Author: bjregan

Last spring I discovered a free phone app that has the capability to not only create GPS tracks but to also pre-load a GPS track that can then be followed while hiking. This feature is helpful when we want to hike one of the many desolate areas of New Mexico that are public lands but don’t have any established hiking trails. A local hiking group maintains a website with information on hundreds of such hikes. Each hike has a description, driving directions and a downloadable GPS file. For today’s hike we chose one on BLM land north of Tohajiilee.

I printed the description and driving directions and loaded the GPS file on my phone. We were sure we’d get to explore this new area. What we didn’t count on was the rough roads we’d have to drive on. We have been on some of those roads before but never as far out on the unmaintained section that we had to traverse today. The road got worse and worse until finally, with only a couple of miles left to the parking spot, we reached a washout that we knew our car couldn’t get past. We might have parked there and walked in, but a few miles back we had passed through a gate warning us that this section of roadway was going through private land. We’d be trespassing if we pulled off the road to park and we couldn’t park in the middle of the road either. We were forced to turn around and go back the way we had come.

Fortunately, while deciding this morning where to hike, Lee had read a description in our 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of Albuquerque book that wasn’t too far back towards Tohajiilee. He remembered enough about the description that we were able to figure out where it was. So no map or description or GPS track to follow, but with wide open spaces and interesting rock formations to head towards, we made it an enjoyable excursion, anyway. I’ve decided, too, that all those cows that wander the open rangelands can be useful. Lots of times when you encounter an arroyo that looks too deep to cross or come to a ledge with no apparent way down you will see a cowpath that you can follow to get around the obstacle.

Our reward today for heading across the open range was an area of those wonderful rock formations we call hoodoos. Heavenly!

Just when I start to wonder if we have run out of new places to explore, we discover another New Mexico treasure in our back yard. Well, not exactly our back yard but close enough for a day hike from Albuquerque.

The Ojito Wilderness is a vast no man’s land northwest of town that we have explored on previous hikes. The challenge is always navigating the rough, dirt roads that can become impassable in wet weather. Late October is a safe bet for finding dry conditions, sunny skies and cool temperatures. A cold front had passed through the state last night and the forecast called for strong winds and a drastic drop in temperatures. As it turned out, we had great hiking weather. The roads were dicey in a couple of areas but not as bad as some that we have been on.

We were following driving directions to a parking area that would be the beginning of a 6-mile out and back hike into Tapia Canyon. The last mile of driving on a 2-track dirt road, though, wasn’t doable in our car. So our hike was 8 miles, by the time that we did the extra walk from the car to the descent into the canyon.

As the crow flies, this hike isn’t that far from Albuquerque, although by the time that you wind over all of the dirt roads it is a long drive. But the drive is more than worth it, not just for the hike, but for the scenery that you pass along the way. And one of the best parts is that the whole day we were out there enjoying this marvelous New Mexico landscape we did not see another person. A truly enchanting day in the Land of Enchantment.