Pecos Wilderness 1998

When: May, 1998

Crew: Charlie, Beka, Me

Summary: 1998 was the year of El Nino. We had checked with the Pecos Ranger Station 2 weeks before our May trek, and were told all the snow had melted. When we arrived in New Mexico, we stopped by to double check and found out we had talked to an intern on the phone - and she had simply looked outside her window and reported the snow condition in Pecos. A "real" ranger told us that there was snow at 10,000 feet, but that it was patchy. He was wrong.

We reached the top of Holy Ghost Canyon, and got on the Windsor Trail toward Stewart Lake. At 10,000 feet there was ankle deep snow, that grew to be waist deep as we continued to climb. What should have been an easy hike turned into an all day affair that pushed us to our limits. None of us had gaiters, and I was wearing light hiking boots. By the time we reached Stewart Lake, we were all cold, wet, broken, and defeated.

Our original plan was to spend a night at Stewart, a night a Horsethief Meadow, two nights at East Pecos Baldy Lake, and hike in to Jack's Creek, where we had left my truck. As soon as we got to camp, we pulled out the maps and chose an alternate trek: two nights at Stewart, a night at Cave Creek, and a last night at the top of Holy Ghost Canyon where we could hike back to Beka's car. This would get us under 10,000 feet as quickly as possible and keep us there the rest of the trip.

We recovered quickly our second day at Stewart. We caught some trout in the half-frozen lake, which made for an excellent lunch and dinner. There was still a large piece of ice floating in the center of the lake, which became instrumental in catching fish. The secret was to throw PowerBait out onto the ice, and slowly reel it back until it just fell over the edge and sank - a sure catch every time.

Our third day we were back in the snow, but we were going down instead of up. Without too much trouble (other than my spraining my ankle), we made it under the snowline and to a campground by Cave Creek. The caves at Cave Creek are worth seeing - the creek has carved some nice tunnels into the limestone cliff. We explored these for a while after making camp.

Day four was a very long day, as we had to hike into Panchuela Campground, down the road to Cowles, and finally up a trail we named "The Long Grueler" back to the top of Holy Ghost Canyon. We stopped for lunch in Cowles, and to rest our feet after hiking on the road. Thankful to be off the road and back on the trail, we left via the Windsor Trailhead and started the long hike to the top of the ridge. We didn't get to camp until near dark, and were so happy to see the sign marking the intersection of the Windsor Trail and Holy Ghost Trail that Charlie and I had to give it some attention.

Our last day was an easy hike back down to Holy Ghost Campground. From there we drove to Jack's Creek to pick up my truck, and then to showers, clean clothes, and green chiles.

Other: Pecos Wilderness Waypoints