Since moving to the East Mountains, I’ve had the pleasure of exploring my local trails on weekends when we don’t go out of town. The Manzanita Trail System, which caters to mountain bikers, ATVs, and hikers, sprawls out across the small range connecting the Sandia Mountains and the Manzano Mountains. From almost anywhere in the area, Cedro Peak looms overhead with its summit-top radio tower glistening in the New Mexican sun. Today, that was my goal.
Since I began exploring the area in January, Cedro has beckoned from the horizon of every single trail. There is a road that loops to the top, passing by Cedro Group Campground on the way up, but why do it the easy way?
For months, I’ve been eyeballing a few straight-as-an-arrow, ~10 foot wide cleared paths that stretch for miles and miles like spokes out of the peak of the mountain. They’re clearly visible on Google Maps, but I didn’t really know what they were. I parked at the Coyote Trailhead off of 337 and headed down Forest Service Road 462. Before long, I came across the cleared path and turned right.
After traveling a ways down this clearing, I was able to tell that the clearing was intended for access to a power-line of some sort that has long since been removed. Only flat topped stumps of telephone poles remained every so often through the middle of the path.
While from some angles it looks like a clear shot to the peak, there are multiple false summits and a bunch of net elevation gain and loss before reaching the peak.
The trail is mostly very steep, as it was not graded or created for hiking from what I can tell.
The trail does meet up with Delbert’s trail for a small stretch, providing a nice stretch for easy walking. After leaving the Delbert’s trail at a curve, the path appears impossible due to a 15-20 ft. rock cliff visible ahead. Don’t worry, the trail jogs to the left in the trees and there is an easy bypass around it.
At the top, enjoy the views of Tijeras. Continue up to an opening in the fence and join the road up to the radio towers. There are views on all sides!
The route back down is steep, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Just keep an eye out for loose rock and yucca. Long pants are recommended since you are mostly hiking off trail.
Once you meet back up with Forest Road 462, take a left and enjoy a quick jaunt back to the Coyote TH Parking Lot. You can extend your hike a little by jumping on the Chamisoso Trail, which you’ll pass over just before reaching 462.
All said and done, this route to Cedro Peak’s summit is 2.5 mi each way. I enjoyed off trail hiking, big views of the East side of the Sandias, and even a seashell embedded in a rock!
Where to begin with a write up of table mountain…..
I guess writing it all out now while my memory is fresh and my skin is still hot from the sun is a good idea.
It took us roughly 5 hours to complete, including a 1 hour detour at the beginning, photo ops and a snack break, and of course, the time we spent on the summit picking ticks off ourselves and drinking beers.
The ticks are really awful this year. I had three on me alone. And I’ve only ever had one on me before in my 27 years.
Table mountain in Beaver Mines, AB was a lot more challenging than I thought it would be, but not so challenging that it didn’t make a great early season scramble to get into the groove of things. My calves definitely got a workout ascending the loose scree and making footsteps for my friends to follow in.
The trailhead was very easy to get to. From the town of BeaverMines you just continue down the highway to the Beaver Mines Lake Campground. There’s a big Table Mountain sign where you can park your car.
We started the hike promptly by hiking around the interpretive trail by accident and completely missing the clearly marked Table Mountain trailhead, which is off to the right hand side of the big sign and marked with a smaller sign. You follow this trail a short way and come to a wooden gate. The trail is very easy to follow the whole way up and is marked with circular, red reflectors. We picked our way up the river gully until the trail branched off by the cliff band.
We went up to the left of the cliff band which was more vertical but less scrambling than the right hand side, I feel coming up the left and back down the right was a good choice.
Once up on top of the cliff and standing on the plateau there is a clear path up to the ridge, it’s loose soft scree and hard going but the best views always follow the toughest climbs!
We had a bit of snow to go through to get up to the ridgeline but nothing too crazy and definitely less than I was expecting for a hike like this one.
Once at the top we enjoyed our ginger beers and snapped some photos before heading back down. We came down the scree, shooting for the plateau top of the cliffs. You can pretty much slide and surf your way down the scree slope any way you choose to get back to the cliff. Once at the cliff we followed the path down the opposite side of the way we came up, back down the gully and into the tree line.
All in all it was a great early season scramble with beautiful views and challenging sections. I would highly recommend this hike to anyone that wanted to give it a shot.
Snowmobile trails open today, December 30, 2015 in Pittsburg NH. Recent snow from snowstorm ‘Goliath’ gave the snowmobile trails in New Hampshire’s north country 5 -8″ of fresh snow – enough to open snowmobile trails. Our local snowmobile club, the Pittsburg Ridge Runners, are out assessing trails and checking for hazards.Grooming operations are not occurring…
