New Mexico Outdoor
Roughing It In Luxury-Abiquiu, New Mexico 505.901.7321
Canjilon Lakes
Canjilon Lakes-New Mexico - 2009/08/26 01:43 We look West from NewMexicoOutdoor, about 15 miles away, and on the other side of Sierra Negra, are the Canjilon Mountains (pronounced "caan-he-lone").
Much of this mountain range in the Carson National Forest ..and much of it high meadows and mountain lakes from snow-melt. It was above 90 degrees on our mesa, one day last week ..and we decided to go up to Canjilon Lakes for a day hike and cool off.
It’s about a 50 mile drive to the other side of the ridgeline (Mogote Ridge) that we look at:
Ridgeline to the right in this pic. Once off the main road..the Forest Road is very reasonable and even paved the last part up to the Lower Lake at 10,000 feet. The landscape is one of broad meadows and lush valleys with millions of wild flowers:
, of many varieties. As we climb in elevation to about 9,000 feet, we come to the back side of the Mogote Ridge, that we actually face from our mesa looking West ..this pic taken looking East:
.
The Continental Divide Trail runs thru here, we’ll be backpacking this section in Spring 0-10.
Once at the Lower Lake, we arrived as 4 Trout Fisherman arrived ..and within 15 seconds of casting ..one caught a nice sized Rainbow Trout ..using worms as bait:
.
This lake is about as long as 2 football fields and as wide as one
We hiked to the far end and into a marsh full of marsh grass, skunk cabbage and wild berries 
. Approaching the campgrounds, the fields:
of wildflowers were amazing
..Gabriela remarking how this forest in this mountain range reminds her of her beloved Switzerland ..and the Alp hiking.
The loop hike from the Lower Lake to the campground and back..less than 5 miles, we broke for picnic at the campground:
. Coming back on the high ridge overlooking the Lower lake, once again, the wildflowers an explosion in bloom. 
. Once back to the Lower Lake, the guys had increased their catch to 3 trout. 2 “Stockers” and the original rainbow. 
It was 70 degrees here at 10,000 feet of elevation ..and fun to familiarize with the area that we’ll be backpacking come next Spring. When we got back home, at 6,300 feet on our mesa ..it was still above 90. Dan
Much of this mountain range in the Carson National Forest ..and much of it high meadows and mountain lakes from snow-melt. It was above 90 degrees on our mesa, one day last week ..and we decided to go up to Canjilon Lakes for a day hike and cool off.
It’s about a 50 mile drive to the other side of the ridgeline (Mogote Ridge) that we look at:
Ridgeline to the right in this pic. Once off the main road..the Forest Road is very reasonable and even paved the last part up to the Lower Lake at 10,000 feet. The landscape is one of broad meadows and lush valleys with millions of wild flowers:
, of many varieties. As we climb in elevation to about 9,000 feet, we come to the back side of the Mogote Ridge, that we actually face from our mesa looking West ..this pic taken looking East:
. The Continental Divide Trail runs thru here, we’ll be backpacking this section in Spring 0-10.
Once at the Lower Lake, we arrived as 4 Trout Fisherman arrived ..and within 15 seconds of casting ..one caught a nice sized Rainbow Trout ..using worms as bait:
.This lake is about as long as 2 football fields and as wide as one
We hiked to the far end and into a marsh full of marsh grass, skunk cabbage and wild berries . Approaching the campgrounds, the fields:of wildflowers were amazing
..Gabriela remarking how this forest in this mountain range reminds her of her beloved Switzerland ..and the Alp hiking.The loop hike from the Lower Lake to the campground and back..less than 5 miles, we broke for picnic at the campground:
. Coming back on the high ridge overlooking the Lower lake, once again, the wildflowers an explosion in bloom. . Once back to the Lower Lake, the guys had increased their catch to 3 trout. 2 “Stockers” and the original rainbow. It was 70 degrees here at 10,000 feet of elevation ..and fun to familiarize with the area that we’ll be backpacking come next Spring. When we got back home, at 6,300 feet on our mesa ..it was still above 90. Dan