After finishing my 16-year goal of hiking the highest 184 (-2) mountain peaks in New Mexico last September 2021, there was one more very obscure peak that I needed. The peak is listed in Mike Butterfield’s delightful book “New Mexico’s High Peaks,” Peak 12,225 in the Pecos Wilderness of New Mexico.

Day 1 - I couldn’t get my son Garret to go with me so I ended up going by myself. I left my house Tuesday August 16, 2022, at 5:30 AM. I drove to Truchas, New Mexico on Highway 76, then a bit northeast to the little town of Las Trampas. 1-mile further northeast is Forest Road 207. It is the first right past the town. There is no sign going northeast, but there is one driving southwest. I drove 8.5 miles southeast on dirt road 207. I did not have any trouble in my Toyota Corolla, but a high clearance vehicle is better. I parked by the Las Trampas trailhead at the end of the road. There were a few scattered clouds, but it was mostly clear. It was a cool 52 degrees. The starting elevation was 8950 feet. I started hiking about 8:30 AM with a pack of 45 pounds. I took about 14 pounds more than usual as a bit of conditioning. This is probably the only backpacking trip I will take this year. My plan was to camp between the 2 Trampas Lakes. It is a gorgeous hike following a playful little stream. It was lush and green with beautiful wildflowers, aspen trees and blue spruce. I ate some wild raspberries both on the way up and the way down. There is a gradual waterfall about halfway along and if you listen carefully, you will know where it is. There are many downed trees along the trail so many more than when I went this way 12 years ago. It is a bit like bushwhacking in places’ and you will not see horses at the lakes. In 2 places on the way up you can see where mighty flashfloods came down the mountain. My GPS cut out a couple of times going up by a weak battery that did not register, so my distance might be a bit further. It said 6.4 miles and it took me 4 hours and 40 minutes with stops for pictures. The elevation at the lakes was 11,400 feet, with an up-down gain of 2715 feet. I camped between the 2 lakes in a location that you could see both lakes. It started to lightly rain and rained until I went to bed. I had a bit of trouble striking a match to light my Dragonfly liquid stove because the air was so moist. I pulled out my special waterproof powerhouse matches and got it lit. I had Mountain House beef stroganoff. It was okay but not so great. I went to bed before it got dark and had a nice night’s sleep.

