Cruces Basin Easy Backpack

I would like to announce a two or three-night backpacking trip into Cruces Basin for the 4th of July weekend (July 3-5). Cruces Basin is pristine wilderness located west of San Antonio mountain near the New Mexico/ Colorado border. We’ve been a few times before, and it is well worth going back. This trip will be a mellow and family-friendly adventure with a short hike to our camp followed by hikes to explore the Basin. We can break into groups for day hiking, with options for those that want to adventure out further and those that want to do shorter day hikes. There have been previous trips into Cruces Basin by the Mountaineers, all of which have been a great time. Please see the trip archive (see here) on the website for pictures and details. This is a trip that offers options for all ages. Day outings can range from a splash in the nearby stream to an ambitious hiking loop that connects the valleys and cruises the ridgetops, with big views to the high points of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. There are options for fishing in the several small streams.

As in previous years, we will make a short hike (~2 miles) into the Basin and set up camp. I am hoping to camp at a little meadow under a rock wall that looks like something out of Lord of the Rings. We’ll leave either mid-afternoon on Thursday, July 2, to up our odds of securing the camp we want before the long weekend, or perhaps Friday morning, July 3. If we leave Thursday afternoon, we should be able to drive in, hike to camp, and set up before dark; with a good start Friday, we would be in camp by lunch. From our base camp, we'll spend Friday and Saturday heading out for day hikes to explore the canyons, streams, and meadows of the Basin. We will pack up Sunday morning and hope to return to Los Alamos by mid-afternoon that day.  Please e-mail Bill to express interest or learn more. We will plan to go if we have at least 4 participants, and will cut the trip off at a maximum of 10. We will socially distance, for example cooking separately.

I will consider dogs based my judgement of their suitability for this trip.