I hear the name "Pecos" and it conjures images of cowboys in black and white riding between trees, watering their horses at the river's edge and squinting into the sun. It's not quite like that anymore - though you're likely to run into plenty of signs of horses - and the occasional horse itself - when you're out roaming the Pecos trails.

A few weeks ago we headed off in the morning to our trail head destination at the Iron Gate campground in the Pecos Wilderness Area of the Santa Fe National Forest. They say it's not about the destination, but the journey. That holds true for getting to Iron Gate. The road up there is unfriendly for low clearance or non-4-wheel-drive vehicles. There are all sorts of exciting ruts, ridges, bottomless puddles and other features that make the road to Chaco seem quaint. It's really a lot of fun when you have a back roads experienced driver at the wheel like we did (thanks, brother!).

We only went about an hour and a half out from the trail head and then back. The longer than expected drive took a chunk out of our day. My advice is to head out very early to make the most of a day trip. The wild roses were in abundant bloom. Another visual highlight was wandering through an Aspen grove. It's such a different type of landscape from what we're used to in the Albuquerque vicinity. I would expect this hike to be particularly stunning in the fall when the Aspens turn gold and rattle their leaves.

The trail is fairly quiet. We did come across several day hikers, several more hikers destined for camp sites and one rider who was ferrying supplies down to a camp site in the valley. While older kids would probably do well on this trail, it's not ideal for very young uns. While our directions noted that it is fairly level, there are some areas of up and down that will give you a decent workout.

Mountain hikes tend to be very nice in the summer - always a few degrees cooler than what we're getting here in the Rio Grande Valley. The trail from Iron Gate starts at over 9000 ft. The Pecos has a network of trails, many of which cross over each other. Keep your directions handy so you don't get lost (see below).

Getting there:

The best guide for this trail can be found at the Kenneth Ingham Consulting Explore NM page for Iron Gate to the Rio Mora. The instructions include which trails to take at the junctions. Always good to know so you can find your way back.