Our hike this week was one that we didn’t have much information about, on a trail that hadn’t been hiked by anyone we knew. Lee’s Santa Fe National Forest map of the Pecos Wilderness showed a trail leaving a campground along Hwy 63 at the point where the Rio Mora tributary joins the Pecos River. The campground appears to be used mostly by fisherman, and, as is usually the case in a wilderness area, there aren’t signs or maps in the area to show you where to find the trailhead.
From the map that we had, we knew that the trail would closely follow the Rio Mora for a mile or so, possibly crossing it more than once. At the point where Bear Creek joined the Rio Mora, the trail left the Rio Mora, crossed Bear Creek, and headed up a ridge. From the ridge we knew there would be some nice views and lots more trails, although with just a day hike, for us it would be a turnaround at some point and then coming back down the same way.
Our first challenge was trying to figure out where to cross the Rio Mora. We made a couple of mistakes, crossing at the wrong place and then having to recross when we encountered steep cliff banks. There was a pretty good flow in the river so you took your chances trying to find fallen logs or partially submerged rocks that would help you get across without a dunking in the river. When we finally got to the place that was an obvious crossing, it did have an area of shallow water, but I could see right away that without waterproof boots, the only way I was going to get across was to take off my boots and wade across. It was very painful walking on the rocks in bare feet and the water was numbingly cold but I made it across, as did everyone else. Fortunately, the crossing of Bear Creek was much easier and didn’t require taking off my boots.
The other challenge on this hike was the climb up the ridge. There were very few switchbacks and it was a steeper ascent than what we had thought. A lot of loose rocks didn’t make it any easier. But, as always, once you get up and begin to see the views you know the climb was worth it. Because of time constraints we had to turn around before we got to the high meadow that we could see ahead of us through the trees. Most of the hiking in the Pecos Wilderness is best for backpackers because the trails are long and it’s a lot of driving to even get to a trailhead. Any time spent in the wilderness, though, is worth it and we certainly couldn’t have asked for a better day to be out hiking.
Living Wonderously 
It’s always worth it! Nice shots.