Some time ago, I visited the small town of White Rock, NM, bedroom community for Los Alamos National Laboratory, about 25 miles from Santa Fe. White Rock sits right on the edge of the Rio Grande Canyon, and there’s a terrific overlook there. >From the overlook, to the NE, the end of the Old Buckman Road, leading back to Santa Fe, is clearly visible. Above it is huge Buckman Mesa with it’s unique “Crocodile Head” shape on the left side. The crown of the head - the highest point - is Otowi Peak……..

Lately, I heard about a lava tube/cave near the summit that interested me, and now it appears I have a major (for me) climb coming up. Sept 13 & 14 will see me at a conference in Keystone, CO, and when the General Manager of our hotel heard about it, he told me of a hike/climb I might want to think about. Before coming to La Posada, he was the GM of a major hotel in Keystone, and he and his wife had climbed Gray’s and Torres Peaks there a few years ago. He strongly encouraged me to think about the climb, soooo……….. on Sept 15 I plan to give it a go. The Lake Peak climb, a month ago, was a major strain on the ol’ Lar with its’ altitude gain of about 2100 ft in about 3 miles of hiking. The summit is at 12,409 ft. Gray’s/Torres, a double peak, are a pair of “14′ers - peaks over 14,000 ft high, and with an altitude gain of about 3600 ft in 4½ miles. Boy. I dunno. I’m nervous about it, and highly anticipating, both, so decided to do some training. Otowi Peak would be an excellent warm up, so today, Sat., Sept 1/07, I set out for the mesa………

>From this angle, you can see the distinct “knot” of Otowi at the back of the head. Also, a “wart” below & to the left of the “eyebrow”, and a “snout” at the far left end. Cool.

This hike starts at 5400 ft in a dry wash at the base of the mesa. In this pic, look at the sharply thrusting point at the right side of the mesa. The notch to the left is where the trail goes just about straight up the groove that angles about 20º to the left from the small light patch at the bottom. Thunderstorms were brewing to the west, and to the east, so I made sure to park Der Bug well out of danger…………

It’s about a ¼ mile walk thru loose sand up the wash, then a cairn of rocks that some thoughtful person built indicates the beginning of the climb. These cairns were invaluable all the way up, and I say “Thanks” to my unknown benefactor. They saved a lot of searching and scrambling……….

Now, we start climbing for real, and this smooth sailing didn’t last long……….

The trail got rough and rocky fast, and it was difficult to see the best way up. Major rocks, deep arroyos (gullys) and heavy brush made it tough going. Two cairns are visible here……….

See what I mean ?? This portion of the climb gains about 500 ft of elevation and is tough going. The cairn to the right shows the way…………

I must be in better shape than I thought, tho’, cause I zoomed up this stretch with a grin. On the Lake Peak climb, I’d had serious problems with cramping in my butt and thighs. La Posada GM John L. is a serious bicycle racing competitor and when he listened to the problems I’d had, immediately said, “Dehydration.” “You weren’t drinking enuf water.” Apparently it’s not enuf to drink some water while exerting. (I drank 3 liters from my Camelback on Lake Peak) You must pre-soak yourself for a day or 2 ahead of time, then drink at least a liter an hour while exerting, and also carry GatorAde to replenish electrolytes. I learned about GatorAde while I was a timber faller in the northern Idaho woods, 25 years ago. Summers in Idaho are hot, and logging is brutally hard work. The sweat pours, and cramps and fatigue follow. I found that when your body needs it, the GatorAde tastes sweet and you’ll just gulp it down. When you’ve had enuf, it tastes flat and salty and you’ll automatically ease off and go back to plain water.

Yesterday and last night I drank almost 2 quarts of water - which kept me hopping all night - then had more in the morning. I felt like I was gurgling as I walked. So, now let’s get back to the story.

