The drive was worth the detour in itself. The first hour I was all by myself on a road west of Taos. That was great until I got to Tres Piedres - a bunch of houses at a junction. The road I wanted to continue on was closed and there was no explanation of a possible detour and no one around in the "town". I flipped a coin and headed north. Luckily, it paid off and I managed to get back onto a road that was open heading west through ranch country.
The road climbed up through a pass (presumably the pass to the South was snowed in and shut for the season).
I got into Durango around mid-day and decided to go for a hike outside town. I found a walk on the internet that was easily accessible from the hotel. It was described as "steep in places" - turned out this was a bit of an understatement. The walk was probably pretty easy in summer. But at this time in winter there was plenty of snow which combined with the bright sun to create a real quagmire. I'd been trudging up through the snow, slush and mud for about half an hour when I turned a corner and saw the ridge to the summit.
The rest of the walk was along a knife edge ridge coated in a greasy mud. The occasional patches of slushy icy snow where a welcome relief. On one side of the ridge was a 45 degree shale slope dropping about 100 meters and on the other side a snow slope of the same dimensions. Being entirely by myself, I was quite keen not to slip off either side.
Here's the view from the top, showing the next peak along the ridge.
and here's the view back to Durango. You can just see my car at the end of one of the streets.
Here are my boots at the end of the walk. The yaktrax were useful but got pretty clogged up with mud and almost more of an impediment than a help.
Back at the hotel, watched the superbowl in the hotel bar being served by waitresses in "authentic" Western outfits (i.e. stockings and garters, the whole outfit). Great game.
(Blog post was delayed due to no internet access in Durango).
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