Snow Park (lollipop loop)
Our first backpack in New Mexico; decided explore a new area instead our standard spring trip to Utah. Nice and warm! The coolest night was only 39 degrees and the days were in the 70s. Shorts weather!!! Complete solitude: We only saw two people heading out with their horses and dogs within the first hour of hiking.
Sunday, May 4
Left Santa Fe for the drive to the Rain Park trailhead. Stopped in Reserve for ice cream. Not too much between Socorro and Glenwood. Friendly people out there though; everyone waves as you pass.
Drove past the Very Large Array but all we saw were about 15 or so huge dishes; Guess we were expecting something like the movie Contact.
The road to the trailhead passes through private land; almost turned around because there were so many no trespassing signs and you had to pass through arches over the road belonging to the ranch. Weirdest no tresspassing sign we've ever seen: No biologists or biological investigations. Maybe the ranch is breeding chupacabras? Strange....
There was no one else at the trailhead. We thought there’d be at least one car. Checked the trail log—one page that logged back to early 2007. The most recent hikers had left a scrap of paper to which we added our info. Some folks from Minnesota had hiked to Snow Pass a couple weeks before us—took five days. We were planning on getting out in three days as this was only 33 miles round trip.
We were completely paranoid about the dogs getting into things: the trail guide says lots of rattlesnakes, bears, and to boot there is a rabies outbreak in foxes. Jim got in touch with someone who hikes the Gila a lot and he said that his dog hasn’t had a problem but to tap on deadfall with trekking poles as snakes like to hang out in it. We were a sight: Walking around tapping on EVERYTHING with our trekking poles.
Took a walk down the road from camp with headlamps and you could see these little eyes on the side of the road staring back: Spider eyes. We had noticed funnel webs all along the road earlier that day; kind of creepy to be walking and be able to see eyes glowing back at you.
Slept in the car so that we could get up and go and not have to pack up too much.
Day 1–Into the Wilderness ( 9 miles ) Monday, May 5
Left the trailhead around 8:30 a.m. to take the Rain Creek trail that meets up with West Fork of Mogollon Creek. The trail hasn’t been maintained so lots of vampire bushes (aka prickers) and grass/brush overhanging it. Tapping on EVERYTHING again.
Hiked down to the Rain Creek crossing where we were able to bolder hop across and then it was up, up, up switchbacks to a saddle. Ran into the only people we saw on the trip—two guys leading their horses and two dogs down the steep switchback singletrack trail.
Up over the saddle we found a big old corral; looks like outfitters use this trail some time during the year. Headed down to the West Fork of Mogollon Creek through areas covered with lots of oak leaves—more tapping…. Made it to the West Fork trail where we started the lollipop loop. There's a developed campsite right along the Creek so we stopped and had lunch.
Decided to push on and follow the creek. Had several creek crossings—many that couldn’t be crossed without walking through the water. Lots of bushwhacking through thick trees/brush; the trail has been washed out in a bunch of places.
Passed by another really nice campsite—probably an old cowboy camp judging from the old coffee pot stashed nearby. Figured we’d get the next 2000 ft. elevation gain out of the way but lost the trail; serious bushwhacking through downed trees and pricker bushes.
Siri fell off a log and did a 720 before landing on his back stuck belly up unable to move. Scared the crap out of us. Thought for sure we were going to be carrying Siri out. Got his pack off him and he was up and moving fine. However, the bushwhacking was really annoying; this possibly couldn't be the way up. Jim did a little scouting ahead but didn’t find the trail so we decided to turn back and get to the old cowboy camp site. Instead of bushwhacking through the trees again, we headed down through the creek. Ended up at a couple crossing where you could not keep dry feet. Bummer…wet feet tonight.
Got camp all set up and then Jim noticed it: a big pile of bear scat about 10 feet from the tent. Hopefully we haven’t just set up along a bear trail. Set up our kitchen down a ways and across the creek from camp. It was Mountain House Lasagne for dinner and it was cheesy goodness! Decided that on Tuesday we’d head back up the trail again to see where we missed a turnoff. Off to bed; really nice sleeping. The temps stayed in the 40s.
