Last weekend I tried to go out the Winsor Trail from the Aspen Ski Basin parking lot on Saturday and again on Sunday. Sat., I got blown out about a mile in, and Sun. was far worse. Things were breaking, I could hear crashing sounds, and, since I’d been a timber faller in Idaho for years and know how dangerous this is, I got the h— outa there when I heard a loud crash nearby. There was lots of precedent, with dead and rotten trees everywhere…………….

The weather warmed up some this past week, and the forecast was good for today, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2007. Just 2 days till my 65th birthday. So, once again, for the 3rd time, up the 1.1 mile hill on Winsor Trail to the saddle leading to the Pecos Wilderness…………….

It had snowed up here last Sunday, but only small patches were left. After I passed last Saturday’s turnaround, the trail got steeper, rougher, and now icy - and this was all downhill - uphill for tired legs on the way out……………

This time I didn’t see any birds on the way in, but did spot one shy little fella (Chipmunk) who held still just long enuf to get one quick shot. That great 18-70 Nikon zoom lens is wonderful, and 10.2 megapixels gives great crop-ability. I wish the 18-135 or especially the 18-200VR had the same reputation for quality that the 18-70 enjoys. It’s great, but limited. The extra reach would be a joy, but I’m not willing to give up the quality………….

Finally, about 3½ miles in, I reached the Nambé Creek trail and turned south - uphill - toward Lake Peak. Now it got serious. This is over a mile of 30º to 45º climb and is very rough and now icy…………………….

Pretty hard to get completely lost, since you follow the creek up the mountain, but a lot of it flows under piles of boulders and the spray creates ice which muffles the sound. Then, too, instead of a clear trail, people have wandered all over the place, and there’s a network of trails going every which way. Here’s the creek. Not much water, this time of year…………..

Sure, uphill’s easy to follow, but it’s a Big Area, and some of it is…..difficult……………

After a while it leveled out for a bit and I saw a small meadow off to my right, but kept going. Then, back onto the steep climb again, and soon reached a 2nd, larger meadow, and thought it’d make for easier walking. Nope, looked good, but marshy and lumpy. Much easier on the rocky trail to the side…………..

The winter sun drifted across above the ridge, and caused me no end of problems with lighting and contrast. Seemed like everywhere I looked it was shining right in my eyes. You can’t see the screen well enuf in daylight to really tell, so didn’t realize how bad it was till I got home and put ‘em on the confuser. Gonna do some experimenting next time, you bet. In the pic above, you can see the next level above the meadow, and that’s where the lake finally turned out to be. I was pleased to reach it, but I’m in far better shape now than I was last spring and it didn’t hurt so bad. Not bad at all, in fact. I came over a hump, around a bend in the trail, and suddenly there was Nambé Lake…………..

It’s just a little pothole and very shallow, but Very Pretty ! ! ! I had heard there are large, feather gilled salamanders living in this lake, but tho’ I walked completely around it and watched very carefully, I saw none. Must be hibernating now, I guess. That’s fine, something to look for next summer, eh ?? Last week I found that the Whiskey Jacks like piñon nuts very much, so brought more with me. I also brought birdseed to try to bring the smaller Chickadees and Juncos in closer. That didn’t work too well - they’re very spooky and I have more experimenting to do, but I sure had fun with the Whiskey Jacks. There were plenty of them here at the lake, and I tried an experiment. Let’s see how close they’ll come…………..

Well, he’s curious, so let’s see how badly he wants those piñon nuts……………

Perty bad, it looks like. Will he ?? Will he ?? Yup, he wants those snacks real bad. He was a greedy little bugger and nearly choked himself, overfilling his crop……………

And here ya have it. These are highly intelligent birds, and it took just a few minutes to get him to this stage. Here’s the final outcome. (holding the camera steady for this shot was….interesting) …………..

I was grinning from ear to ear, but I’d created a monster. There were lots of these guys here, and the others took one look and wanted their share, too. I had Jays (also called Gray Jays/Whiskey Jacks/Camp Robbers) following me for the rest of the time I was at the lake. Fun……………….

This is picture postcard country and I had it completely to myself. Didn’t see another person till I was partway back to the truck. Above Nambé Lake is mighty Lake Peak. Look at the blog page on Lake Peak for a view down to Nambé Lake. It was almost silent here, with only the faint sigh of the gentle breeze and the sound of bird calls from all over. I spent an hour here, drinking a soda, eating an energy bar and just wandering around looking and listening. This really puts your soul at ease. Above the lake, you can see the notch in the center of the mountain, with Deception Peak to the right and Lake Peak to the left of it. The turn-off from Winsor Trail is at 10,475 ft., and the lake is at 11,335 ft - almost a 900 ft climb in about 1 - 1½ miles. Lake Peak is at 12,409 ft, a 1,000 feet higher. Magnificent country…………..

Finally, it was time to leave. I started back down the trail and got about ½ way, when suddenly there was a clatter in the brush to my left. ‘Bout freaked me out - I’d been watching for Bears the whole way and my heart about jumped into my throat. Nope, just a deer that had apparently been sleeping under a tree and woke up to the noise of my heavy boots. He won’t last long if he’s that careless, up here. You can’t see them in the pictures, but he was a spike horn - a young buck not yet ready to mate. I’m used to the Coastal Deer in the Pacific NorthWest, (Columbian Blacktails) and this young Mule Deer was huge in comparison. He’s gonna be a big boy when (if ) he grows up……………….

Now, it was a knee and thigh burner down the mountain to the Winsor Trail, but the mountain had one more surprise for me on the way down. As I approached the main Winsor Trail there came a gap in the trees and I was rewarded with a terrific view of Mt. Santa Fe Baldy to the North, next in line after Lake Peak. Hmmm…….doesn’t look quite so far from this angle, and Spirit Lake is on the way. Next year ??………….

Now there was over 2½ miles of steady uphill to the saddle, and another 1.1 miles down the hill to the parking lot. It wasn’t as bad as before, due in large part to the experiment of wearing suspenders to hold the weight of the camera equipment above my thigh and butt muscles and drinking plenty of water. Now, later in the evening, I’m a little stiff, but not bad at all. Here’s the GPS map of the day’s hike. Raven Ridge would make a line from Win3/Fence 1 to Lake 5 & Lake 6, then curve around hard to the left and extend north to Santa Fe Baldy………

What a great day ! ! !

Posted: October 28th, 2007 under 07-10-27 Nambé Lake, 08 New Mexico.
Comments: none