About ½ way up this 1st pitch of Buckman Mesa, I stopped and took the 1st swig from a pint of GatorAde I’d carried in my belt pouch. You’ve seen those cartoon commercials on TV….?? I could *feel* the energy streaming out my arms and legs, fingers and toes……..like Popeye with his spinach. What a feeling. Tasted soooo sweet. Then, as I continued to climb, I ate the 1st energy bar. I like the ones with at least 6 or 8 grams of protein, and have found in the past that I get about “2 miles to the bar.” (Be wary of the caramel and chocolate energy bars in warm weather - they get very gooey and messy) I was also hitting the suck tube on the Camelback regularly, and almost raced up that 500 ft of broken rock. Surprisingly fast, I could see where the trail leveled out on top of the mesa…………

Once on top of the mesa, I went about ¼ mile north across a rolling, brushy plateau, with Otowi Peak showing ahead like a beacon. Slowly the ground sloped more and more up, leading into the final 400 or so feet of climb. The cairns point the way…………

Now, we’re getting to where there’s a serious view in all directions. This is looking SW toward White Rock. Old Buckman road comes in from the left center to the Rio Grande and White Rock is on the mesa to the right. If you look carefully about ¼ of the way from the right on the ridge, you’ll see 2 shiny or white roofs, and directly below them is the edge of a canyon. Just below and to the left of those roofs is the overlook I took the 1st picture on this page from a few weeks ago………..

Looking ahead, the summit’s already in sight - less than 1½ hours into the hike, and about 1½ GPS miles……….but this turned out to be a false alarm. When I finally stood on it, I could see another one a few feet to the north, and it *might* be a little higher. Turned out it was. GPS showed the this one to be 6558 ft high………….

The 2nd peak turned out to be at 6561 ft., and the view to the NE was tremendous. I would have sworn this was north, but nope, the GPS insisted this was NE. The highway in the lower center is the route to Los Alamos/White Rock, and the Pueblo of Pojoaque (Poh-WACK-ee) is out of the pic to the center right. The distant patch of green is Española, where the Chama River flows into the Rio Grande, and 1 road leads NE to Taos, and another leads north to Chama - a beautiful drive……….

Remember the wart below the Crocodile’s eye ?? Here it is on the left edge of this pic, and more great views……….

Look more to the right, to the north, and there’s the Croc’s nose………..

I worked out a way to rig a rifle sling to my tripod to make it easier to carry, and worked out a way to put it over my shoulder and hook around the Camelback to keep it comfortable and out of the way. It only weighs 3 or 4 pounds, and I put it to good use, along with the self timer on the D200 Nikon. It’s a good thing I carried it - I didn’t see another person all day. That’s a raincoat slung behind me, tied to the Camelback - just in case………..

Now, where’s that cave ?? The hiker’s guide gives co-ordinates for it, but GPS can be off by 100 ft or so, and on that rocky ridge coming up to the peak, even 30 feet is a lot. Hmmm………?? I got the impression from the hiking guide that the cave was on the south side of the ridge. (just went and re-read it, and it clearly says - South Side) Scrambled and clambered all OVER that thing, and no cave. Now what ?? GPS never did show closer than 30 or 40 feet, so, maybe the north side ?? So, OK, scrambled over the ridge, down the other side, and just below the peak……saw a hollow in the rocks. This is looking SE…………

Moving in closer, I saw I was wrong - it’s below where I thought, trying to hide behind a bush………

Here ’tis. This really brought a silly grin to my face. Kinda made the day, ya know…………

And, of course, Lar being Lar, I hadta climb down inside it. About 10 feet or so straight down, then slants off under the mountain for a ways. About 20 feet in it narrowed right down, and tho’ it might be possible to squeeze thru, I’m claustrophobic, there was no one for miles, and I had concerns about Rattlesnakes hiding away from the sun - so I stopped here………..

A final view to the SE, showing the steepness of the area, and the Old Buckman Road in the distance, leading back to Santa Fe - just 10 miles away. Ain’t this neat ??

Next week, weather permitting, I’ll see about a return bout with Lake Peak…..then the 14′ers the week after. Lar.

P.S. Here’s the GPS track from the day’s effort………..

Posted: October 3rd, 2007 under 07-9-1 Otowi Peak, 08 New Mexico.
Comments: 1