Pecos for a beginner and a fat dog

The pecos is pretty much my playground. I live in Santa fe and spend most of my free time in the pecos. I may be up there myself over Labor Day weekend. I would start at jack's creek, head for pecos baldy lake for a night, hike along trail rider's wall to truchas lake, and then make your way back through horsethief meadow. Whatever you do, don't expect to be able to link from the ski area into the rest of the pecos. There is a bad burn scar and the trail is obliterated. You can route around it, but in my mind it's better to start in jacks creek. If you have any questions about the area, specific trails or the perfect place to get a post-trail burger, just drop me a line.

Oops, I mean beatty's flats/meadow, not horsthief meadow.

I suggest you go in Iron Gate. Beatty's Flats is very pretty. About 6 or 7 miles. Not too bad going in or returning. There is kind of a hump in the trail so you go up then down in both directions. Maybe 700'. The Pecos River is sure to be running. Trout!! Several nice camping spots. Great views.

Just one word of caution: high clearance vehicle highly recommended. Jack's creek is more accessible. And the route I recommended is kinda high elevation, but doable even by relatively out of shape folks if you take your time. It would be about 25 miles.

I did not find the burn areas bad (well, around Jacks Ck anyways) after the trail crews had cleared a path the last 2 springs. If you have 2 vehicles there are numerous loop options with most starting from paved-access trailheads (of course the paved TH seem to have gates locked at 10 pm). Iron Gate to Beatty's via Hamilton Mesa is nice. From there it's uphill though. I kinda prefer clockwise loops, though there are many lower altitude loop shortcuts (Rio Azul drainage vs St. Babs divide and diversions (Mora Flats).

these sound great! Waiting for my map to come in from Amazon (my local REI has nothing for the pecos, can you believe it?)…seems like some awesome places.

Thanks!

I like the first idea, but I think doing it in reverse is a better idea. I'm pretty sure that way you camp lower the first night. I really like the Pecos.

I did the route Heather suggests last year, it was pretty fantastic and I highly recommend it. I thought the Truchas Lakes area was particularly beautiful, and much fewer people than in the Pecos Baldy area. Only downside for me was that I had no time to acclimate, so the first day from Jack's Creek to Pecos Baldy Lake nearly killed me, with around 3000 feet of elevation gain, so Luke's suggestion of reversing the route might not be a bad one. Another possibility would be to hike up Cave Creek from the Panchuela Trailhead, over to Spirit Lake, and back out on the Winsor or Winsor Ridge Trail, this is also a beautiful area with slightly easier hiking, but without the spectacular views you get with the Pecos Baldy-Truchas Lakes-Beatty's Flats option.

Jennifer did you end up doing this trip? If so any report on it? My TX middle school had the 8th graders do a five-night backpacking trip in this area at the end of every school year, I volunteered as a student leader on it all through high school and even came back as a paid adult leader (I jokingly claim to now have guiding experience :)) for a couple of years into college. As such I’ve been all over that area, Jack’s Creek and Panchuela THs, Cave Creek, Horsethief Meadows, Pecos Baldy, Truchas Peaks… it is a GORGEOUS area.

I am thinking about heading down there early summer next year as i haven’t been in the area since about 2000. Would love to hear what you ended up doing and how the trails are looking, etc.