Day 2 – I got up at 5:30 AM, ate Mountain House granola with blueberries and heated water for coffee. I started hiking at 6:15 AM. The temperature was probably in the 40s and many misty clouds around. I headed directly south crossing a boulder field and up a very steep grassy slope that I previously had preploded out. I had to climb on all fours at times. It is always nice to reach the ridge and I arrived at the south ridge after hiking an hour and 20 minutes, about a mile from the lakes. I headed east-southeast towards my first peak. (Sheepshead Peak is about 1/3 of a mile the other way on the ridge) I was now above timberline. I saw one bighorn sheep coming off Peak 12,900 heading my direction. These are the Sangre de Christo Mountains which means the Blood of Christ Mountains. The sheep reminded me of the parable of the lost sheep. Years ago, I was that lost sheep thankfully found by the blood of Christ and the ram also reminded me of Abraham’s blood sacrifice of a ram, symbolic of Christ’s blood sacrifice for us. Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The views were specular! It was 100 percent cloudy with the mist touching all the mountains around. I arrived at the Peak 12,900 also called Peak 12,880, at 8:30 AM, 2 hours and 15 minutes from the lakes. The up-down elevation gain from the start was 4606 feet and 1906 from the lake. I was 7.7 miles from the start and only 1.3 from the lake. It was slow going because it was hard uphill. I stayed a bit on the top enjoying the views. Each distant peak is a story for me, and I was retelling some of the stories in my mind from the top. I scouted out the next peak and thought I could quickly head northeast on a ridge then quickly east on another ridge to get the peak. It looked so easy I left some stuff behind including water and my rain poncho. I got a drink, took my little emergency bag, GPS and camera only. Very quickly the ridge turned into some cliff hiking, and I could see that it was trouble ahead. I edged down a little cliff, then went way down below the ridgeline and hiked along a difficult boulder field to the middle of the east-west ridge. I have had so little rain over my many years peakbagging I got rain-lazy. It started to rain. My poncho was on the last peak. I was a cold wet dog! The peak is located by the west fork of the Santa Barbara River and that would be a better way to bag this peak than the way I went. I arrived at the top of Peak 12,225 after hiking 1 hour and 40 minutes from the last peak, I dropped in elevation, but then gained 295 feet. It was about 2 miles from the last peak and 9.7 from the start. I took more pictures and was delighted to have gotten the last peak that I am really interested in. It was sooooo hard to get back to Peak 12,900. It took an extra 1 hours going back to the last peak because of the hard sideways boulder field and the difficult all fours uphill and it was pounding rain with some tiny hail mixed in and I was very cold and saturated to the bone. I was at times moaning like a baby. I had lots of prayers for strength! I don’t know what Navy Seal training is like, but I imagine some of it is like this. I have never had a clean water stream just appear and I have never needed water so much peakbagging. There are no streams at that high of elevation, lower elevation streams are not clean to drink from, and amazingly, when I needed fresh water the most, it came off the higher rock ledge of Peak 12,900 to me and I drank my full. It was not there when I first went by. It felt like God providing for me as in the Old Testament wilderness wonderings. Finally, finally back to the top of Peak 12,900; wet, very cold, worn out. The “hour hop” took 4 hours and 20 minutes and all but about a half hour in the rain. The elevation gain from the start was 6258, 1363 from the last peak, total miles from the start 11.7 and 2 miles from the last peak. I took off my wet shirt and put on my down jacket and poncho. It felt sooooooo good. I headed back the same way that I came up. It was a bit difficult, coming directly off the ridge down the steep slope. The rocks at the bottom are like little golf balls, taking you a bit by surprise, and I slipped a couple of times. I headed back through the trees to my camp. It felt absolutely delightful to have accomplished my goal. It was 4:00 PM, 9 hours and 45 minutes from when I started. The elevation gain was 6340 from the start and 3640 for the day. Total hike, 13.4 miles from the start and 7 miles for the day. I cooked Mountain House lasagna, which was better than last night’s dinner. I really like my 2-pound 9 ounce two-person Big Agnes Fly Creek Tent. Not a drop of water was inside. I always seam seal a new tent on the inside and outside when I first get it and that tent is near impenetrable to water. When I hike, I put my sleeping bag in a garbage bag and put it on the air mattress, as added protection while I am gone. I went to bed, again before it was dark, slept well and my sleeping bag and tent were dry and warm. It lightly rained throughout the night.

Day 3 – I got up at 7:00 AM. As I said earlier, I have had so little rain over the years I had become rain-lazy prepared. It was lightly raining, and I had to put on wet pants and a semi-wet down jacket. It was very chilly; I don’t think the temperature ever got above the 40’s in camp. I heated coffee, and cooked Mountain House biscuits and gravy. It had small sausage bits. It was the best dehydrated meal of the trip. I packed up camp and headed down at 8:22. I am glad that I did not hike the peaks today because all the peaks and ridges were socked in with thick clouds. It was a beautiful hike down following the trail along the beautiful stream to the bottom. I am always delighted to see my car. There is a scripture in the book of James in the Bible that says, “Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds……” “Count it,” is a future event. I suffered a lot on this adventure, moaning like a baby at times, going up difficult mountains on all fours with a heavy load, wet to the bone in pounding rain, yet the moment the hike was completed the entire event was pure joy! Remember that when you face various trials in your life. If you are walking in your life with the Jesus of the Bible something truly wonderful is working in you in the midst of the trial. Joy completed! The hike was 20.3 miles with an up-down elevation gain of 6533 feet. (Odd, my decent gain should match but it said 6801) It was 12:50 PM. The miles coming out said 6.9 miles on my GPS and that might be more accurate than my hike up, because my GPS cut out a bit going up, so it was about a 21-mile adventure. It felt pretty good to be doing this at age 67.5. I did not see another person the entire hike. As I was driving away, I saw some people looking up at a yearling bear nearly 120 feet up a tree. As I have many times after peakbagging, I treated myself to a double fudge cookie dough blizzard at Dairy Queen on the way back. This was probably one of my top 10 hardest hikes

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