Trampas Lakes — Attraction in New Mexico

This is a beautiful area, and I highly recommend it to anyone willing to do more than a couple miles of hiking. Also, please recognize you travel many miles of dirt road. Forest Road 207 is preferred. But IFF (if and ONLY if) you have 4wd and high clearance, take the other route, I think it is 639? It is a shorter route coming from the south... The trail was approximately 5.5 miles one way, and it is an out and back, not a loop. The hike gains a lot of elevation (2,700 ft?), yet it is very gradual and we found it pretty moderate compared to some of the other trails we have been on. My gf, backpacking for her first time ever, made it rather easily. Trail follows along a river at least when we visited, so water is not an issue if you carry a small water purification system, at least in the early season... this was in May, I have no idea the water levels in later times like July or August. Honestly, I did not see too much snowpack left, so I wouldn't expect there to be lots of running water late in the season. I believe you could still utilize the lakes to filter water. We camped at Trampas Lakes. It was beautiful, even on Memorial Day Weekend it wasn't too bad, people weren't camping on top of each other at least. FYI You can fish at either of the Trampas Lakes if that is your thing. There are a lot of dogs that make this journey. We brought ours and were surprised by the numbers. Almost all dogs were well controlled and did not hinder...

The hike was one of the better trails to do in New Mexico, but the one thing I must note is that it requires a good 45 minutes of off-roading to get to the trail head, as well as an 11 mike round trip hike. So, if you are planning to come here just to see the lake, and don’t want to take the time to hike there, then you might be disappointed. Other than that, it was a great experience and I recommend it to anyone enjoys a good hike as...

My wife likes to spoil me and treat me to a surprise vacation, and this time it was the Balloon Fiesta and a hike to Trampas Lake. This was a challenge for our family (Ages 36, 35, 12 & 10). It was just at 12 miles with close to 3000 ft. of elevation, but it was rewarding and one I will hike again. Pretty trees, high altitude, windy quietness and overall...