Hamilton Mesa

Sept. 14, 2013

Out of a list of several hikes we have on our to-do list we decided on the Hamilton Mesa in the southern part of the Pecos Wilderness.  This is a different type of hike from what Byron and I have been doing lately.  As you may remember he pretty much lives to fly-fish and we usually hike along a stream of some type where Byron fishes and I photograph.  We are both happy.  As you may surmise from the title we are not hiking at the bottom of a canyon, instead we are on the top of a mesa…

The Pecos Wilderness was closed for a month or so earlier this year due to several forest fires within the Wilderness.  We entered the Wilderness from the south end through Pecos, NM using hwy 63.  In several areas one can see where the fires were down along the road.  We stopped in Tererro to pick up some snacks and talked with the shop keeper.  The Pecos River is essentially dead in this are due to the runoff of ash and debris, but the river is open for fishing about five miles upstream, away from a majority of the burned areas.  In fact after the rain on our way out we could see that the runoff looked like black sludge flowing down the river bed.  Hamilton Mesa we were informed was also some distance from the fires and was open for camping and hiking.  The first photo is taken outside of Tererro, you can see blackened parts of the forest.

We kept driving up along the river until we hit the forest road 223.  From there it was a steep climb along the edge of the mesa until we made it to the top at the Iron Gate campground.  From there we found the trailhead to Hamilton Mesa.  The road itself is part gravel, rocks, and native soil.  There are all kinds of potholes and naturally made speed bumps.  We wound our way from side to side of the road trying to keep on the best part.  Fortunately there was little traffic both coming and going so wandering from side to side wasn’t an issue.  I don’t think I would want to try this road in my 2WD pickup.  From where we turned on to the forest road we climbed about 1,000’ and we hiked up about another 700’ until we made it to the open meadows of the mesa, at 10,000’.

The campground had a handful of tents; one has to really want to come to this campground so I was surprised that there were people here at all.  The hike is quite easy, the 700’ climb is spread out over about 1.5 miles of trail.  You are in a forest the entire time until emerging in the meadow.  There are several places in the forest where you can look over to the next mesa with occasional views to the bottom.

When we got to the meadow we just had to stop and gaze at everything around us.  Neither of us had ever seen NM like this before.  We could see mountain tops anywhere from 3 – 12 miles away in a full 360° panorama from where we were standing.

We both shot quite a number of images; the sky was cooperating by including nice big puffy clouds.  Unfortunately there were a lot of gray moisture filled clouds off in one direction which turned out to be coming our way.  We kept wandering up the mesa looking at everything around us.  We were up there for almost an hour before the first raindrops and rumbles of thunder reached us.  We were prepared, Byron with his rain jacket and me with my jacket and pants.  It was a steady rain so we wanted to get back quickly because we were not sure how the road would hold up under all the rain.  We got back to the car after an hour of hiking in a steady rain.  By the time we got back I think Byron had added rain pants to his hiking equipment list.

The rain had stopped as we got back to the car.  As we were driving down we could see clouds clearing from the valleys below.  Of course we had to stop a few times for a photo op.  It was a bit harder going down because the pot holes were filled with water so we didn’t know how deep they were.  Needless to say we made back safely.

After our hike we drove a bit further into the Wilderness looking for other possible hikes.  Several trailheads appeared but we will have to investigate to see where the trails go.

I hope to return to this trail again when the fall colors appear.  I could see stands of aspens all through the pine forest which should make for some striking images.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark