Little Apache (FT 124), Sleepy Grass (FT 11) and La Pasada Encantada Trail (FT 233) - Lincoln National Forest

 

Sleepy Grass Trail

Little Apache Trail

Little Apache Trail

It was dry, hot and dismal in mid-July at the cabin on Horse Mountain. I had a few chores to take care of, but if it had been nice, I would have stayed several days. Instead, I called my wife and told her not to come up. I was heading back after just two nights. My wife threw out the idea of going up to Cloudcroft and staying at The Lodge for a couple of nights. It would be a mid- week stay ( I do not go to the Lincoln National Forest in vicinity of Cloudcroft or Ruidoso on weekends anymore), so I thought what the heck, lets try it. No sooner had I gotten back home, then we were off to the Sacramento Mountains.

Well it worked out really well. It had been raining up there so it was wonderfully green and mercifully cool.   I had it in mind  take this opportunity to do these hikes that are very close Cloudcroft for two reasons: first, my wife generally is not a big fan of driving long distances just to begin a hike, but also I was hoping that  because it was a Thursday that these trails would not be swamped with people as they almost always are on warm weather weekends.

 The Little Apache Trail is a loop (sort of) that we began at the back of the overflow camping (a big parking lot).

 It stays relatively level for quite a while in a shady forest of mostly smaller pine, oak, white fir and doug-fir. The amount of downfall on these ridge-tops is always a little unsettling, but it was so pleasant with sun breaking through shining on the oak leaves and the grass green at our feet, that it was easy not too worry.

 After about a mile the trail descends a small valley heading west toward Little Apache Canyon. The trees on the sides of the meadow were larger here and the stumps even bigger. Right before reaching the canyon, the trail crosses a road and skirts the edge of a large quarry. It's a bit of jarring sight to come across in the forest. For some reason it didn't bother me a whole lot.

 Now the trail began heading up Little Apache. There was tall grass in places accompanied by yellow wildflowers. We passed the only other hikers ( one couple with dogs) we saw in this section. The trail ends at the paved campground road, which was a little odd as they could've easily made it reconnect with the trailhead we started at. Still it was only  a quarter mile walk on the road and across the parking lot back to our vehicle.

Later that day we did the short La Pasada Encantada Trail right before a thunderstorm hit. The trail is graveled and has interpretive stops for sighted people and the visually handicapped. It would a great trail to introduce young children to hiking in the forest. 

 Friday morning after breakfast at Dusty Boots Cafe, we drove the short ways to the Sleepy Grass Picnic area and did a short hike up Apache Canyon ( directly across US 82 from Little Apache Canyon from the previous day). The trail is a now closed section of Forest Road 24B and I've seen it called Forest Trail 11 in a few places (though not necessarily on every map you might encounter). It ends where there is a gate on the paved road in Sleepy Grass Campground ( accessed at from the western end from NM 130). This walk is along one side of an open valley about 150 feet wide ( fairly typical for this area of the Lincoln National Forest). It's probably best done early in  the morning or late afternoon because there is not a whole lot of shade to be had. We stopped after about 6/10 of mile where we saw some not particularly shy wild horses  shuffling about in the precious shade of some aspens and conifers very close to the trail. It was still another half-mile or so to get to the very end.

 All in  all it was probably only about 6 miles of hiking for the two days, but it went a long way in lifting our spirits.

Horse Mountain Wilderness Study Area - Horse Mountain Gorge

 

Horse Mountain Gorge

 I did two hikes back in mid-October in the Horse Mountain WSA which is conveniently located adjacent to my cabin property in Teepee Ranch. Technically I began both my walks on intervening non-WSA BLM lands,  but they really are just a de-facto extension of the WSA parcel. On the Saturday I did a loop following the canyon that runs through our parcel back onto BLM lands. When I reached the intervening ridge, I began to circle around the upper part of Log Canyon. There was some scrambling at first getting down off the ridge a bit, but then I hit on a great wildlife trail that brought me all the way around to the plateau that's centered between the two ridges of the mountain and at the top of two canyons running in opposite directions.

 I got a much different look at a massive rock pillar that we had seen last year when doing loop hike using Nance and Log Canyons. It was even more impressive. This time, unlike last year, I found the wildlife drinker at the top of Log Canyon and so used the old road route to connect to the main canyon which took me back to the WSA entrance just down the road from the cabin, where my wife picked me up. It was a good hike although a bit warm for October. The fall color was hardly evident throughout most of hike which was a bit disappointing (we would return the following weekend to find it peaking).

 On Sunday, I left around nine beginning the same way, but then migrating over to the canyon just to east. It was cool and shaded as I made my way along the old trail that winds through the pines, oaks and tall grasses. 

Pine cones were so abundant on the ground they became a bit of nuisance at times. I took my time zigzagging up the steep slopes to get to the top of the ridge, but I was pleased when I checked the time to see that less than a half hour had even elapsed. I came off the ridge on some very steep gravel patches among the piñons and junipers, all the while drifting to the east to catch the canyon that I knew would lead directly into the gorge. At the head were thick grasses just beginning to fade from their summertime green, and large well-spaced ponderosa pines. An enchanting scene that seemed to beckon me downward to my destination.

A couple of deer ran across this scene adding to the magic.

I felt pulled as if into a funnel and gravity took over lightening my steps through this welcoming passage. Abundant downfall, brush and boulders in the now enlarged dry creek bed ended my idyl, but I pushed on scrambling my down and down as cliffs rose at the sides of the ever-narrowing defile. The pines stretched ridiculously higher and higher toward the sun. Crenulated bare cliffs of crusty volcanic rock where many hoodoos emerged were in the near distance as I approached the point where the two branches of the gorge meet. Nearer at hand were isolated towers and pillars stretching directly overhead. I carefully rounded the vertex to have a look up the other canyon. On my left was massive wall of gray rock looming over the canyon bottom thick with green shrubbery.  On my right a treacherous slope of crumbly white rock that precluded further advancement.

 I retreated and carefully got myself down to the stream course and began heading down. Here there were some nice oaks beginning in their fall color, plus more formations above and the tallest ponderosa pines I've ever seen close at hand. I turned around when I caught site of an old well because I knew I was at the boundary between private and public land.

 Before leaving altogether I explored up the south branch. Vegetation was thick and green and there was even a couple of puddles where small dams had been built into the natural cascade in an effort to retain any bit of water possible. A little further upstream I came to some large boulders wedged into the narrow cliff opening, where it appears on Google Earth that a waterfall sometimes occurs. It did not seem readily scalable for this 64 year old and I quickly decided to explore the area above another day. 

The return trip had me marching up the long "arm" that comes down from the ridge between the two branches. This much more gradual ascent (as opposed to returning the way I came) made the uphill both ways truth of the hike a little easier to swallow. It was all over and done in a total of almost exactly three hours, but down in that wonderful canyon, time stood still for a little while.