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Wheeler Peak via Williams Lake Trail
Distance Hiked: 6.48 mi
Elevation: 9,700 ft - 13,161 ftElevation Gain: 3,461 ftDistance This Season: 27.45 mi
Elevation Gain This Season: 6,986 ft
Wheeler Peak is hands down the hardest hike I have ever attempted. It is the highest point in New Mexico, towering at a breath-taking 13,161 feet. There is a "mellow" route you can take from the other side of the Taos ski area that slowly climbs the 3,000ft over a nice 8 mile long trail... but that's not the one we took -SIGH- The Williams Lake Trail climbs the first 1,000 feet over 2.3 miles and then turns into a steep Class 2 trail, shooting straight up to Wheeler Peak over the distance of one mile!The morning started off pretty badly. The trailhead was at around 10,000 feet of elevation and I started out having major problems catching my breath. Having experienced serious altitude problems in the past, after about a mile of the "easy" trail, I told our group I would have to turn back.
Our hike leader, Glen, had allowed my boyfriend, Nate, to come along on the hike since I had anticipated this situation and didn't want the whole group to have to turn back. We watched the group go forward and took a break before heading back.
However, after several minutes, my breathing became much easier as I acclimated to the altitude. I felt sad about missing out on the hike and we decided to finish the hike to the lake. We were very glad we did when we saw how beautiful it was in the morning light. Feeling curious, we decided to look for the trail to the peak to see how intimidating it was.
It looked pretty steep, but we knew it was only a mile. If we just took it slow, how hard could it be?
I actually can't remember how many times I thought "It can't get any steeper than this" or "We must have been at least four miles by now". Long story short: it was superhard.
When we finally got to the peak, we found the rest of the hiking team with the most surprised/happy/confused looks on their faces. We celebrated and exchanged stories... and then we heard a rumble in the distance.
The storm clouds were moving in and we were pretty far away from the treeline. We scurried as quickly and safely as we could down the steep slippery mountain. It was extremely difficult trying to fight gravity with our weakened leg muscles but it kept us moving at a quick pace.
The highlight of coming down the mountain was a huge snowdrift off to the right of the trail. Eager to give our aching muscles a break, and not caring about wet pants we slid down several stories of snow on our bums.
We managed to finally make it down the mountain and back down the Williams Lake trail well before the rain came in. I'm proud to report that even though I fell many, many times coming down, I have no injuries and no blisters. Just really really really sore muscles.
I'm glad I got stubborn and eventually made it up that crazy mountain and I'm looking forward to our future hikes. After that one I'm pretty sure I can hike up anything this state has to offer. Slowly, yet surely...
If you haven't already, visit my LLS page at http://pages.hikefordiscovery.org/nm/rockymt08/mfriesen The donation total as of today is over $1300! Thanks to everyone who has already contributed to LLS! We're doing great! To see all the photos from the hike, View My Album.
North Mystery Trail
Distance Hiked: 9.47 mi
Elevation: 7,600+Elevation Gain: 1,665 ft
Distance This Season: 20.97 mi
Elevation Gain This Season: 3,525 ft
Today's hike was our last in the Sandias. As of today, the Forest Service has closed everything in the east mountains due to fire danger so it was great to get to hike close to home one last time. The hike started out nice and cool. It was actually cold enough for jackets in the brisk mountain air this morning, which is GREAT! I'm no fan of heat stroke. In fact, the hikes are getting earlier and earlier. No bueno!
The North Mystery Trail is a great shady trail with lots of ups and downs (some of them pretty steep in my opinion!). There was hardly any traffic on the trail as it is not marked on most maps and has not officially been recognized by the forest service. There were lots of scenic overlooks as well as many different types of plants. Some of them were especially weird...
Overall it was a very challenging hike with lots of huffing and puffing. I broke in my awesome new pair of boots, which are great and hardly rub my feet at all, and I also was convinced to try using someone's hiking poles for the first time, which wasn't as weird as I thought. Not too sure about them still. Didn't notice a significant difference on this trail. We'll see...
