Peeking around Wheeler Peak
Today was the all day ride, so we packed sandwiches and plenty of water and headed back to the stables. The first part of the ride was a partial reprise of yesterday's. We got up to the Middle Fork ford and then took another trail from the other side of that creek. This was a very pleasant ride up -- switch backs all up the side of this mountain, reaching a ridge where it was very clear why the town has the name Red River :). Red rock and gravel everywhere. This trail (getting smaller all along the way) wandered along the backside of the mountain we'd just gone up, crossing multiple small rockslides, and affording us a trail that went up steeply on one side and fell away down to the bottom on the other. Parts of it were sheer rock, other parts were practically meadows (albeit with quite a slope). We were still below the treeline, though. The views were absolutely gorgeous, and the weather was sunny and bright throughout the morning.
Around lunchtime, though we didn't stop for lunch, we reached Horseshoe Lake, which sits in a little bowl just before the last ridge to go over before reaching the back of Wheeler. This part was probably the most difficult of all the riding today (which had already made yesterday's trip a Sunday's walk in the park). The trail up to the ridge was not only very steep and straight up (no switchbacks, which probably would have helped). It was just above the timberline and it was very rocky. Not gravel, but rocks big enough to need two hands to pick up and small enough to slide all over. Mike elected to wait it out at Horseshoe, and me and the guide both wound up leading our horses up when they both balked entirely at going up this rocky slope.
This is when I discovered that yes, we were really up at 14K above sea level. I'd go up about five feet before I had to stop and suck in more oxygen. It's really a strange feeling to be breathing in deeply but still not have enough air. (The horses overall were in much better shape in this respect, but they live year round at 9-10K and go up regularly whereas I live at sea level.) Plus Stripe really didn't like some sections so I was leaning my weight into the lead I was holding to get her up. We finally made it to the top of the ridge, and had a long meandering but easy trail along the back of Wheeler. This high up, there were no trees but a big expanse of scrub and grasses and an amazing view of all the mountains to the north of this peak.
When we reached the next ridge, it was the southern shoulder of Wheeler, if you consider the peak to be facing roughly west. There was no trail up to the top on this side, so we worked our way over to the northern shoulder. At this point there were a handful of hikers also intent on reaching the peak. On this side, there was a small footpath going up, but nothing a horse could take. The views on either side of the peak, though, toward the south, showed us the Taos basin and was equally spectacular to the northern views, which we could see just by turning one way or the other along this ridge. Since the peak at this point was only about another 20 yards up, I'm happy to count this as reaching the peak via horseback :)
Now up to this point, the weather had been absolutely ideal for this sort of thing. But off to the north, the clouds that had been scudding past to do their work elsewhere, started instead moving south right toward us. So Ed and I got going back down the trail to return to Mike and Horseshoe Lake. Amusingly enough, going *down* that rocky scrabble on the lower ridge was a piece of cake. Horses like to see where they are going, and sliding foward is just fine, but not being able to tell where they might slide *backwards* will stop them. We went down that bit of slope in about ten seconds :). I do wish I'd taken pictures of that slope, but going up I was too busy hauling a horse up and on the way down, I wanted no distractions, not realizing how easy it would be (tho it was a balancing act and definitely wanted your attention regardless).
The three of us then decided to get off this mountain and at least back to the first ridge in lieu of lunch on account of the weather moving in. We repacked things a bit -- I gave Mike his poncho from my backpack, and tucked mine into an ourter pocket so I wouldn't have to try to manhandle the backpack while riding. We got past all the rockslides and a good way toward that ridge before it started snowing. The snow was okay for me, because it was dry and pretty much slid off, though of course it was melting on the trail, so I was glad we were out of the steepest parts. Then somewhere in there it started hailing. Also, you could hear thunder -- and I could tell it was moving around us by the way Stripe's ears were tracking the booms and crashes, but I pretty consistently counted around 7-8 seconds between flashes and booms.
Then in the middle of all that there was an almighty BOOM right on top of the flash -- WAY too close, tho I didn't see exactly where and given that Stripe totally startled on it, was much more occupied with settling her down. Did not want to be thrown at this point :). She was very good, though, I collected her immediately. She balked only at one other point -- there was this culvert that was keeping that section of the trail dry by diverting the tiny trickle of water. But the dirt covering it was partly eroded off, so the corrugated pipe was clearly visible across the trail. She didn't want to step over it at all, but Ed brought his horse back, turned right around in front of her so Stripe could only see Tick's butt and she followed him right across. Gotta love the herding instinct. After that it was a matter of staying warm (it seemed to drop temperatures and then warm up, back and forth). At this point, I would say it was mostly sleeting -- rain and snow or hail mixed together. Fortunately it was not coming down hard (except for one 30 second burst) overall. The trail was pretty muddy and slippery, though by the time we got back to the trailers. I could feel Stripe's hooves sliding now and then at the bottom.
