The first time that I hiked Truchas Peak was in 1970. I was in Boy Scout troop 166, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was 15 years old. There were about 12 boys and a couple of adult leaders. The adults dropped us off at Santa Barbara campground, then we hiked up the east fork of the Santa Barbara River to the end of the box canyon and the headwaters. The first night we spent about half way up the valley, in a large open area, near the location where the middle fork trail meets. The second night we stayed in forest, at the edge of beautiful meadows and little lakes at the headwaters of the East Santa Barbara River. The morning of the third day we had a tough hike up to Santa Barbara peak and Skyline Ridge. Hiking Skyline Ridge was one of the most beautiful hikes that I could imagine, all above the timberline with beautiful views in every direction. The third night we set up camp at Truchas Lake and we hiked up to Truchas Peak later that day. We had to scramble on all fours to get to the top. We continued along Skyline Ridge, crossing the ridge peak Trailriders Wall, to Pecos Baldy Lake where we spent the 4th night. From there we hiked to Horse Thief Meadow and spent two nights there. Our 7th night was at Stewart Lake where we met up with some more boys from our troop. We were there one or two nights. I believe our trip was 9 days, 8 nights. The next morning we hiked out. We did not have regular tents but were masters of making tents out of plastic. We would lash a log between two trees with binders twine and drape the plastic over the top, and then we would wrap little pinecones in the corners of the plastic and tie it off. The plastic was very ultralight. We would make a trench at the bottom where the rain came off. I remember our hike from Truchas Lake, crossing the ridge peak Trailriders Wall, to Pecos Baldy Lake; it was a hike with solid rain all day. We wore our ponchos over us and our backpacks. It rained while we cooked and most of the night. I laid in the tent with rain hitting the plastic 6 inches from my face. This was probably my rainiest hiking experience ever. Our total hike was 50 miles and we received a patch for the hike.

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