Well, it's Week 5 and things are moving along well! The hikes are getting harder and the donations have been growing. The official total this morning including the mailed in donations not posted to the site yet is over $1200! Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far and if you haven't seen my LLS page already you can find it here: http://pages.hikefordiscovery.org/nm/rockymt08/mfriesen
We have lots of fun events coming up including a car wash, mini golf tournament, and a wine, cheese and BBQ night. There are a lot of things to look forward to!!! ...except for the 5AM meeting time coming up soon. Yikes. Gotta beat the heat!
Faulty Trail #195
Distance Hiked: 7.0 mi
Elevation: 6,600+
Elevation Gain: 1,360 ft
Distance This Season: 11.85 mi
Elevation Gain This Season: 1,860 ft
Today I hit the trails again with the team after recovering from some medical problems last week. I wasn't sure that I was feeling up to the challenge this morning and started out slow bringing up the rear. However, I was surprised at how well I was doing and how great it felt to be on the trails again and throughout the hike got back up to speed.
The trial was very nice with lots of shade and greenery and a nice cool breeze. We had an early enough start that the temperatures were never unbearable. We had a tree sniffing poll to decide whether the ponderosa smelled like vanilla or butterscotch. I'm not too sure but I think butterscotch might have won that one!
The trail started out very steep and had a few tough climbs. It was pretty rocky but no one took a tumble thankfully! We climbed up Lower Faulty and joined Faulty Loop which took us past the fork for the South Crest Trail, which would be a great one to try out sometime (maybe when it's not so hot! yikes!!!)
On the way back down the loop we passed some beautiful overlooks. It was a tough hike and I was a little shaky coming down. I know someday I'm bound to have better balance, but the past 26 years hasn't been so successful! Ha!
It was a great hike and a great motivator for the rest of our season. We are way ahead of schedule and have a very ambitious group so it will be great to see how we challenge ourselves.
This week, my hiking mentor, Rick, and I are going to scout out the local grocers to set up an information table sometime in the next few weeks to get the word out to the public about blood cancers and the financial need of the thousands of patients battling them this year. Also, updates coming soon about fundraiser BBQ and wine tasting. Can't wait for the next hike!
If you haven't visited my LLS webpage yet, check it out. You can see how the fundraising is going and learn more about the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Tesuque CreekDistance hiked: 4.85 mi
Elevation: 7,100-7,600
Elevation Gain: 500 ft
Yesterday I officially kicked off my training with my first hike with LLS. Tesuque Creek/Winsor Trail No. 254 is in the Santa Fe area in the beautiful adobe community of Tesuque. The first leg of the trip takes you past several rustic homes before you get into the wilderness.
I should have paid more attention to our hike leader's warning that we were gonna get wet feet, but after crossing the creek several times, I began to find my squishy sneakers quite refreshing! AND, I am proud to report, I did not get any blisters from said sneakers.
The hike was fairly easy. I did huff and puff the first few minutes since it was my first real hike since last year, but my worries of being left in the dust were silly.
Everyone on the hike was very friendly and welcoming. We had fun attempting to cross the makeshift bridges. I think after the first few, I abandoned all hope for fear of falling in and ruining yet another digital camera. We finished up one of the last crossings with some fantastic synchronized swimming!
So all in all, week one was a great success. I'm looking forward to the next one! If you haven't already, check out my LLS webpage. It has more information about what I'm doing as well as an opportunity to join me in supporting cancer research.
Hike on!
Maria
http://pages.hikefordiscovery.org/nm/rockymt08/mfriesen
Chamisa Trail 183 and Winsor Trail 254
The trail was pretty steep on the get-go but after a few ups and downs it leveled off and was nice and mellow. We connected from the Chamisa trail to hike another mile or so on the Winsor trail which went through a beautiful meadow and across a stream which I believe was the Tesuque? No water aerobics or splashing this time around, awww...
