August 16 Hike, Mesa Trail at Water Canyon

Our August hike will take us up another side canyon off of Water Canyon to the top of the mesa above Water Canyon and a scenic overlook with a view towards Socorro and the Rio Grande. For those who went on the July hike, this one will be somewhat longer, but the view from the overlook should make up for the added effort.

Trail 13, the Mesa Trail, starts from about 0.5 mile beyond the picnic area at Water Canyon at the pull-out where you can currently find some road construction equipement parked. There's no need for four wheel drive or even a high clearance vehicle on this road.

The trail starts at 6,800 feet elevation and then follows a stream bed up a canyon to about 8,000 feet over 1.8 miles. Once you've gotten past this steep section of the trail, it's about 1.4 miles along a ridge line and across the mesa to the scenic overlook, which is at an elevation of 8,200 feet. The total round trip distance is 6.4 miles.

Here's a link to a map of the hike.

We'll meet at 8am on Saturday, August 16 at the Socorro Consolidated Schools offices and then car pool to the trail head. As always, remember to bring water, a snack or lunch, sun screen, hats, walking sticks, etc. Depending on how quickly we climb and how long we spend at the overlook, this hike should take about 4 hours.