On the Road with Maya: The Ends of Windsor

At the beginning of our trip this summer we had planned to take at least one memorial hike into the Pecos Wilderness near Santa Fe to honor Maya. We wanted to leave some of her ashes in places we all loved and walked together many times. But dry conditions and hot weather had caused the Santa Fe and Carson National Forests to be closed so we postponed our memorial hoping the rains would come and forests would be open on our way back. Luckily that did happen, and we were able to honor Maya this week with three hikes.

Columbine-Hondo Wilderness 2018

Maya in 2016

Our first hike was near Red River, NM on our way to Santa Fe. We spent a couple of nights in the Carson National Forest at one of our favorite camping spots, Columbine Campground. The trailhead at the end of the campground leads into the Columbine-Hondo Wilderness and we walked for about 8 miles into the wilderness on a trail we had taken with Maya many times before. The flowers and plants were wet with rains from the night before and everything smelled fresh and sweet. We left some of Maya’s ashes in a meadow near the Columbine River where we all used to stop and eat lunch. For Maya, eating lunch was always one of the best parts of taking a hike.

Coneflower and butterfly in meadow near Columbine River

But the main memorial for Maya was to be in the Pecos Wilderness. The Windsor National Recreation Trail is 25 miles long and traverses the Pecos Wilderness from east to west. This beautiful trail has long been a favorite and perhaps the wilderness trail we have walked the most with Maya.

Aspen grove on Windsor Trail near Rio Nambe

Maya's ashes

We had two hikes on the Windsor Trail, one from each end. First, we entered the wilderness from the western end near the Santa Fe Ski Basin. After nearly 2 miles the trail enters an aspen grove that stretches about half a mile. This is a beautiful spot and the Rio Nambe crosses the trail here. We spread ashes near the trail in the aspens. Later, we turned off the Windsor Trail and hiked on the Upper Rio Nambe Trail and left more of Maya near the Upper Nambe River. When we got back to Santa Fe we ate a late lunch on the patio at Santa Fe Bite. This is a very dog friendly restaurant, and they cook little burgers to serve to dogs. Maya always enjoyed her visits to Santa Fe Bite.

Upper Rio Nambe River

The next day we drove from Santa Fe to Pecos and hiked the eastern end of the Windsor Trail. This part of the trail follows Windsor Creek for half a mile before it turns away and climbs and climbs. Thankfully it isn’t a steep climb, but it is a long one. Once we reached the top, we hiked towards Stewart Lake as the clouds started rolling in. Soon it started to rumble with lightning crackling in the distance and then the rain came. Fortunately, it didn't come down that hard, but it was cold! Ponchos were put on quickly. Before long, we decided to turn back as it looked like rain was in store for the rest of the afternoon.

Rain clouds building on the Windsor Creek Trail

We found a turkey feather on the trail and I picked it up in honor of Maya. She loved feathers, loved to carry them around and sometimes I had to take them away if she decided to eat them. As we made our way back, we decided to leave a little of Maya with the turkey feather on the high point where the trail turned to go back down to Windsor Creek. The rain stopped before we reached the point making it perfect to spend a few moments remembering our Maya.

"Maya's point" on the Windsor Trail

It thundered around us all the way down but the rain held off until we made it back to the trailhead. The clouds opened up on the drive back to Santa Fe and we enjoyed a steady rain all warm and dry inside our car. All in all, it was a great day to remember Maya on our last hike in the mountains this summer. We are back at camp now and it is still raining and very cool. It looks like we will have one more night to sleep under blankets and listen to rain. Tomorrow we will be on the road to Texas. I think it is supposed to be over 100 degrees in Odessa tomorrow...