South Guadalupe Mountain

Looking south across the Taos Plateau and the Rio Grande Gorge.

30 MARCH 2024 W5N/SS-037

Two Stars – a nice summit. I’d do it again. Recommended.

Elevation:	8,720′
Route:	Trail and cross country
Hike Distance:	3.5 miles round trip
Elevation Gain:	780′
Navigation:	Easy
Steepness:	A little steep
Vehicle:	Passenger car
Road:	Good dirt road
Cell Coverage:	Verizon was in and out

Hike basics

It had snowed a lot the previous week at Cassie’s little adobe so I was looking for a summit that was doable amidst all the mud and snow in the Land of in Enchantment. The Taos Plateau is a remarkable geologic feature – a high altitude volcanic deposit that was laid down about 4 million years ago. The Rio Grande River has cut through this impediment to its relentless path to the Gulf of Mexico and has formed a tremendous gorge.

Two National Monuments were established in 2013 at the north and south ends of this gorge. South Guadalupe Mountain lies in the beautiful Rio Grande del Norte National Monument.

The trailhead is at the end of a very well-maintained dirt road. It was 29ºF when I left Whitedog about 7AM and what mud was there was nicely frozen. The trail follows an old roadcut up to a saddle along the north side of the mountain. As I climbed up the moderate grade the patches of snow became more frequent. These drifts were mostly frozen but every now and then I would break through up to my hips. Snowshoes probably would have been more hindrance than help given all the deadfall and exposed rock and frozen mud. Going was very slow. It took me over 2 hours to do 1.8 miles!

Here is my track up South Guadalupe Mountain

When I got to the saddle I left the trail and contoured around to the east side a bit further than I otherwise would’ve done and found a relatively snow-free route. On the descent I left the trail at the saddle and stayed on the south side of the slope. This tactic avoided most of the snow that had now become very soft and treacherous in the afternoon. This strategy really paid off as this cross country route was relatively brush-free and free from deadfall.

Here is my descent track

As Tom K6TAA mentioned there is a nice open spot on the summit to set up and some trees for antenna supports.

Band conditions on the non-WARC bands were pretty chaotic with the CQ WPX Contest raging.

I had a lot of fun on the summit with DX contacts to France (thanks Chris!) and Spain, S2S contacts to North Carolina (thanks Jean and Mark) and California (thanks Herb and El). I got a lot of the usual suspects and a surprise visit from Cecil WD6FZA – grand poobah of the PAPA System. That was a first! Thanks Scott WA9STI (using club call WA6LE) for spotting me on the PAPA system. Thank you everybody for chasing!