Cabezon Peak, NM

Objective:  
Summit the lava neck called Cabezon Peak (7,785').
 
Date:  
January 20, 2003
Photogallery:  
Party:  
Mouser Williams (solo)
Summary:  
A beautiful day for hiking brought me to a nice three-hour climb of Cabezon Peak. The upper portion was more challenging than I expected, involving several upper third and lower fourth class sections. Lots of exposure made it exciting. Total elevation gain of about 1400'.
Route:  
From San Ysidro, travel 19 miles west on 550 to the sign for San Luis and Cabezon. Turn left and continue for 12 miles to the southwest. Pavement ends at an intersection; go straight on the dirt road. Turn left towards Cabezon when the road forks, this puts you on BLM road 1114. Continue on this road until the Cabezon BLM sign on the left and the access road to the trailhead. I parked at the sign because the access road requires high clearance. It is about a mile to the trailhead.
Noteworthy:  
The first good weather I've had for a climb in what seems like forever.
Cabezon is sort of like a mini-Devil's Tower. It consists of a tower of basalt rising out of a scree mound which, in turn, sits on a hill. I tried to climb this a few weeks ago but one of the people I was with got sick during the initial approach and we had to turn around.

With a holiday off from work and some fantastic weather, I drove the two hours to the mountain and climbed it by myself. The trailhead is a mile away from where I parked my car; the Corolla couldn't handle the rough dirt approach road. It's a short hike anyway, so the extra 2 miles didn't bother me.

When I got to the trailhead proper, there were several other vehicles there including one of those fancy Hummer H2's. Someone up there has too much money. The hike starts with a moderate ascent up the hill portion of the mountain, with several hundred feet of elevation gain on a reasonable trail. After about a mile, the trail reaches a flat area at the base of the scree slope. From here the trail contours around the peak to the east side. Passing over a downed fence, I eventually came across a large arrow formed out of rocks, pointing towards the peak.

This is the signal that it is time to climb the scree and enter the challenging portion of the route. The scree is annoyingly loose and the trail through it is poor. The trail leads to a weakness in the eastern face of the basalt tower. A tall thin crevice runs parallel to the side of the tower and you can stem up the inside to gain a significant amount of elevation without too much exposure.

Once above the crevice, I was about half way up the tower. The remainder of the climb consisted of traversing around the side of the tower on exposed trails and sometimes dicey ledge work. The entire tower route was basically a series of short 3rd and low 4th class climbs. Above the chute they just seemed creepier because of the big dropoff on one side.

I passed three groups coming down as I climbed the tower. When I got to the summit, I had it all to myself. I spent about half an hour up there. The view is tremendous. You can see Mt. Taylor to the south, Socorro Mtn. to the southeast, the Sandias, the Manzanos, some of the Sangre De Cristos and the Jemez. Four county highpoints are visible. :)

The trip down from the summit seemed remarkably short. I was back at the car about 3.5 hours after I left. A great hike, highly recommended for anyone not afraid of heights.
Written by Mouser Williams on 2003.01.21