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:
