Hiking Guiterrez Canyon

 

One of our favorite local trails is only about 15 minutes from our house and is located in a beautiful, natural area called The John A. Milne/Guiterrez Canyon Open Space in Cedar Crest. When my sons have guitar lessons, after they’re done, we sometimes go next door to the trail head parking area and begin our hike.

 

And there’s a Hitching Rail, too!

The main loop trail is only 2.8 miles long. We took our GPS with us when we hiked it last week.

Guiterrez Canyon Hike

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We took a detour to the gravel road that connects the lower loop trail to the ridge trails.

We also did some scouting of the upper ridge trails by hiking up that quiet, country, gravel road to the connector trail. But once we reached the top of the ridge, we didn’t go any further because we didn’t have enough time to explore those trails up there. I hope to ride some of those trails on horseback in the near future.

 

Speaking of horseback, one of the reasons I thought it would be fun to hike this loop trail with my kids, is that I had invited one of my riding friends to go with me and ride the very next day! I loved the idea of a back-to-back visit, and my kids and I hadn’t hiked it in almost a year, and I wanted to see how the trail looked since we had gotten rain and snow just a week earlier.

This is where the trail begins, after you hike down the hill from the trail head.

There were a few muddy areas, but nothing too slippery and deep, so I was excited to come back with my Apache mare the next day to ride her with my friend, Barb.

But first I hiked the trail with my awesome kids (and our little dogs, too!).

 

 

 

We had a great hike and we were out for a couple hours, so when I offered to take my kids to our favorite local burger place afterwards for some delicious New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburgers……..they were ecstatic!

What a great way to spend the day, hiking with my kids on beautiful trails out in nature together. And followed up with a great meal to boot!

                             Life Is Good!

Cerro Blanco Trail ~ The Hike Down

 

Once we got to the top of the Manzano Mountains, it was time to hike back down.

 

The leaf color on the way down was even more beautiful than on the way up because the late afternoon sun was shining through the trees and making the leaves glow.

 

As we hiked through the darker sections of trail, the low light cast a blue tint to everything…..which appeared rather magical.

 

The colors of the forest were so dense, saturated and all consuming. Sometimes we just stopped to oooh and aahh and take it all in.

 

Before long we arrived at the place in the trail where we had discovered the Stock Bypass sign that I had posted the photo of in my previous post. On the way up the trail, we never did find out why there was a Stock Bypass. But we were soon to find out on our way down…….

 

Looking down this section of trail, it’s not too easy to see how steep it really was in this photo. Or how high the rock steps were.

 

 

But looking up, you can really see much better the steepness and ruggedness of this section!

 

This would be very challenging for a horse to climb up and would be dangerous in wet conditions. Thank goodness for the Stock Bypass Trail!

 

Instead of returning the way we had climbed up, we decided to do a loop, since both trails were about the same distance. Or so we thought.  

 

It was a little spooky to hike on the new trail because we seemed to be the only people hiking on it and the trail travels away from the Fourth of July Canyon State Park and is in the Manzano Wilderness.

 

But we were on a grand adventure and there was so much beauty all around us, that we were too happy to be worried.

 

But I also knew that I wasn’t in the best of condition to be doing such a long hike. And although 8 miles doesn’t sound like too much, it is when the longest hike you’ve been on in over a year is 3 miles, and that was done on relatively flat trails.

But still, we were oblivious to any trouble and were just basking in the brilliant beauty all around us.

 

Every time I turned around, Kendra took a photo of me, taking a photo of her!

 

And my daughter Jen was just thrilled to be out on the trails hiking with us. She never complained until she started getting hungry about 3/4 of the way. And we had already eaten our lunch and all of our snacks.

 

Thankfully we had brought plenty of water, though.

 Kendra and I had fun discussing the conditions of the trails for horse riding and making plans to bring our horses here to ride. We will definitely come back next Autumn for sure!

The Manzano Mountains are so beautiful…and I love that they are located right in our own New Mexico backyards!

 

As we made our way down lower to the Cerro Blanco Trail Head, We encountered some steeper sections. My calves were really burning by this time.

 

We both enjoyed being surrounded by the towering Ponderosa Pines.

 

By this time the sun had dropped behind the Manzano Mountains and to take good photos, we had to use our camera’s flash.

 

Whew! We were so relieved to have finally made it to the Cerro Blanco Trail Head!

 

But our journey was far from over…..we still had to hike down the road back to the Fourth of July Campground……and it was much farther than we thought it was supposed to be…..

 

But we didn’t know that when these photos were taken….hence the big, relaxed happy smiles.

 

We were at Trail 79, across from Big Spring, on Forest Service Rd 55. Our goal was to hike through Tajique Canyon on FR 55 until we reached Fourth of July Campground. My hiking book said it was about one and a half miles. But, that was the longest one and half miles we’ve ever hiked. We guessed that it had to have been at least 2 miles.

 

But for a road hike, you could not ask for a prettier route to take.

 

It was very peaceful and quiet and we never saw another person or vehicle the entire time.

 

 

 I enjoyed seeing the interesting texture of the aspen bark set against the colors of the autumn forest.

 

We were all grateful for the beautiful scenery, especially on that last mile or so of trail. It sure lifted our spirits and kept us going even though we were all very tired by this point. We still found lots to laugh about, too.

 

 I think Kendra and I were both very thankful we had brought our cameras, too. Not only did they keep us busy and our minds occupied with a task to do, but they also helped us focus on the beauty all around us.

 

We finally made it back to the Fourth of July Campground and we were both very grateful we made it back before it got dark. It was a grand adventure and one we were very happy to have shared together.

 

But I have to be honest and share how, for several days afterwards, I limped around from the most sore legs I’ve had since my first x-country skiing trip 18 years ago, when I skied over 5 miles the first day.

Ugh. When will I learn not to overdo it?   

Fourth of July Canyon Hike

 

I just realized the other day that I never posted about my gloriously gorgeous Autumn hike with my daughter, Jen, and friend Kendra, back in October.

We decided to hike in the Manzano Mountains on trails located just 40 minutes from my house.

Fourth of July Canyon is always a surprise to many visitors who can’t believe this amount of colorful leaf color is located in New Mexico and not New England.

But New Mexico is a very diverse state geographically and is more than just brown desert. So much more!

These are not my GPS maps, because I forgot to bring mine for the hike. But these give an idea of the route we took, although our route was a little longer because we added 2 extra trails for a total mileage of 7 miles hiked(!), and an elevation gain of over 1,000ft (!):

GPS Track Map of 4th of July Canyon Trail and Cerro Blanca Trail

GPS Track Map and Trip Report of Fourth of July Canyon Trail

 

This is a page from my Hiking New Mexico book.

We decided to make a loop and hike up Fourth of July Canyon Trail (#173) from the campground. We then turned right and took a side trip up along the Manzano Crest Trail (#170), and then we descended down to Cerro Blanco Trail (#79), following it until the trail ended at Forest Rd 55. And then we hiked along Forest Rd 55 (Tajique Canyon) returning to Fourth of July Campground.

But first we explored the Crimson Maple Trail (1/2 mile) and the Spring Loop Trail (1/4 mile) which both connected to the Fourth of July Canyon Trail.

Jen liked this bent tree and thought it made a fine bench.

I was very grateful that Kendra took lots of photos, too, including some photos of me and my daughter together.

The leaf colors were so vibrant it felt magical to be surrounded by so much beauty. We had a lot of fun hiking together.

 

We stopped for a snack break…..

 

I had bought Jen some Whoppers and Kendra shared some of her watermelon with her. Jen ate them together and was excited about creating a new recipe: Whoppermelons!

And then we continued on down the Spring Loop Trail.

And soon we came to the trail junction with Fourth of July Canyon….

We passed through the hiker stile, installed to keep livestock out of the campground.

I have a special affection for tree tunnels. And I can’t wait to ride Apache here next Autumn!

Kendra and I asked Jen to take a photo of us. I think she did a pretty nice job, don’t you?

Hiking up into Fourth of July Canyon…lots of vibrant color all around us.

We’re heading up on the Fourth of July Trail towards Cerro Blanco Trail. The Spur Trail leads towards the Equestrian Campground Trailhead and the Albuquerque Trail is a popular equestrian trail (you can see it on the map I posted above).

Looking back on the trail we just hiked up, which leads back towards the Fourth of July Campground.

Kendra thought it would be fun to decorate the sign with my hat and trekking poles….

Hiking with Kendra is fun!

Jen may not be smiling, but she was really enjoying herself. She loves to be outdoors and enjoys camping and hiking.

Beside the trail is a little creek that gurgles with the water from the Springs up above the canyon.

Everything is so green, lush and moist up here. 

When we ride through here it will be good to have a short horse!

Kendra captured my euphoric mood while surrounded by so much natural beauty.

Dobbie thoroughly enjoyed exploring the canyon and climbing on rocks and logs.

We were all impressed by the tall Ponderosas along the trail. This one will probably fall in a year or two.

We stopped for lunch beside the livestock water tank at the top of the canyon and enjoyed listening to the water pouring from the Spring, into the tank.

Nature’s Autumn Art

 

Playing Hide and Seek…….

 

Kendra and I couldn’t get enough of the beautiful leaf color. We stopped often to take photos.

Happy to be outdoors hiking in nature’s splendor!

 

Jen made it a point to climb most of the boulders beside the trail.

 

Boulders make great places to sit and rest, too.

We’re turning right and hiking up to the Manzano Mountains Crest on the Crest Trail.

We decided to follow the Stock By-Pass Detour. Good thing, too as the main trail has quite an impressive set of boulder steps, which I’ll share a photo of in my next post.

The Stock By-Pass Trail was absolutely gorgeous and covered in a cacophony of amazing colors!

We were so thrilled about the beautiful carpet of colorful leaves at our feet that we decided to stop and play for a while!

                                             Beautiful colors!!!

We’re following the Crest Trail to the right towards the Isleta Indian Reservation….

We made it to the Crest!!! Guadalupe Peak is in the distance and Mosca Peak is right behind us. We’re standing at 9,085 feet elevation!

Kendra is in love with these high places and enjoying the beauty all around us.

Mosca Peak! Albuquerque Trail, the equestrian trail, circles around behind Mosca Peak. The hill is covered in golden Shrub Oaks.

The views out towards the East are of the Estancia Valley and the Salt Mission Trail and Salt Flats.

The vistas towards the northwest are of Isleta Pueblo, Los Lunas and Albuquerque (beyond that ridge)

It was a little hazy this day, but the views towards the southwest are of the Manzano Mountain foothills.

We had the Crest to ourselves, and once we climbed out of Fourth of July Canyon we only saw two other hikers. Dobbie Girl enjoyed being off leash and checking out the views from a boulder.

 

It was exhilarating to be up so high. It felt like we were flying with eagles……..

 

Coming up next: Cerro Blanco Trail ~ The Hike Down