View into the Valles Caldera National Preserve as seen on the hike up Los Griegos Peak. We were on the highest dirt road on the north side of the mountain. This was a new approach route for all of us. It was a hike along a single dirt road that started on NM4 and went all the way to the gated saddle that accesses the large meadow on the south side of Griegos. The round trip time was an easy 5 1/2 hours, round trip distance was 8.5 miles, and the elevation gain was 2000'. Full details are in the new "Day Hikes in the Santa Fe Area" guide book. Once in the south meadow, we used our standard route to attain the summit.
Most people who climb Griegos Peak do it by starting on the north side of the peak, and working their way up and around the east side of the mountain on a combination of old dirt roads and trails, to a saddle that has this gate into a beautiful large meadow on the south side of the peak. The route up may be found by hiking a trail that is immediately to the right of this gate until you come to a broken down log bridge that crosses a small stream. At the bridge, turn right and follow a drainage to the top. The floor of the drainage contains small meadows with downed trees. Near the end of this drainage is a good sized meadow. It is important to follow the left side of the drainage to attain the top, as the right side is a real bushwhack, as we discovered on this hike.
Norbert and Rick nearing the top of Los Griegos Peak on the eastern end of the mountain.
Greg and Rick with Las Conchas Peak in the background. Radio towers are barely visible in the center skyline on Peralta Ridge. Dennis and I climbed to the top of Las Conchas earlier this year, but didn't hike the entire ridgeline.
Redondo Peak, as viewed by looking north from the top of Los Griegos.
Norbert, Rick, and Greg after a nice lunch at the Anasazi ruins.
A 3X view of the fire lookout station on nearby Cerro Pelado Peak, captured on our hike along Griegos' long ridge. We made it to a local high point for views.
View of the west end of Cerro Pelado from our high point. The camera is pointing south-southwest. Note that the lookout tower is still in view.
View from our high point looking in a westerly direction.
The hike down begins. We spent a bit over an hour on top of Griegos Peak.
We really enjoyed the colors on this trip. The radio towers on Las Conchas are much more obvious in this view.
The hike out was very colorful, but the loose, and long, steep road was no fun!
A view of our road in and out.
This is where we parked our cars and began and ended our great hike. The road we hiked up is shown on the far right. You can drive about a mile further, but parking is difficult. Hike on the main road only, and go left if in doubt. To get to this 'trailhead', drive 15.4 miles from the "back gate", where West Jemez Road T-intersects NM 4, west of Los Alamos. You turn left 60 yards before a yellow sign indicating the road is about to veer right (look for a hard-to-see dirt road on the left). Go about 60 yards up this dirt road, take the fork to the right, and look for a place to park. Note: this 'trailhead' turn off is just west of the normal parking area on NM4. The hike was about 8.5 miles round trip, 2000 vertical feet, and 5 1/2 hours including a 40 minute lunch break.
