This was one of my hardest trips ever! It is much easier for me to hike peaks than not hike peaks!! I left Taos very disappointed that I was not able to hike Pueblo Peak West, 12,305 and Pueblo Peak East, 12,160 respectfully. It made it even a bit more difficult when a distant acquaintance snuck on recently, and 3 other people have done the same. I could have had the peaks 3 times over if I did that. My goal was to hike all the highest New Mexico peaks (184) as respectfully as possible. I made my goal lacking these 2 peaks because to get them I would have had to sacrifice another part of my goal.

Let me tell you I made my best effort to get permission and it was more difficult leaving not hiking the peaks than if I had hiked the peaks. I went to Taos Wednesday September 28, 2022, and was going to try to meet with the Taos Pueblo Warchief right away, but they said maybe noon the next day. I had a white friend years ago that had a Taos Pueblo friend and was able to go to Blue Lakes as his guest. The 2 Pueblo Peaks are sacred unless one has enough money to go with guides big horn sheep hunting. I don’t have that kind of money, but I brought along $3000. to make a donation for preservation of the Taos Pueblo land and an additional $1000. to pay for a guide. I set about to try to find a guide because I know it is acceptable for big horn sheep hunting and all I wanted was to hike to the top of the 2 peaks and down. I talked to nearly 25 people asking for a guide and pushed another dozen doors. Someone suggested that I go to the Taos Newspaper and True Taos Radio station to see if they had any connections. I went and they both said they would put out feelers for a guide. Thursday at noon I went to the Warchief’s office, Governor’s office and Tao’s department for tourism. It was the start of the San Geronimo Feast Festival days, and they could not meet. I had 2 booklets to give the Warchief written by Dr. Joe S. Sando, “The Past that Challenged the Pueblos,” and “Five Ancient Pueblo Warriors.” These are especially inspiring for pueblo youth seeing their heroes from the past. I work with the lady that was the inspiration for Dr. Sandos writing the booklets.

The next best thing that I could do was hike as close as possible without trespassing. I did this once before but in studying the maps I saw that I could get .12 (that’s 12 hundreds) of a mile closer than last time. Trivial, but it shows my best effort. I got up at 6:20 AM staying at the nice “El Pueblo Lodge,” ate their wonderful free full breakfast and headed out. (This is a great place to stay in Taos.) I traveled to Arroyo Seco, then about 2 miles east, parking at the El Salto del Agua Land Association. The temperature was 49 degrees. The starting elevation was 8092 feet. It was a clear day but the sun had not yet come over the mountain. This is where I would have parked to hike the peaks. I paid the $10.00 fee to get on the association’s land and hiked along a nice trail, following a beautiful little stream in a gorgeous forest. I crossed the stream about 8 times to get to my destination point. (This is a nice hike for those staying in Taos.) There were some areas with downed trees that were a bit difficult to get through. I hiked 2.31 miles to a deep bend in the trail, about a quarter mile further than the last time. My GPS said I was 2.52 miles from the closest peak, and I hiked until my GPS showed me going further away. (2.64 to the peaks last time) The elevation there was 9120. I get 3 cardiovascular exercises a week and haven’t missed in almost 18 years. Many days it is light mountain jogging for only about 30 minutes. I decided to lightly jog all the way back. The total hike was 4.7 miles. (I don’t count a peakbag hike unless I hike at least 3 miles. I have hiked Pikes Peak but never logged it because I rode a cog train to the top and only hiked about 100 yards. Peakbagging to me denotes a fair amount of effort.) I did my 4.7-mile hike in a little under 2 hours, one of my fastest. My up-down elevation gain was 1028 feet. It was so hard returning to the Albuquerque area feeling defeated, yet in another respect, not defeated.

I do plan to try to meet with the Warchief and give him the 2 little very inspiring booklets written by Native American Dr. Joe S. Sando and ask if he will give me, the little guy, the same consideration as the big horn sheep hunters. I was born and raised in New Mexico, born January 6th. New Mexico and I have the same birthday. I do not have any Native blood, but my 2 sons have a very small amount. I will pay to hire a guide and make a fairly large donation for the preservation of the Taos Pueblo land. Maybe someone in the pueblo reads this and sees a legitimate respectful way for me to hike the peaks.
I can do no more…………………………………………………………

See pictures of highest peaks in New Mexico: 1 to 62 of highest 184 NM peaks (Now 190) Part 1 YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAjCsjbhYMw
See pictures of highest peaks in New Mexico: 63 to 124 of highest 184 NM peaks (Now 190) 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