W5N/SE-001 Chicoma Mountain

The hardest part of Chicoma is the drive to the trailhead. From a bit north of Espanola, take road 144 for 26 miles. This is a very rough road in places, and I wouldn't try it without some high clearance. It took us over an hour to drive the dirt road.

Open forest on the way up.

Joe had coordinates of a good place to park, and after driving over a cattle guard I found a pullout to park in. We set out into the woods, heading uphill. The first part is steeper, and was easy going. When the terrain flattens out, there are many more down trees. This required some creative route finding, going over, around, and even along the trees.

This stuff was not easy to get through.

Eventually we made it through the trees, and found ourselves in a large meadow. This was awesome, with incredible views. We hiked up to tag the summit, then both decided that sitting at the top of the meadow was the best place to activate from.

Joe in the meadow.

Neither of us were in a hurry, so we both operated a number of bands. I got a few summit-to-summit contacts which put me over for Shack Sloth. At the time I wasn't sure who, but at home I determined that WW7D was the one who put me over. Eventually we decided we wanted to get back for some dinner, so we packed up and hiked back.

Pedernal in the center.

Back at the car we bumped our way back to the pavement and then the drive back to the Taos Mesa Brewing restaurant, our favorite post-hike meal spot.

Trailhead: Forest Road 144.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Head up the hill to the summit. There are some old abandoned logging roads, but none of them seemed to go in the right direction.
Red Tape: None.

A cairn made of wood?