On July 4th, 2021, I ran this awesome route (thanks Brad, Taylor and Peter!) solo and unsupported from the Cañoncito Trailhead to the Yerba Canyon TH at the highway in 12 hours, 23 minutes and 57 seconds. It was a perfect July day. Despite a 50% chance of showers, I experienced just a few raindrops the entire day.
The going up the Arroyo Seco canyon via the Cañoncito trail is lush and downright scenic. I left the car at 5:13am using a headlamp for the first mile or so. I went over Vallecito Mountain at 7:56am.
The trip over to Lake Fork Peak went smooth with only a couple small snow fields. I decide to add the ¾ mile round-trip out-an-back to the summit of Lake Fork Peak (it just felt right) hitting Lake Fork Peak at 9:03am.
The interesting and engaging ridge travel from Lake Fork Peak to Sin Nombre to Wheeler Peak was fun (and brutal) as always. I reached the summit of Wheeler Peak at 11:03am. This is roughly 13 miles into the outing and a whopping 7,200’ of gain. Legit.
From Wheeler it was really nice to be on runnable, downhill trail into La Cal Basin and the good water source at the Middle Fork stream. More nice downhill running to Bull of the Woods meadow was great for striding it out after all the climbing in the early part of the route. At Bull of the Woods meadow at 12:30pm, there was a decent trickle of water from a small pond where I was able to filter water and fill up for the second half of the run.
The going up to Gold Hill’s summit was slow but steady and I reached Gold Hill’s summit at 1:49pm. It was clear the rain showers around the area were tapering off and I’d be in for a hot stretch over to Lobo Peak. I did the best I could to conserve my water but still ran out about a mile before reaching Lobo Peak. All I could think of was the pipe spring high up in Yerba Canyon as it beckoned my parched throat and tightening kidneys.
I reached the summit of Lobo Peak around 4:30pm very stoked to be done with all the climbing. The descent down Yerba Canyon is quite steep initially and I was pleased my legs were still feeling good enough to run most all of the descent with a much-loved stop at the pipe spring at 4:54pm to drink copiously and fill my hand bottle for the rest of the trip.
I reached the intersection of the Yerba Canyon trail and highway 150 at 5:37pm wrapping up the awesome outing. This is an incredible and difficult route worthy of attention. It’s hard to find this much vertical gain with this much runnable terrain at altitude anywhere in New Mexico.
I had stashed and locked my bike at the Yerba Canyon trailhead and “enjoyed” the six mile bike ride back to my car at the Cañoncito trailhead. A nice way to do this route solo.