Pecos Wilderness Loop, June 5-8

[OldBill]

I did a 4 day, ~30 mile, +5600' loop through the Pecos Wilderness with my girlfriend. Started from Jack's Creek TH, Pecos Baldy Lake, over Trailrider's Wall to Truchas L then down Beatty's trail for last night near Kennedy Point. Thanks to @TheMountainRabbit , @Jorey and @scoags for trail beta to plan this. We acclimated for a few days as the peak elevation was around 12000'. We lucked out with the weather as it was unsettled both prior and after the trip.

Influenced by other trip reports, I packed a small bar of chocolate


The trail begins with a steep climb up switchbacks but we had views right from the start.


The junction of Beatty's and Jack's is a wide open meadow.



Long distance views were excellent, but heavily influenced by haze. I believe this was in part due to wildfires. Jack's Ck below.


So many wildflowers. I know these are iris, but will depend on the expertise of @scatman and others for the names of others.


Just a pleasant hike through this section. Soon the grade would steepen as we continued toward Pecos Baldy Lake.


We were moving at a slow pace and reached the lake late. Just in time to get camp chores done. Saw about 3 other pairs of campers around the lake. This is from the following morning.


Day 2 was Trailrider's Wall to Truchas L along the Skyline Trail. We soon hit a patch of snow that others had had difficulties with the week prior. Easily skirted now.



Can't complain about the views...


My girlfriend spotted this guy just lying over the hill by the trail.


Just a great walk along the Wall.




Spotted this herd of Bighorn near the high point.



We dropped off Trailrider's Wall and continued our way to Truchas. Spotted several marmots in a boulder field. Most disappeared fast, but one hung out long enough for a photo.





It took awhile to locate a decent spot to set up once we reached Truchas L. Had the place to ourselves as far as we knew. Exhausted, we went to bed early. The high altitude didn't make for great sleeping. Woke with a headache but caught a great morning shot of the lake. Lots of interesting quartz rock.





We continued along the Skyline to Beatty's and dropped down into the trees again. Quite a bit of deadfall to navigate around.




Tired, we still had to go beyond the restricted camping zone. Found a spot near Kennedy Point that was legal as far as I could tell. Saw a few folks on horses near the cabin but had the trail to ourselves again. Quite a canyon the river has carved in this spot - couldn't capture the depth on the photo though. Can almost make out the rapids at the bottom.



The exit day was a sighting of a Western Tanager(?) and lots of flowers (and more deadfall).







Enjoyable trip. Tiring, but happy my hip cooperated (mostly).

 

[Jorey]

Good spot of the Tanager. Glad to be of help.

 

[TheMountainRabbit]

Looks like a great trip! I remember @Jorey and I having a bit of trouble finding a good, but also 'legal', spot around Truchas Lakes.

I'll be in that area next weekend for a trip w/ my boys, so this is well-timed.

 

[wsp_scott]

That looks awesome. What kind of temperatures were there? Any bugs?

Moving the Pecos Wilderness onto the very long list of places to check out

 

[OldBill]

Great area and not too crowded this time of year. Some areas still held snow on the N faces but it was a low snow year. Monsoons started early according to the USFS employee we talked to in Pecos. Lucked out with the weather for the backpack. It had rained a bit at our Terrero camp for 2 days prior.

Temps were mild. High in the 60's, lows near 40. I heard 1 mosquito the entire 2 weeks. We also climbed Wheeler (highest pt in NM) from a TH near the Taos ski resort. 8.5m, 2900' gain. More people but good views on top. Anything incorporating the Skyline Trail will be worthwhile from all I talked to.