Ancient Lookout

September 11, 2022

Howdy folks,

Well, our Labor Day weekend didn't end with our trip to Tucumcari. On Sunday, I drug my ass out of bed early(we got home at 9pm on Saturday night) and met Valentin down at his house at 8am to finally hike the mesa. As I've mentioned before, we've been planning this for some time and for many various reasons have been postponing it since July. Not this weekend, though! His Dad had the truck running and Valentin only took another five minutes to finish getting ready. I took my pack out of my car, as well as my Iroquois war club and walking stick, and threw everything in the back of the truck. Next, Loka got thrown in, as well, tail wagging the whole time, always ready for another adventure! Soon, we were crossing to the other side of the Pecos River and heading back towards the San Jose Cemetery, on the south side of town. Usually, we would get driven down a half mile to a mile or so, but the road was too rutted and gutted from all of the storms that we've gotten this summer, so we parked there and got all of our stuff around. Next thing, we were walking west along the Amtrak line for about three quarters of a mile until we finally found the big arroyo that we usually follow up to the top and left the tracks to make a beeline towards the mountain. At first, we were bushwhacking across the rolling ground that continued to slowly rise in elevation. We were starting around 6200' and would be at 7800' at the top. After making it a little closer to the mesa, we got back into the big arroyo and kept working ourselves upwards step after step. Then, we left it again and started heading straight towards the point of the mesa, right in the center. Last year, we went a little to the left of that spot and stayed to the left of the arroyo. This time, we stayed to the right of it and first worked ourselves right up to about three hundred feet below the peak and then tried to go around to the right. This way was very steep and, even though there were trees all the way to the top, the ground kept crumbling beneath our feet and it was definitely not stable enough to continue in that direction. This was the shady side and had trees going all the way up to the top, but it looked pretty dicey. So, we went back to right below the peak and took a break and decided to go around to the left of the peak to see if there was any way up there. There wasn't and it was even steeper than the other side with less vegetation. So, denied, but not defeated, we started working our way back down the mountain, living to make it to the top another day. We did about 5.5 miles and made it up to just about 7500' before coming back down.

Here is the blow by blow, corresponding with the series of photos I took:

1) 8:15am-Valentin's Dad drops us off at the train crossing by the cemetery in San Jose.

2) 8:21am-We're walking west on the Amtrak line, looking for the big arroyo to ascend in a half mile or so.

3) 8:23am-Looking back over our right shoulders, we see San Jose tucked into the landscape, almost hidden.

4) 8:36am-A little further on and now we see Starvation Peak back behind us in the distance, some 10 miles to the east.

5) 8:47am-Now, we've gotten off of the tracks and are starting to head up the mountain and see a horned lizard!

6) 9:07am-As we begin to climb a little higher we start seeing these thin, delicate wildflowers.

7) 9:09am-In the same little clearing we notice an abundance of strange holes and forms in the rocks.

8) 9:11am-Tracking back to the right, we break out of the trees and get a good view of the mesa's peak.

9) 9:11am-Still mostly full of energy, I stop to snap a selfie before we begin the hard climbing.

10) 9:56am-Having found the big arroyo that comes off the mesa, we stay in it and keep ascending, step by step.

11) 10:06am-We've now gotten high enough to look back behind us and really see the gain in elevation.

12) 10:09am-A few minutes later and a good view of Barillas Peak to the north is revealed.

13) 10:12am-Having noticed that I was falling a little behind, Valentin & Loka pause to wait for me.

14) 10:24am-We find a huge Huevos del Toro(bull testicles) growing on a rock shelf...I don't know the name in English.

15) 10:26am-Again we find ourselves criss-crossing underneath La Punta de la Mesa San Juan Jose.

16) 10:57am-Even higher up we look back to see Starvation Peak and the green grass growing along the Pecos River.

17) 11:13am-Just a few hundred feet higher, the view now seems almost impossible to comprehend.

18) 11:16am-The top of the mesa looms and Valentin is just a few feet in front of me, but ten feet above me...quite steep!

19) 11:43am-Having pushed around to the right side of the point, we find a whispy, hoary specimen of cactus.

20) 12:09pm-A portrait of Loka as we break and regroup, having given up on trying to go around to the right of the peak.

21) 12:09pm-Looking to the north you can see the rail line, I-25 and then San Juan in the distance(look for the school's orange roof).

22) 12:09pm-We find ourselves in the nosebleed section, right below the 300' cliff that comprises the peak, looking east.

23) 12:26pm-Trying to go around to the left, we find nothing but cliffs and trees growing horizontally out of the canyon wall.

24) 12:54pm-Having given up on summiting, we find the big arroyo again and start the leg-shaking descent...I'm beat.

25) 1:45pm-Still in the arroyo, we're almost back down to the bottom and the more open terrain between mesa and tracks.

26) 1:56pm-Almost back to the tracks, we pause to look back at the mesa and to think about our next attempt.

27) 2:15pm-Finally back on the tracks, we take a quick break after crawling underneath the barbed wire.

28) 2:26pm-Six hours and eleven minutes later, we find ourselves right back where we started...thanks to Papi's truck!

29) A screenshot of my hiking app, showing us early on as we leave the arroyo and begin to aim for the peak.

30) A second screenshot, which shows the entire trip up and down the mountain and how we attempted to get to the top.

That's it for this week, see you soon!