100 Hikes in New Mexico
The Mountaineers Books
Scattered in New Mexico’s national forests are eleven hot springs where hikers can soak in naturally heated water bubbling out of the ground. One concentration of springs is located int he Jemez Mountains. McCauley Hot Spring is a delightful series of pools that lies in the Jemez backcountry…
Distance: 5 miles one-way
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation Range: 6,800 to 7,900 feet
My stats:
Distance: 3.71 miles
Time: 2:00:08 hours
Elevation: 6,844 ft
Elevation Gain: 902 ft
This whole trip was a comedy of errors. Lina sent me a copy of the hike as a pdf, but the orientation was off and I had to read it with my head crooked. I was looking for a nice easy 5 mile hike, and this seemed to fit the bill between Albuquerque, NM and South Fork, CO. It wasn’t till I got there that I read the one-way bit. It wasn’t till I got on the hike that I noticed that it is supposed to be a two car trip and I was at the end-point. I also didn’t notice the trail map on the page till I was headed back.
Here’s a picture of the trail map at the beginning of the hike:
Do you see McCauley falls anywhere? I don’t. So when I saw a trail leading to what looked like switchbacks up a mountain with a sign indicating the falls were 2 miles ahead, I thought “I don’t want to take a 2 mile side trip when I’ve got 10 miles to hike” and moved along the slightly smaller trail. I also didn’t notice that this map was about twice the distance of the hike described in the book, so the scaling didn’t make sense as I bushwacked my way along the river writing the one-star review for the “easy” hike in my head.
I kept finding and losing the “trail” over and over again, but I did find out where the locals drink and party based on the number of liquor bottles strewn about. I gave up after a mile or so of constant climbing, scrambling, climbing down, and bushwacking along the side of a hill. I would have given up long before if I didn’t have my fancy new hiking boots and the river as a guide. I gave up after a mile or so and started climbing what seemed to be straight up a steep hill because “the trail has to be this way” until I finally found it.
In the end, I had a good time and would have finished the hike if I was in better shape. I’m looking forward to coming back some day.
Here’s the pics:
