October 16, 2021
The Fourth of July in October? That’s the best time to do it!
As I mentioned in my post from November 5, Brandy and I reunited at the end of September. One of the first things we did as a reunited couple was to hike the Cedro Creek Nature Trail.
We’ve hiked it again since then, but on October 16, we made the hour and a half drive south to Torreon, New Mexico, to hike the wildly popular Fourth of July Trail.
Trail Stats
AllTrails has this trail listed as a moderate 4.6 mile trail with a 918 foot elevation gain. The trail is named such because of the explosion of colors on display in the New Mexico fall.
This year, fall came a little later than it usually does so we waited a couple weeks longer than I wanted (I initially wanted to hike the trail at the end of September.)
…And We Set Out
We decided to take Ash with us on this hike. Upon our arrival at the trailhead, we immediately regretted the decision. There were a ton of people and dogs present sending Ash into a sensory overload, lunging at every moving thing he could see.
We leashed him up and he immediately began pulling on the leash. It was once again a constant struggle to keep him under control but we tried to make the best of it anyway.
We left the parking lot of the adjacent campground and dove into the surrounding forest, immediately seeing the evidence of why this trail is called the Fourth of July trail. The foliage was gorgeous hues of yellows, golds and reds.
The trail is a steady climb, the majority of the elevation gains coming in the first mile and three quarters or so. The grade never broke 15% or so, so it wasn’t a strenuous uphill climb, but it was long and constant. Just when we thought we’d reached the zenith, the trail would continue upwards.
The Great Fall
Without having to keep Ash under some sort of control, the hike would have been much easier, but having him yank us up and down the trail made it most unenjoyable. We vowed that this was the last hike he was going to take with us until we can get him some leash manners. (We REALLY need to get him into training.)
We finally crested and began our hike down the mountain and were on a fairly steep-ish set of stepdowns when we were approached from the rear by a group of faster-moving hikers. Brandy, wanting to hurry and get out of their way, took a wrong step and slid and tumbled down some of the stepdowns we’d been on. I had Ash and was trying to keep him under control and couldn’t get down to her fast enough to stop the fall. She disappeared behind some rocks and all I saw was a puff of dirt fly up as she hit the ground.
I called to her and she called back that she was OK. I finally got to her and she was on the ground, dirty and somewhat banged up, scrapes on her arm and leg.
We let the group pass us while Brandy briefly recovered. Once she caught her breath, I helped her up and we continued along on our way.
AllTrails Gets It Wrong
I’m not sure why, but for some reason, the distances AllTrails reports are different that what we’re credited for by the end of the hike. For example, the Fourth of July Trail is listed as a 4.6 mile trail, but by the time we got back to the car, AllTrails reported we’d hiked 5.3 miles. I’ve come to accept the fact that I will always be hiking longer than anticipated due to this discrepancy though.
At just over 5 miles, we came to a service road that took us the rest of the way back toward the campground from where we’d originated. Along the way, we came across a couple of people riding horses on the road. They were those giant draft horses, one of which I remember was a Percheron.
After a brief chat with the riders and a couple of pics, we continued on. Before long, Roxy (Brandy’s Lexus) came into view and we made a beeline toward her.
She was covered in fallen leaves from the three-plus hours we were gone.
We shed and stowed our gear, loaded Ash up into the back seat and we headed back home.
Conclusion
The Fourth of July trail certainly lived up to its reputation. The colors were magnificent and photogenic for sure. The hike should have been a mildly strenuous one but Ash made it most difficult and I look forward to a re-do without him.
It was a fantastic hike with Brandy at my side. She was a little crabby because of Ash, but having her along for the hike was amazing.
As I’m getting ready to post this, nearly a month and a half after the hike took place, we’ve already had two more road trips and a concert for which I will be writing up reports.
In the meantime, please enjoy these pictures from our hike on the Fourth of July Trail.
And, as always, thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you.
-Phil
