This is my 4th time hiking Mount Taylor, elevation 11,301. I am in the process of hiking 5 peaks that I don’t really want to hike, because I have hiked them before, so that I can climb 4 peaks that I really do want to hike, that I have never done before, as part of the 179 highest peaks in New Mexico. I joined the scout troop that I was in as a boy, Troop 166, as a Scouter Reserve so that I can hike 5 peaks on Philmont Scout Land. I hiked one of those last October. The troop asked me to take the scouts on 4 conditioning hikes before we did the Philmont peaks. This is the 2nd conditioning hike. Our group consisted of; the scoutmaster John, Beverly and her son Chris, Jerry and his son Brady, and myself. We planned to meet in Grants, New Mexico, Saturday August 7, 2021 at 7:30 AM. Unfortunately, my Land Cruiser had alternator problems near mile marker 133 driving from Albuquerque. It is a terrible feeling when the vehicle slows to nothing. I called a tow company, left the SUV, and continued on in another car.

From Grants we headed northeast on highway 547 until we came to the second highway 193. (There are two 193 roads. I assume they make a loop.) Highway 193 is a dirt road that you follow east for 5 miles and a passenger car worked well today. We started at 9:10 AM at Gooseberry Trailhead. The starting elevation was 9285 feet. The temperature was just right starting off and at the top felt wonderfully airconditioned. I was in the middle of our group when things didn’t seem right. We were going downhill and missed the trail. We backtracked a little and were on our way. We hiked trough three types of forests; aspen, ponderosa pine, and blue spruce. There were beautiful green meadows amongst the trees and open meadows covered with wildflowers. Towards the top there were spectacular views in all directions. The troop hikes at a more leisurely pace than I am used to, we arrived at the top of the dormant volcano at 12:15, 3 hours and 5 minutes from the start. The elevation gain was 2115 feet and we hiked 3.9 miles with our slight trail miss. We stopped for lunch. John cooked ramen noodles on a gas stove and ate with chopped sticks. It looked delicious and fun! We stayed about 40 minutes and headed down. It was a beautiful hike through the varied landscapes. About two-thirds of the way down we saw 2 horned lizards, horny toads. These were one of my favorite animals as a young boy. I caught many of them growing up. I wouldn’t keep them long, and let them go after a day or two. We arrived back at 3:35 PM, hiked 7.5 miles and had a total up down elevation gain of 2284 feet.

This is one of the highest 179 peaks in New Mexico.

See the list:
https://peakbagger.com/list.aspx?lid=-925606&cid=1477