Nogal Canyon Trail ( FT 48)- White Mountain Wilderness, Lincoln National Forest

 We rented a cottage in Ruidoso for three days. The cottage and neighborhood weren't much, but on the first morning we had about 15 elk come into the yard. That was a treat as were the mule deer, ravens, and hummingbirds who came to visit.

 Our first morning, we took the long way round ( NM 48, NM 37, FR 400) to the Nogal Canyon trailhead. The lower canyon along the road is very typical southern New Mexico shady forest with pines, firs, and occasional aspen, oak, maple and the namesake walnut. The upper canyon in the White Mountain Wilderness in very different. It's mostly open with slopes covered in ferns, grass, wild iris and snakeweed. Along the creek and in patches on the hillsides are deciduous oaks, and tree-sized locust. Just a very few pines rise above the broadleaf trees.

 I was hoping the creek would have some flow, but it was only a muddy trickle and that only in a few spots. We climbed upward, resting in the shade we could find, because it was pretty warm in the sun and blue skies at nearly 9,000 feet. We made it to the grassy crest with views over to the town of Carrizozo, and to Carrizo and other nearby peaks which were blanketed with low clouds.



 Here is the junction with FT 54 (Tortolita Trail) as well which we could see faintly descending into the canyon. This is one of the longest trails in the wilderness but it doesn't really have its own trailhead at the lower end of Tortolita Canyon. One can access it from some very up and down trails that start in Pennsylvania Canyon or supposedly through some private property along lower Nogal Canyon. It's too bad because it could be a fun day hike  in what looks to be a sweet canyon, but instead it's only appropriate for a strenuous workout, or a backpack.


 We rested beneath a pine in a patch with a some spruce and fir trees growing lush and green and then walked along the crest south down to the alternate path for the Nogal Canyon Trail. There were tremendous views of Nogal Peak as we began our descent.


We walked in the creek bed itself for a ways for the shade the oaks provided and then rejoined the trail when the brush got a little thick. A few tiny clouds drifted in as we finished the hike just before noon. They gave no clue as to what the region was in for later that afternoon.
 It was nice to finish a summertime hike in the high country before noon as you should.  It was even better than we knew at the time because by about 2 o'clock it began pouring, I mean flash flood type pouring in Ruidoso and it didn't stop for over three hours.
 This was a beautiful, low key (just under 3 miles roundtrip) hike in an area that looks very much like some other part of the country like Colorado or maybe somewhere in the mountains of the eastern U.S.