"The original plan was to hike 25 miles on Skyline Ridge in the Pecos Wilderness, camping 2 nights on the ridge, but because of fire restrictions the area was closed. Instead, my son Garret and I decided to hike some peaks near Latir Lakes in the Latir Wilderness in northern New Mexico. The 9 beautiful high alpine Latir Lakes are privately owned by the Rio Costilla Livestock Association (RCLA) and for a fee one may camp on their land. The Latir Wilderness borders RCLA and is on National Forest land. We left 5:30 in the morning on Friday June 26, 2011. We headed to northern New Mexico past Taos to the town of Costilla then headed east until we reached RCLA land. To make it all the way to the lakes requires a 4 wheel drive vehicle. A couple of miles before our camp we saw a bear and as it ran it almost looked like a cartoon animal. There are nine lakes and we stayed at the lake at the end of the road, 6 more lakes were up ahead. We stayed in the exact spot I camped 6 summers ago with my wife and 4 daughters. (The eastern part of the lake where the exit stream and lake meet.) We set up camp, hiked to a large beautiful waterfall on the way to the next lake. Garret fished, only catching ..." — Phil-Robinson • Jun 25, 2011