| Vaction from Hell Salvaged by the Enchantment of Little Costilla Trip Report |
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| Vaction from Hell Salvaged by the Enchantment of Little Costilla   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: New Mexico, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 36.83340°N / 105.2223°W Date Climbed/Hiked: Aug 13, 2005 | Page By: Cortez Created/Edited: Aug 16, 2005 / Object ID: 170345 Hits: 288 Loading... Page Score: 0% - 0 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
I first learned of Little Costilla peak while working at Philmont's Indian Writings backcountry camp in the North Ponil Canyon. Little Costilla is visible on clear days to the north from certain vantage points in the canyon & on the canyon rim. There is also a petroglyph panel, pecked by the Ancient Puebloans, that many archaeologists and historians (including myself) believe represents a map of the North Ponil Canyon. On the northern tier of this “map” is a triangular design that, if this panel is indeed a map, undoubtedly must be little Costilla. Since that summer of 1995, Little Costilla has been on my shortlist of "must do" peaks. Finally, 10 years after first being introduced to this isolated mountain I finally got the opportunity to climb Little Costilla.
My wife Jennifer, my border collie Shiloh & I set off for Little Costilla on Saturday 6 August after climbing the Oklahoma state highpoint, Black Mesa, on the 5 August. We met our hiking partners from Colorado Springs, Don & Sarah at the Colfax Tavern (Cold Beer) on Hwy 64 between Raton & Cimarron at 7:00 am and left for the Valle Vidal shortly thereafter.
At this point it is worth mentioning that about 70 miles into our vacation which began in Knoxville, Tennessee, my 6 month old 2005 Honda Element started jerking & finally, on top of the Cumberland Plateau, it refused to accelerate. Jennifer & I had the vehicle towed to the Honda dealer at Cookeville. The “brilliant” slack-jawed yokels at Cookeville told us we had a batch of "bad gas" and to run out the tank before refilling. Other than that they said there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. "If the car begins to jerk" the mechanic named Chris stated, "just get out and shake the car.” So, Chris in all his wisdom sent us off into the night and on our merry little way to New Mexico. We got as far as the east side of Nashville before the Element started jerking again. Jennifer and I got out and shook the car and it this seemingly insane action seemed to actually work for about 10 min. after which it, of course, began jerking again. Chris’s redneck remedy did not fix the problem. At this point, I decided to go against the wishes of the dumb-ass mechanic in Cookeville and top of the tank with premium grade Shell V-Power petrol. This actually worked, and were able to make it to Colfax county New Mexico without incident.
After we met our friends and we were well into the Valle Vidal, the car began jerking again. We decided to make camp near Shuree ponds and deal with the problem the next morning after climbing the peak.
Once we made camp, Jennifer and I noticed that Shiloh was limping. She had cut here paw herding cows the day before in the Oklahoma panhandle. On Sunday morning she could barely walk. We decided to leave Valle Vidal and Little Costilla behind & take Shiloh to the vet ( the gracious Dr. Konishi) in Alamosa, Colorado. Between the car trouble & our injured dog, Little Costilla would have to wait.
After getting Shiloh healthy and the car fixed in Colorado Springs (the fuel pump in my brand new 2005, 6 month old Honda had failed>it took 2 1/2 days for them to get the part and fix the problem at Front Range Honda even though they had had several other Elements in their shop with the exact same problem) we decided to try and salvage our vacation by at least getting 2 peaks in. We decided to do Mt. Lindsey, a 14er in Colorado Sangre de Christos and Little Costilla.
The class 2+ & 3 scrambles up Mt. Lindsey tore up the pads on Shiloh's paws to the point where she could not walk the next morning. We decided to drive to Taos and get her some booties at Mud & Flood. We put the booties on her that evening at the Gorge Bridge and observed immediate results.
On the last day of out vacation we were finally poised to climb Little Costilla. The Element was running and our poor dog was fit and "bootied."
We left Questa NM around 7:15 and arrived at the trailhead about 8:30. The heavy monsoonal rains the day before had left a low hanging blanket of clouds that shrouded the midsections of the mountains that dominated the horizons of New Mexico & Colorado. The early morning light lit up the canyons and golden fields of Elk Meadows. Sunlight gracefully bounced off the clouds and back to Earth creating a surreal landscape in the magical land of the Valle Vidal.
There is no trail to the top of Little Costilla & judging from the lack of human footprints or defined use trails, not many people visit Little Costilla.
We parked at the Grassy Creek drainage and headed into the woods on what looked to be a great trail. After about 15 feet the great trail simply vanished into a large steep meadow framed by aspen groves on either side. We headed northeast up the meadow and into the thick forest on the ridge above. In the forest we found the old county line fence running north/south and we followed it to just below tree line where it simply ended. Around the area were the fenced ended, Jennifer & I were startled by a bull elk tromping down the mountain. We had seen fresh Rocky Mountain Black Bear tracks and scat earlier in our adventure, and were on the lookout for that rare backcountry encounter.
The hike to this point was extremely steep, especially the first 1.25 miles. Proper navigational training is necessary for this hike because it would be easy to get turned around in the dense forest. Once we got to treeline the elevation gain was relatively gradual as we made our way over and around a series of false peaks. The wind picked up drastically as we emerged onto the exposed ridgeline and the temperature seemed to plummet. We arrived at the final false peak just as the monsoonal moisture began to build in from the south. Fast-moving clouds began to creep around Little Costilla until it was totally engulfed. The landscape was reminiscent of the "smoky" effect often witnessed in the southern Appalachians. Nonetheless, this elusive and remote New Mexico mountain was as beautiful as I had envisioned. The clouds cleared just enough for us to get some decent views while at the top. Our time on the summit was short lived. We ate our snacks on the summit as the clouds ever more ominous and foreboding. The clouds that had moved in as we approached he summit were part massive slow-moving thunderstorm that chased us off the mountain after spending only 15 min. on the cold and extremely windy summit.
Going down the mountain was relatively easy but, as with the ascent map & compass/navigation skills are a necessity. A GPS unit is highly recommended for this hike. One could easily get lost in the Valle Vidal backcountry without proper navigation skills.
We arrived back at our car around 2:15 and headed back toward the east. Jennifer and I did Little Costilla on the day before our 6 year anniversary. It was a special mountain at a special time in our lives. New Mexico has always been a part of both of us and Little Costilla and the area that surrounds it (Taos & Colfax Co.) epitomize what New Mexico is all about. Fortunately, out vacation from hell was salvaged in the Land of Enchantment. On the way back to Knoxville we stopped at the Colfax Tavern (COLD BEER) on NM hwy 64 and had the best après mountain meal of them all, a green chile cheeseburger with a Fat Tire>>heaven!
VALLE VIDAL, NEW MEXICO
PROTECT IT NOW OR LOSE IT FOREVER!
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Sangre de Cristo Mountains
