2012 HERON LAKE STATE PARK PADDLEFEST -- August 10, 11 & 12, 2012
Festival site is the Ridge Rock area of Heron Lake State Park (just west of the dam).
Registration opens Friday, August 10 at noon(no pre-registration). A $5.00 registration donation is suggested.
FRIDAY EVENING: "Brown Bag" guided Dinner Paddle through the cliffs of the Heron LakeNarrows. (We'll supply the guidance and cordiality. YOU supply your own food and beverage).
12,409-foot Lake Peak is a classic hike for Los Alamos folks, and has been since Enrico Fermi and Hans Bethe made it a break from their Manhattan Project efforts. We will do it once again via a classic route: starting at the Santa Fe Ski Basin, we will climb the Windsor Trail to the saddle with Raven Ridge, follow the ridge to Deception Peak and then across the knife edge to Lake Peak, then drop down into the cirque of Nambe Lake, following its drainage to the intersection of the Windsor Trail and the way home.
This is an explore I've meant to do for some time. Although Santa Clara Canyon is owned by the pueblo, sweeping views into it are accessible from the ridge to the north, in the Santa Fe National Forest. This drive will take us through the 2011 burn, but it appears from the fire maps that the trail and the farthest upstream sections of the canyon are not damaged. We drive up forest road 144 from Fairview, going about 27 miles past the trail to Chicoma peak, finally picking up a trail that runs just below the canyon rim, with views far below.
July 19 (indoor lecture at library, 6:30)
July 21 (Gallow's Edge, 8am)
July 28 (Gallow's Edge, 8am)
The Los Alamos Mountaineers are offering a beginning leading class to
supplement basic climbing knowledge. This will entail lots of details
that are not extensively covered during the basic LAM class, including
such topics as:
Join us for an easy after-work walk/hike to the nearby natural arch.
Besides the photo-op at the arch itself, this gives a nice view of Los Alamos and surrounding area, and shows the consequences of the 2000 fire and the ensuing recovery and changes.
Normal walk/hike speed is about 25 minutes each way, so with sightseeing and picture-taking this will run about an hour.
This is nominally targeted at summer visitors but all are welcome.
Join Zack for a Rio Grande floating adventure. We will start at 11am on Sunday July 15 at the Red Dot trailhead, hike down to the river, continue up the river trail to the bottom of the Blue Dot. There, we will stop and enjoy lunch and inflate our floating toys/mattresses/water wings. We will then float back down to the Red Dot, wash off in the clean springs, and hike back to our cars.
This 14er is just west of Leadville, and is the northermost of the fifteen 14ers in the Sawatch Range. The scenery is spectacular in all directions. The route we will take is rated Class 2, which means there is a trail all the way to the top without any scrambling. Cool.
We will depart Los Alamos in the afternoon on Friday 7/13 and drive 275 miles to the trailhead (~5 hours). The last 2.5 miles of the road require 4x4, but the rest is a graded county road.
This is one of the top scenic spots in the San Juans. And IMHO, the San Juans are the most scenic of the Colorado Ranges. This three day backpack (Friday thru Sun) is listed as moderate if you just want to backpack in the 6+ miles and explore around Chicago Basin. If you want to join in climbing the three 14'ers, then consider it a hard trip. I have backpacked in and climbed Eolus the first day and then climbed Windom and Sunlight on the second day. But depending on weather and the group interests, we can do the peak bagging on Saturday. Here are some links to this area:
