"If I paint Pedernal often enough, God will give it to me"
Georgia O'Keefe
Dec 29 2005
Ed's instructions for getting there were great. My odometer didn't quite agree with his, but it was close enough. His description of the meadow being the last place you could conceivably drive to is correct. From the meadow you have a great view of the Pedernal. I spent too much time trolling around sp this morning and didn't leave my house until about 1:30. My plan was just to scope out the trail head. I drove as far as I could (I didn't see the the 3' high cairn he mentioned where you turn off the main road). My Suburu couldn't make it up the steep rough hill right after the turn off. I left the car at 3PM and hiked until 4:15. I got pretty close to the wall at the top but I didn't make it to the crux. There was snow on the road and on the trail. It was slippery. I didn't have chains or crampons. There is a very good well-marked trail that starts at about the absolute end of the road. The only difficulty is finding it at the bottom. I will probably go back this weekend and build a few cairns at the bottom if it doesn't snow too much.
Dec 30 2005
Now I've been twice. Dec 29 and 30. I tend to drive way too fast on these dirt roads and had to swerve and hit a rock in order to avoid hitting an oncoming truck. Blew a tire. That messed me up. I put on the spare and drove my Suburu way up the dirt road. I made it to the point where I could have easily gone as far any Hummer could make it. Then I turned around and drove back to the fork in the road 'cause I didn't want my car up there in the dark. I left the fork at 2:43PM and was on top of the Pedernal at 3:45PM. I don't know if the crux is class 3 like Roach sez or class 4 like Ed sez. I've heard that someone died falling from it which would make it 4 by my definition. On the other hand I have a hard time believing that anyone died falling there. You have to search for hand holds which means that it's more than class 3 and you do test the rocks which sort of makes it class 4 but none of the rocks were loose yesterday so after the fact they didn't need testing. Finally it's hard to imagine that very many people would rope up for it because it's only like 10-15 feet. There are two sort of 6-8 foot steps with a landing in the middle. For me, downclimbing the bottom step was the most difficult but least scary part of the crux. The next time I go I'll come down after sunset. The light is absolutely amazing, which I guess is why Georgia O'Keefe lived out there. I wonder if she ever climbed the Pedernal?
I don't think you'd want to downclimb the crux in the dark though. And you'd need to be pretty sure of the way down to the meadow. There's a good trail which would be easy to follow in the dark with a headlight. You'd need to be sure you know where it is. Otherwise you'd be scrambing in the brush and it'd be pretty unpleasant, but not dangerous.
I'm not sure what peaks I could see. For sure the Sangre's up in Colorado down to Wheeler and Simpson, then mi Truchas, Santa Fe Baldy, Lake Peak, and that was about it to the south. The view further south was blocked by some small peak in the foreground. Across the southern border of CO all the the San Juans are clearly visible. I don't know. I couldn't tell what I was seeing, but I'm pretty sure you can see peaks as far west as Durango. I think something like 200 miles of peaks along the east-west horizon in Colorado were visible.
January 7 2006
Went up again, earlier in the day this time, and explored. I found another way down. It's marked with a cairn. Didn't take many pictures this time because the lighting was diffuse again.
I thought that this video clip might give a better idea of what the crux is like than still photos do.
COMMENTS:
I've confirmed that there was a death up there with my source of climbing rumors.
I think the 3 foot cairn that Ed mentioned where the road forks is gone. I've been there 3 times now and haven't seen it. It's worth mentioning that the first two times I drove through there I drove past the fork without seeing it. It comes in on the right at an oblique angle and runs up-hill. It is easy to miss while driving. If you drive in on the 4WD road 1-1.5 miles and park and then start walking you won't miss it.
I don't know if Georgia O'Keefe ever climbed the Pedernal, but I read on the internet that her ashes were scattered up there.
