Pecos Wilderness

I didn’t realize how much New Mexico deserves its nickname, the “Land of Entrapment.”

I got trapped in New Mexico. After backpacking around the San Pedro Parks Wilderness, a week was spent around Los Alamos.

Next, I met up with Jan for four days in the Pecos Wilderness. A truly enchanting place full of high alpine lakes and ridgewalking to take your breath away.

Lake Katherine, still partly covered in ice.

On the ridge above Lake Katherine.

Sharing this trip with Jan was bittersweet. My new job in Georgia is (potentially) for a whole year and I doubt I’ll be able to convince Jan to come out to the east. So this trip felt like the last trip we will have together for a while. I sure will miss hiking with my dear friend.

Pecos Baldy Lake

If you ask Jan about our trip, she’d inevitable give you a slightly different story as to the difficulty of the terrain. But the thing about Jan is she always stays in good spirits even when the going gets tough.

Jan postholing.

I'm sure this is the last blowdown, Jan. (Photo by Jan)

Not sure why we are going descending so much when we are wanting to get to the summit. But maybe that had something to do with our total elevation change of the day being so high.

Going cross-country when the switchbacks are covered in snow.

More upward.

Finally to the fabulous ridgewalking.

Plenty of time was also taken for dancing along the ridges. (Photo by Jan)

One of the best things about hiking with Jan is that she helps me make good decisions. Like when to go swimming.

Half unfrozen means it's still swimmable!

"Why did I do that?"

More swimming in a different lake. This one was warmer.

One evening we made camp by early afternoon. Jan said she'd stay and "watch camp" while I hiked an extra six miles to the lake for a bonus evening swim.

When bighorn sheep were spotted on the far slope, we settled in and ended up watching them for over an hour. Sometimes they’d run and frolic, sometimes a few more would appear and then disappear. I love that Jan doesn’t mind simply sitting and watching, to not be in any kind of hurry. To gaze about and watch the clouds drift by.

Watching bighorn sheep

More resting, further down near the wilderness boundary.

Iris starting to bloom.

Goodbye, Pecos. Goodbye, Jan. I know I'll see you later.