Bob Merkel writes:
This past Saturday ten of us saw a brand new (to us) part of the Quebradas. I'm already wanting to try a different route in that very interesting area sometime in the growing season later this year.
Sierra de la Cruz near the SE corner of the Sevilleta Refuge is a domed mountain that is visible, northeast from the Socorro area, to the right of the Cerrillos del Coyote. The route to there is from Escondida, across the Rio Grande, up Johnson Hill, and several miles beyond the site of a hike we did last fall.
It will be another new exploration with a round trip hike distance around 4 miles from the closest road to the east. The top of the dome is just shy of 6400 feet. If you want to try this one out, plan on being at the Socorro School Admin. parking lot at 9 am dressed for the weather and with some lunch. Bob
PS There is a "Sierra de la Cruz" 7-1/2-minute topographic map available from the Bureau of Geology at NM Tech.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
We spent all afternoon yesterday checking out the start location for the Feb. 6 hike to Sierra de la Cruz. There are two ways to get there, one taking about 1 hour and a quarter and the other taking 1-1/2 hours or more because of very slow road.
This trip will definitely take way more than half a day so no one should come if they have other things planned for the afternoon. In fact, bringing a real lunch is recommended.
The quicker (and much smoother) way is to San Antonio, on 380 to the beginning of the Quebradas byway, straight north past the Del Curto Ranch, and eventually to Sierra de la Cruz. That's the way we'll go in the morning - - high clearance very desirable. If some want to take the other way back (to Escondida via Johnson Hill) high clearance necessary. Bob
By Saturday I'll know for sure whether backcountry gravel roads are too muddy to make it out there safely. If they are not, I have a Plan B.
Plan B is to visit Fraley, a community east of San Antonio that was involved in the coal mining back a century ago. There are ruins of lime kilns there. I expect we can also visit the Carthage cemetery. I'll be at the Socorro Consol. Schools Offices on Franklin St. at 9 am as usual and we can meet with San Antonio people at 9:30 at the historic marker just east of I-25.
The next hike is to be on March 6th and if we do Plan B this Saturday, we'll try to do Sierra de la Cruz next month. Bob
Post a Comment