June, 2001 - Jon ? and Mouser Williams

Summary: A long single-day hike to the summit of Santa Fe Baldy via Nambe Pass.

Santa Fe Baldy (12,6??') is the highest point in Santa Fe county.

We started at the upper parking lot of the Aspen Ski basin and hiked up to the National Forest boundary gate on the saddle of Raven's Ridge between unnamed ?' and unnamed ?'. From here it's a long relatively flat trail up to Nambe Pass, then a long series of switchbacks up to the saddle between Santa Fe Baldy and unnamed ?'.

We breaked here for lunch. The one mile summit push from this saddle was brutal. Very steep. And of course some trailrunners came flying past us as we were huffing our way up the mountain. There were no trees after the saddle, and lots of marmots.

Jon called our arrival time at the summit within two minutes. When we started at about 6:00am, he said we would make the summit by 11. We made it there at 11:02am. There was still a lot of snow on the north face, and the view of Lake Katherine was beautiful. Also visible were Truchas, Lake Peak, the Jemez, the Wheeler group, Sandia, etc.

The trip back was the same route we ascended, and seemed to take forever. We got back to the car at 5:40pm.