That was the most fun I've had going out riding! It was great! Finally ate our sandwiches around 5:30 when we got back in, and we heated up some fabulous smoked ribs and brisket courtesy of my uncle. Watched Knowing (Nicholas Cage) and more Disney Channel to rot my brain.
Tomorrow was an off day, we planned to go out shopping (esp for fudge) and recovering and such. Monday, back down to Albuquerque for my flight back.
Around lunchtime, though we didn't stop for lunch, we reached Horseshoe Lake, which sits in a little bowl just before the last ridge to go over before reaching the back of Wheeler. This part was probably the most difficult of all the riding today (which had already made yesterday's trip a Sunday's walk in the park). The trail up to the ridge was not only very steep and straight up (no switchbacks, which probably would have helped). It was just above the timberline and it was very rocky. Not gravel, but rocks big enough to need two hands to pick up and small enough to slide all over. Mike elected to wait it out at Horseshoe, and me and the guide both wound up leading our horses up when they both balked entirely at going up this rocky slope.
This is when I discovered that yes, we were really up at 14K above sea level. I'd go up about five feet before I had to stop and suck in more oxygen. It's really a strange feeling to be breathing in deeply but still not have enough air. (The horses overall were in much better shape in this respect, but they live year round at 9-10K and go up regularly whereas I live at sea level.) Plus Stripe really didn't like some sections so I was leaning my weight into the lead I was holding to get her up. We finally made it to the top of the ridge, and had a long meandering but easy trail along the back of Wheeler. This high up, there were no trees but a big expanse of scrub and grasses and an amazing view of all the mountains to the north of this peak.
When we reached the next ridge, it was the southern shoulder of Wheeler, if you consider the peak to be facing roughly west. There was no trail up to the top on this side, so we worked our way over to the northern shoulder. At this point there were a handful of hikers also intent on reaching the peak. On this side, there was a small footpath going up, but nothing a horse could take. The views on either side of the peak, though, toward the south, showed us the Taos basin and was equally spectacular to the northern views, which we could see just by turning one way or the other along this ridge. Since the peak at this point was only about another 20 yards up, I'm happy to count this as reaching the peak via horseback :)
Now up to this point, the weather had been absolutely ideal for this sort of thing. But off to the north, the clouds that had been scudding past to do their work elsewhere, started instead moving south right toward us. So Ed and I got going back down the trail to return to Mike and Horseshoe Lake. Amusingly enough, going *down* that rocky scrabble on the lower ridge was a piece of cake. Horses like to see where they are going, and sliding foward is just fine, but not being able to tell where they might slide *backwards* will stop them. We went down that bit of slope in about ten seconds :). I do wish I'd taken pictures of that slope, but going up I was too busy hauling a horse up and on the way down, I wanted no distractions, not realizing how easy it would be (tho it was a balancing act and definitely wanted your attention regardless).
The three of us then decided to get off this mountain and at least back to the first ridge in lieu of lunch on account of the weather moving in. We repacked things a bit -- I gave Mike his poncho from my backpack, and tucked mine into an ourter pocket so I wouldn't have to try to manhandle the backpack while riding. We got past all the rockslides and a good way toward that ridge before it started snowing. The snow was okay for me, because it was dry and pretty much slid off, though of course it was melting on the trail, so I was glad we were out of the steepest parts. Then somewhere in there it started hailing. Also, you could hear thunder -- and I could tell it was moving around us by the way Stripe's ears were tracking the booms and crashes, but I pretty consistently counted around 7-8 seconds between flashes and booms.
Then in the middle of all that there was an almighty BOOM right on top of the flash -- WAY too close, tho I didn't see exactly where and given that Stripe totally startled on it, was much more occupied with settling her down. Did not want to be thrown at this point :). She was very good, though, I collected her immediately. She balked only at one other point -- there was this culvert that was keeping that section of the trail dry by diverting the tiny trickle of water. But the dirt covering it was partly eroded off, so the corrugated pipe was clearly visible across the trail. She didn't want to step over it at all, but Ed brought his horse back, turned right around in front of her so Stripe could only see Tick's butt and she followed him right across. Gotta love the herding instinct. After that it was a matter of staying warm (it seemed to drop temperatures and then warm up, back and forth). At this point, I would say it was mostly sleeting -- rain and snow or hail mixed together. Fortunately it was not coming down hard (except for one 30 second burst) overall. The trail was pretty muddy and slippery, though by the time we got back to the trailers. I could feel Stripe's hooves sliding now and then at the bottom.
That was the most fun I've had going out riding! It was great! Finally ate our sandwiches around 5:30 when we got back in, and we heated up some fabulous smoked ribs and brisket courtesy of my uncle. Watched Knowing (Nicholas Cage) and more Disney Channel to rot my brain.
Tomorrow was an off day, we planned to go out shopping (esp for fudge) and recovering and such. Monday, back down to Albuquerque for my flight back.