We had such a good time in the Guadeloupe Mountains National Park that we were eager to explore more hiking opportunities along our planned route north through New Mexico. One that looked promising was Lincoln National Forest, about half way between Carlsbad and Santa Fe. The National Forest website listed several intriguing trails, free dispersed camping, and a couple of inexpensive developed campgrounds with potable water and bathrooms. We’re getting spoiled, so we opted for the latter and ended up at South Fork Campground near Bonito Lake, a fresh water reservoir for surrounding mountain communities.

What we didn’t realize until we arrived there was that this campground was just reopened this year after nine years due to the massive Little Bear Fire of 2012 that consumed more than 44,000 acres and destroyed more than 250 homes and buildings, including much of South Fork Campground. While the forest service has been busy with remediation efforts throughout the forest, and had re-opened most of the trails, another fire in April 2021 burned nearly 7,000 acres, much of it within the burn scar of the Little Bear Fire. This fire reached within a mile of our campground and all of the trails impacted by this fire were still dangerous and closed to hikers.

While we reviewed our hiking options, a forest ranger happened by to take down a dead pine that threatened a neighboring campsite. After a little informal conversation, I learned that he did a lot of maintenance on the trails in this district. He steered us away from another trail we were considering, the Monjeau Peak Trail, which was still highly impacted from the 2012 fire. Instead he suggested the Argentina Canyon Trail, the Turkey Canyon Trail, the Crest Trail and the Nogal Peak Trail. He had been doing maintenance on them recently and he said they were in very good shape, have spectacular views, and the mountain meadows were lush from the recent rains.

Boy, it’s great to have an inside scoop on trail conditions.

For our first hike, we decided to put together a 7.3 mile loop ascending up Argentina Canyon Trail, then a mile along the Crest Trail, then back down the Turkey Canyon Trail. Overall, it was a great hike. The trail was well-maintained, as advertised. There were no blow-downs, all having been cleared. There were roots and rocks, of course, and a few bits of modest overgrowth by the over-watered flora, but it was imminently hikeable. And, it was being actively hiked; we saw three hikers on the trail and evidence of many more at the trailhead.

This was the best hike we have had in quite some time.

First of all, the weather was perfect, with temperatures from the low 60s when we started the hike to high 70s by the time we finished. But hiking at this elevation is definitely hard too. We climbed from 7,200 ft. at the trailhead to 9,000 ft. when we reached the junction with the Crest Trail over 2 ½ miles. This wasn’t an especially steep climb, but fortunately, there were so many new plants and flowers to see and photograph that we stopped frequently enough to catch our breath.

Second…, the flowers! The mountains in New Mexico have received record rains this year. In fact, it has rained every afternoon and/or evening while we have been in the mountains here. The plants have responded with lush growth and so many flowers. The pollinators have likewise multiplied too, with bees, hummingbird moths and butterflies seemingly everywhere. I have taken so many pictures of new and strange flowers over these short few days, it will take me weeks to identify them all.

Third, the mountain meadows at the top of this range were postcard-worthy. Huge swaths of knee-high flowering plants were dotted with ponderosa pine, juniper and stunted oak. But the forest was so sparse at the top that the views were just breathtaking. And Girl Hobo was pretty breathtaking too, hiking along the meadow trail behind me. She looked like she belonged in a remake of the movie, Heidi, with her long grey braids bouncing along beside her… and a big smile on her face.

For our second hike, we put together a 6.6 mile loop ascending up Argentina Canyon Trail again (because we liked it so much), then a different section of the Crest Trail, then back down the Little Bonito Trail. The weather, again, was absolutely perfect in the morning with lots of sunshine and cool temps. This time, however, it was a Saturday. We saw lots more hikers, at least a dozen on the trail of all ages, which was so satisfying.

The hike was harder this time. We didn’t stop as often on the way up to take pictures, so we found ourselves getting more fatigued from the faster climb, which forced us to stop anyway just to rest and breathe. Once we reached the ridge and the Crest Trail, however, it was even more beautiful than last time. We hiked south this time through more meadows, then right past Argentina Peak at 9,127 ft. Eventually we reached a junction with the Little Bonito Trail and descending back down along Bonito Creek to our trailhead. There were two abandoned silver mines somewhere along the Bonito Trail here, but we couldn’t find any evidence of them.

I hiked one last hike without Girl Hobo. The South Fork Trail trailhead was at our campground, and meandered up a small canyon, criss-crossing the very full South Fork Rio Bonito several times. There were supposed to be a couple more abandoned mines just past the border of the Lincoln National Forest and the White Mountain Wilderness Area. Unfortunately, the trail also led directly into the area impacted by the recent Three Rivers Fire.

I hiked nearly a mile along the trail. It was significantly more overgrown than the other trails we hiked. Clearly, people are not hiking much here. The recent rains also meant that the river crossings were wet and hard. Once I reached the edge of the wilderness lands, it became clear that nothing farther into the recent burn area had been cleared yet. A sign warned of dangerous conditions ahead. I’d seen enough so I turned back to camp.

The next time we come this way, we will definitely stop again. There is more to see and do here, and perhaps more of the trails will be ready to explore.

~ Rusty