Click on any image for a larger view
I have to dig through my files from the book ‘Hiking
Adventures in Northern New Mexico’ for a new place to hike. I feel I’m under pressure to find something
new and different for my experienced hiking partners Becca and Laurie. The book has descriptions of many trails and
a CD which has routes and waypoints for each of the trails. It is a bit dated; last published in 2006,
but I have found a number of trails that I was not aware of. Today’s hike is one of those. |
| Virgin Mesa from Battleship Rock |
I have been on NM 4 many times on my way to hiking, fishing
and photography trips. Being a passenger
I was always amazed at the rock formations and hoodoos that make up the edges
of the mesa. I also see Jemez Springs; (slow down to 25), the Hummingbird Music Camp, Battleship Rock and various
pullouts for picnickers and fishermen.
I have stopped at Battleship Rock a few times on fishing and
photography expeditions. It is quite
impressive, almost 200’ to the top. It
is aptly named; the leading edge looking like prow of a battleship.
We pass it again today noting that there are quite a number
of picnickers there already. We continue
on to our turnoff at La Cueva which also has quite a number of vehicles parked
by the local store. It had rained the
day before, but good weather is promised for today. After several miles of NM 126 we find our
turnoff on to FR 376. Many campers
occupy campsites along the road. I pull
out my GPS watching for waypoints telling me where to make the next turn.
The rains from the past few days make the ground a rich dark
brown. At this elevation the morning is
damp and cool. Even with the windows
closed we notice the pines trees giving off their scent and quickly open the
windows to take it in. The rain in this
instance is not all good. The roads for
the most part are only damp but there are many pools over parts of the road
obstructing our way. Each time we go
through a pool we feel the car slip just a little before emerging on the other
side. We are in a SUV but I forgot to
ask if it has four wheel drive.
We continue on; the road has rough rocky areas where the
incline is steep but passable. Laurie
weaves from side to side to keep the oil pan from scraping bottom. Once the road levels out the pools reappear.
After a few miles we find the trailhead. Nobody else is around. We occasionally hear 4 wheelers in the
distance but nothing else. The forest
scent still lingers, the ground gives underfoot, damp but not wet. Aspen leaves are still holding on to the last
few drops of rain water. The small
shaded pines are doing the same.
After a half mile we break from the trail heading to the
ridgeline of the mesa. We come out to a
breathtaking view of the Jemez valley opposite Battleship Rock.
Perspective
As I mentioned earlier I am impressed by Battleship
Rock. From the perspective of the Virgin
Mesa it is just another rock outcropping; a battleship from above the deck. One of my hiking partners said “It resembles a
piece of pie or a piece of pizza”. A
deep dish pizza if you ask me.
The 180° view up and down the valley is almost endless. Redondo peak and other peaks of the Valles
Caldera form the horizon to the north. To
the south you can see the valley alter its path east and west as it passes
Jemez Springs and on to Jemez Pueblo. We
are high enough to see the Sandias and I’m guessing South Baldy near Socorro.
We hike a short distance to a point overlooking the
valley. Becca takes off first while I
hang back deciding if this is something I really want to do. As she gets closer to the point I get an
image of her looking out at the view. Having
Becca in the image gives a sense of scale to the scene. I decide then I also have to take in the
view.
My normal everyday hiking steps are now uncertain. Every footfall is studied before I take that
step. The ‘trail’ exists in my own
mind. The horizontal flat part of the
trail is probably six feet wide at its widest, narrowing as I approach the
point. A little off the flat part is
okay; you just want to make sure your boot doesn’t slip and the rock is firmly
anchored in its spot. The farther away
you get from the flat means a steeper slope, with the bottom about 100’ below…
I won’t explain further. At the point
you have almost a 360° view of the area, well worth the trepidation. We look for points we recognize and try to
figure out those we don’t. We see hawks
and turkey buzzards soaring above and at eye level probably assessing if we
will make it back to the mesa in one piece.
Now back to the mesa…
The trip back is just as distressing, I breathe a sigh of
relief with more solid ground underfoot.
There is no real trail here.
We follow along the ridge stopping occasionally to take in the ever
changing view of the valley. We spot
potential foundations of structures from long ago. They must be manmade as the piles of rocks
form right angles.
Laurie spots a point we set as our goal for the day. We have to hold her to it; she always wants
to go to the next point or over the next ridge.
My GPS says we have hiked about two miles along the mesa before we stop
for lunch. The clouds are building to
the southwest. With the possibility of
rain enlarging the pools on the road we decide to save the next part of the
mesa for another day.
Studying the GPS we hike a few hundred yards of a logged
meadow to the forest road that we took up here.
As we walk along the road only one pickup truck, bed filled to the roof
with firewood, crawls past us. It looks
like they are preparing for a long cold winter.
We arrive at the car 20 minutes later, no rain in sight, for
our return trip.
It was a good day.
Thank you for stopping by,
Mark
No comments:
Post a Comment