Taking Chances in the Pecos Wilderness Area
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I'm usually a cautious hiker but lately I've been pushing the envelope a bit more. It started on my longer hikes on the Colorado Trail, partly because the consequences of bailing out of a once in a lifetime hike encourage risk taking. This has spilled over to my weekend trips as well however.
The plan was to take a long weekend and go hiking in the Pecos Wilderness in New Mexico.
The fall colors were out at Jack's Creek Trailhead. I hit the trail with print out maps of questionable quality determined to enjoy the fall colors.
I was trying out my new Chris Zimmer pack on this trip.
In the meadows along the Betty Creek Trail I saw a peice of the old west. Four cowboys were driving a herd of cattle out of the high country.
The aspens were the best I'd ever seen out west. Normally I've been either too early or too late to really see them.
After going up and along a ridge the trail dropped down to follow along the Pecos River.
Just before a "No camping" area near Pecos Falls I made camp next too a small creek. It was the perfect campsite. It was flat, relatively out of the wind and on a bit of a bench above the river where cool area would not pool. I camped next to a BLM worker on vacation with his high school son and a friend. We had a good time around the campfire before going to bed.
That night it snowed a bit. On a more unpleasant note I got up too use the bathroom and was suddenly nauseous. I was sick twice and took a Pepto pill before crawling back into bed. It was probably the altitude because I was camped at over 10,000 feet. On my finish of the Colorado Trail I'd planned my whole trip around camping at low elevation the first couple of nights.
The next morning I thought seriously about going back down with Adrian and the boys. I had two things to worry about.
1. I'd just been sick with what was probably altitude sickness and I was going to hike and possibly camp higher.
2. Most of my AquaMira had spilled out and I'd just been able to squeeze out enough to purify two liters of water. I was NOT going to drink the water from the Pecos with all the cow paddies around.In the end I decided to go on and make a circuit along the Skyline Trail and end up either at the trailhead or close too it by evening. I reasoned that I could find some relatively safe water to drink near tree line that I could use without purifying.
The trail got mixed up with some stock trails and I lost track of it. Rather then wast time backtracking I followed a very old trail that led along the side of a ridge above the upper Pecos. The trail wasn't on the map and it was very old but it had clearly been an established trail at one point.
Eventually following the old trail was more trouble then it was worth so I took a compass bearing and went straight up the drainage.
In some place thing going was very steep. I was glad for the excellent traction on my La Sportive X-Country trail runners. The big lugs dug into the loose gravel very well.
Finally I reached the un-named saddle at the headwaters of the Pecos.
It was supposed to be a calm day but the wind was brutal up top. I took a quick look at my maps. I was way behind schedule but I kept on going.
The hiking along the ridge was amazing. Finally I was out of the trees and could fully enjoy the mountain vistas.
My route basically made a big counter clockwise loop following the Skyline trail along the crest of the mountains. About this time the wind died down a bit so I could enjoy the scenery more.
I clearly was not going to do this hike on 2 liters of water and the ridge was pretty dry. I did find a trickle that was the best I'd seen so far but judging by the number of Elk tracks around I was still nervous. I put a liter in my pack to use after other options were exhausted.
At a snack stop I looked in my Aquamira bottle and realized I could get a bit more out by prying off the lid and dumping it straight into the mixing cup. I purified the questionable water I had and kept back roughly enough to purify a half liter later on.
The trail dipped back into the tree and passed Trunchas Lake.
After the lake the trail began climbing back up to the ridge again. I was racing the clock hoping to get down to a lower elevation before I camped and hopefully back to my car so I wouldn't be drinking much (if any) questionable water.
The final hike along the ridge was scenic but not particularly fun because the winds had picked up again and if anything were worse then they'd been earlier.
At a trail fork I snapped a picture of my Chris Zimmer custom pack. At just under 2 pounds it had a U shaped frame and I was really liking it.
Partly because of my maps I turned off of the Skyline trail too soon and ended up taking a longer route back out.
As it got darker I realized that I was not making it out tonight. I had been a bit to optimistic in calculating how far I'd go that day.
I found one south of Betty's Flats in a legal camping area. Now I was down to one liter of water of questionable quality (it was at least from a stream higher up, I was not going to drink from the Pecos except in a true emergency). I'd used the last of my Aquamira in it and now I drank about half of it with a prayer that it wouldn't make me sick. The other half liter would get me back to the car in the morning.
In the morning I was up hiking at first light.
I was pleasantly surprised to meet Adrian and the boys again. They had lost a trekking pole and were going back to their first night's campsite to find it. They took a picture for me and we said good bye.
Soon I was back in the parking lot ready to head home.
But first I had to make a quick stop on the way. I would argue with Benjamin Franklin's supposed statement that "Beer is proof that their is a God who loves us and wants us to be happy." For a hiker at least, I would argue that is a Buffalo Wing flavored Subway Sandwich is a much better example of divine favor.
All in all it was a good hike but I did push myself a bit. I'll be more careful too ensure a good system of purifying water in the feature. I also don't plan on taking such lousy maps out again.
Edit – Gear Notes
My baseweight was about 11.5 pounds. That is a bit heavier then normal but I wanted to be prepared for camping into the teens if necessary. That would ensure my safety in a worst case scenario and keep me from having to bail early for weather concerns.
Chris Zimmer Pack – It worked well although the hipbelt didn't fit around my particular hipbs perfectly. This might be an issue with heavier loads but it carried the 18-20 lbs. or so I carried relatively comfortably (I had some previous soreness but as far as I could tell the pack was not to blame). I was going to attach water bottles to the shoulder straps but I did not have time.
Shangri La -1 – This was most definately warmer then sleeping under a tarp. I liked that it kept the breazes off much better. It did have some condensation but nothing horrible.
Pepto – I feel like a full dose of this stuff makes me feel a tad dizzy. However since I took it at night it wasn't a problem. After I was sick once it seemed to help calm my stomach.
Extra Insulation – I carried a down vest and a Patagonia Nano Puff pulloever. This was because I'd estimated that tempts might dip into the teens. It probably never went below 25 if that but the extra insurance was reassuring.
Delorma Topo Maps – I printed these off before the trip because I didnt' have time to buy a map. One problem was I didn't make them detailed enough. If I'd zoomed in a bit I could have gotten a bit more detail and contour line intervals. However I still would not have had labels for most of the trails. I copied a few details onto these maps from the map at the trailhead but not enough.
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