The second week in August we planned out a trip to conquer
yet another spot that we struggled to
conquer, this one in the Manzano
mountains on a trail called 4th of July. We began the adventure
however on a little detour to two different ruins that I hadn’t had the chance
to see yet.
We were surprised at the greenness of the desert. It had been so yellow the last time we drove out this way.
We then headed to 4th of July trail which we had attempted back in April. Both times it was a weekday and I had picked Stan up early from work. Our goal was to reach the top of saddle where we could see over onto the west side of the valley.
The first time we attempted the hike (in April), we tried to hike to
the left on a loop. As we were running out of daylight we weren’t quite sure
our map had the correct trail on it and decided we would come back another time
and try the route to the right.
So the next week we came back and did just that. We hiked
and hiked and hiked. We were fairly close to the top, but that route was much
longer than we realized and we turned back. Stan's estimated 3 mile hike was really 5.
Finally, in August, we hiked to the left
again. Turns out we were just feet away the first time from the turn that we
thought we had missed. (I often make life analogies when we’re hiking. That day
we learned that sometimes you just need to go a few feet farther to find the
next step.) And we made it to the saddle! Boy what a view!!
From these pictures you might be able to guess why they call
this 4th of July canyon. It is quite different than other forests in
New Mexico because there are a lot of deciduous trees. It was so beautiful and
green! As we hiked we had a little hail and rain (we had learned long before
the importance of carrying ponchos) but it was not too cold. It felt good to
conquer this hike like we have others.
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