Since I have most of the New Mexico Peaks that I am interested in hiking, I have been targeting some of the more obscure high peaks in our state. One of those peaks is Peak 12114 as listed in Mike Butterfield’s book, “New Mexico’s High Peaks.” Of the 83, thirteen thousand and twelve thousand highest peaks in New Mexico, as listed in his book, I am only 3 short. I first planned to go into the Trampas Lakes and cut across the ridge, but because I had never been to the San Leonardo Lakes, I decided to go that way. I also planned to hike Peak 11903.

I left my house at 5:45 Saturday morning September 4, 2021 with my friend Brian and his enthusiastic dog Penny. From the town of Truchas, New Mexico we headed north northwest a few miles to the little town of Trampas, right after Trampas we turned southeast on highway 207. The highway 207 sign is no longer there, so look for El Valle Road. We traveled on a dirt road for about 8 miles southeast. I left my Land Cruiser at home and had my Toyota Corolla. It made the 8 miles all right, but I wish I had had my other car. High clearance is better. I had about another mile and a half to go to the trailhead and really wished I had my SUV. Brian scouted a stream and I crossed it with the Corolla, went over some very rough stuff, and didn’t want to risk the rough road so I parked a mile short of where I previously wanted to start. We started off on a beautiful clear, perfect temperature, morning at 8:40 AM. The starting elevation was 8995 feet. We hiked near a beautiful mountain stream. The forest on the way up was filled with aspen, ponderosa pines, white fur, blue spruce and a variety of other trees. The meadows were a beautiful green and spotted with wildflowers. Part way up we came across some raspberry bushes and picked a few handfuls of the delicious fruit. For some odd reason my GPS reset itself about 2.75 miles into the hike. I had to draw in the rest of the trek when I got home. We passed over to another stream and you could see its origin coming from underground. I am sure coming from the lakes above. The last 2 miles were a real chug with full backpacks and I had to take a number of 15 second standing stops. We came to the first San Leonardo Lake, then went to the second larger lake and found a camping spot with a nice view of the lake. The camping elevation was 11,375. We hiked 4.6 miles and our up-down elevation gain was about 2500 feet. It was 11:50 AM, 3 hours and 10 minutes from the start. We set up camp. This location is at the headwaters to the Rio San Leonardo, a box canyon with very steep mountain walls. As we set up camp as I scouted our route up. The way I previously planned seamed 50-50. Maybe we could make it, and maybe we would hit cliff walls as they were all around. A little further route on the southeast side of the boxed canyon seemed best. There was a grassy shoot that looked like it would make it to the top. We left at 12:30 PM, heading around the lake to the southeast side of the box canyon then up the very steep mountain. It was a real chug going up the mountain especially towards the top, having to scramble on all fours. As we went up the mountain the views became more and more expansively beautiful. We reached a small saddle at the ridge line. If one were to go to the east this would be a good, but hard, way to hike Sheepshead Peak. We hiked to the west along the ridge, sometimes in thick trees and sometimes along a cliff edge. We reached the top of Peak 12114 at 2:00 PM after hiking 6.4 miles from the bottom and about a mile and a half from the lake. This peak has a prominence of 173 feet. The up-down elevation gain was about 3300 feet. The top is mostly tree covered but with a few views. We hiked another nine tenths of a mile east and we were at Peak 11,903. This peak has a prominence of 203 feet. The top of this peak was also tree covered but with a few views. It was 2:55 PM, 7.3 miles from the start. I was fairly worn out so on the way back we skirted Peak 12114. After making the saddle on the ridge, I was very happy because all the rest of the hike was downhill. I found a puffball mushroom which is delicious to cook up. It was a steep decent to the lakes but not too hard. I circled the lake back to camp. The hike for the day was 9.1 mile with an up down elevation gain of 3939. It was 4:15 PM. Brian tried to fish but we both came to the conclusion that there were no fish in the lake. We were amazed by how quiet it was. The headwaters canyon makes a nice amphitheater. We gave a few loud yells to hear the echoes bounce around. We started a campfire and both cooked dinner on separate stoves. I like my mini MSR Dragonfly liquid gas stove and Brian used bottled gas. For dinner I had PEAK brand Beef Stroganoff and HEATHER’S CHOICE Smoked Salmon Chowder, both were very poor tasting and after leaving the chowder for 30 plus minutes it was cool and undercooked, crunchy carrots and I couldn’t find the salmon. The dog had trouble eating it. MOUNTAIN HOUSE beef stroganoff is much better. I did enjoy my dehydrated crème brulee. Brian had s’mores. We enjoyed an early evening campfire and went to bed at about 8:45 PM.

I got up at 6:45 AM and began to pack up. It was a beautiful clear chilly morning. I put on my one pound 900 loft down jacket. I thought Brian was still sleeping. At about 7:30 he came back from an early morning hike up the mountain. He hiked almost to the top, a different way than we went up the day before. I cooked PEAK skillet breakfast and to me it was very tasteless. MOUNTAIN HOUSE skillet breakfast is much better. We left camp at 9:10, enjoying the beauty of the magnificent forest. We had to cross the little stream a number of times. The trail was very nice from the lake down but there were a number of blow down trees to cross over. We made it back to the car at 11:25, 2 hours and 15 minutes from the lake. The total hiking distance was 13.5 miles. (This hike is really 10.5 miles from the 4WD trailhead.) The up-down elevation gain was about 4100 feet. I was a little concerned about the half mile rough road and the stream crossing, but my Corolla made it alright. We celebrated our hike by going to Dairy Queen on the way home, I got a double fudge cookie dough Blizzard.

The list keeps increasing slightly as I add more obscure peaks.
Only 6 more to go!

See pictures of highest peaks in New Mexico: 1 of 62 of highest 184 NM peaks. Part 1 YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAjCsjbhYMw
See pictures of highest peaks in New Mexico: 63 of 124 of highest 184 NM peaks. Part 2 YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrFMjoB9zNY

List of highest 184 peaks in New Mexico (Now 190) A very inclusive list!
https://peakbagger.com/list.aspx?lid=-925606&cid=1477