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Horseshoe Lake, Wheeler Peak Wilderness, NM 5/29-5/30
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Home › Forums › Campfire › Member Trip Reports › Horseshoe Lake, Wheeler Peak Wilderness, NM 5/29-5/30
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Jun 1, 2015 at 12:32 pm #1329477
With still too much snow here in the Colorado Rockies, I decided to test the waters of New Mexico. Even with the nice weather in the low 70's, there would be snow there as well. Not sure of how much. I brought along some snowshoes and gaiters just in case since I was starting at 9k and heading up to 12k. I was solo.
Pre-trip trail head shot:
The trail started out really nice and I was hummin along:
Then, the snow drifts appeared and I quickly put on my gaiters:
After a while, snow covered the hills, trail, and everywhere in between. I would estimate that some drifts were as deep as 5'. THANK GOD I brought along snowshoes. Otherwise, I would of had to tun back just 2 miles in:
However, there were a few breaks in the trees where the snow had cleared. It felt like an oasis in the desert:
And there were sections that were REALLY steep (since I had no trail to go along):
I went straight up them. Take 20 steps, stop and breath. Repeat. Over. And. Over.As I mentioned above, there was no trail to rely on. I was very happy to have topo maps and Google maps on my phone with the terrain pre-loaded. I did quite a bit of pine tree bush wacking indeed. After 7 hours and 3000ft of elevation gain, I was pretty stoked to get above treeline and discover the sun exposure created a nice, flat spot on grass to set up camp. To pair with my meal, nature played the movie, 'Sunset and Mountain Views' on the big screen:
The next morning was nice and sunny just like the day before. However, this time I get to descend the beautiful meadows of snow, instead of chug up them:
I discovered a cool and convenient way to filter my water directly into my bladder:
The tip of the Sawyer mini fits right into the bite valve. Don't even need to take the reservoir out of the pack.It felt nice to come home and get a carne asada burrito:
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