace and solitude and happily sore muscles. Have a beer at the trailhead (we chose Pyramid Apricot Wheat Ale). And do it again next year.

Tomorrow we head to the Four Corners Folk Festival in Pagosa Springs. We’ll post from there.