A hike on Turtleback mountain

Some people come to T or C to enjoy the recreational possibilities at nearby Elephant Butte state park, some come here to 'take the waters', as have people for thousands of years. We stayed here because it's likely the last relatively warm place on our slow way home, and, as it turned out, to hike the Turtleback Mountain trail. The area we passed through on the way here looked very barren for the last hour or so, flat, with creosote bushes and not much else growing as far as the eye could see. From the viewpoint at Emory Pass we thought we might have glimpsed Elephant Butte reservoir, and we certainly could see many mountains in the distance. T or C itself, however, seemed to have few natural attractions when we drove through. When Johann asked about places to hike in the area at the hotel reception, however, he found out that only about a ten minute drive east from town there's a nice and interesting hike:Caballo Cone, known as Turtleback Mountain locally. 

Armed with some information from the internet regarding trailhead access and features of the trail we were on our way late yesterday morning. A 2.2 mile hike up the mountain (and back the same way), even if considered strenuous, would not be too much for an afternoon's hike.

On our way out of town the road ran parallel to the Rio Grande – but what a measly little rivulet it was! I had imagined a river living up to its name, but most certainly we didn't find it here, now. Upon closer inspection we could see that it runs a lot higher at times, though.

The (wrong) beginning of the trail

At the unmarked trailhead only one other vehicle was parked, and the three men belonging to it had just come back from the hike. They recommended taking hiking poles for the return on sometimes steeper, slippery sections, and to stick to the ridgeline: 'there are many trails branching off, and it's easy to miss the trail if you don't pay attention,' they warned us. 

The weather was perfect for hiking, in the low teens and sunny, and we set off on the narrow trail up the first ridge line. Soon other trails started to branch off, less travelled obviously, but dimly visible, and we followed the one we could recognize best; the difference was not very big between them. Down into the ravine it went, and up again on the next ridge. We kept seeing tracks – or so we thought – but we were less and less sure where the right trail was. Finally we realized that we were lost. Almost at that moment we saw movement on the other side of our ravine. About ten black, plump animals galloped up the hill: javelinas! We couldn't believe our luck: never before had we seen them in the wild, and now there were so many. Javelinas, also called collared peccaries, look a lot like wild boars, but they are not closely related and are native to the American Southwest , Central America and South America. They are omnivores, but their favourite food here in the Southwest is the prickly pear cactus. A few had stayed back close to the bottom, just gazed vaguely in our direction and continued to eat, unconcerned. We had lots of time to watch them and marvelled at how well-fed, almost fat, they were.

This encounter was totally worth getting lost for, although I had my doubts several times for the next half hour or so when we went in search of the real trail which had to run somewhere above us one or two ridges over. We scrambled along steep hillsides, and with my fear of heights my knees were shaking a couple of times looking for firm footing on the sharp loose rocks. Bigger rocks offered hand and footholds, thankfully, and the hiking pole was a very welcome tool. The many cacti and sharp spiked ocotillos posed a further hindrance. A few times I had to pull cactus spines from my fingers, and the rocks, none of them smooth, wreaked havoc on hands as well. Finally we had gained another ridge, and Johann, who arrived first, called back: there is the trail, and six people are on it. Oh, thank goodness! The hill flank we had to traverse to get there was much smoother and less steep, and I was finally able to enjoy not only the view (the same view I had not dared to explore too much while hoping to get firmer ground just a little while ago) but also the myriad wildflowers.

The ridge trail was like a walk in the park compared to where we had been, and we followed it up and down crests for the next hour or so. Whenever we had gained a crest another one was waiting, the trail descending and ascending steeply every time, the peaks fooling us into believing we had reached the top. Finally we decided we'd had enough: we had come far, even if we didn't gain the ultimate top of Turtleback Mountain. Without the detour it would have been no question at all, but we both didn't feel up to continuing just to be able to say we'd made it. The view was likely no less magnificent from where we were.

Five hours after we started we were back at our pickup, this time following the right trail down to the bottom. We found that we had missed the right trail from the very beginning, and now could see that the trailhead had even been marked with some rocks. It didn't matter: we had had a marvellous hike, and we would not have seen the javelinas if we hadn't gone astray.

In another hour we'll be on our slow way north, towards home. Santa Fé will be our destination for tonight.