r/SantaFe • u/lilithweatherwax • 1d ago

Winter hikes for beginners

Hello! New-ish to hiking, and hoping to keep it up in winter. Are there any safe trails/hikes where I can try out spikes and/or snowshoes?

Alltrails ranks Nambe Lake as the most popular trail for snowshoeing, and I want to try it out once. That said, I'm pretty new to hiking and would very much like to stay out of the news.

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u/pauldavisthe1st 1d ago

Nambe Lake is a seriously steep ascent, at least once you cross the Winsor Trail. Not sure you want that to be your first attempt at using snowshoes, though to be fair it is less steep than when I first tried them in the Cascades 40 years ago and I'm alive to tell the tale.

When (and if) more snow comes to the 9000' elevation level, the loop used for the SF Snowshoe classic can be good. Nothing steep, varying conditions (though no great views either).

If it comes down to 8000', Black Canyon on the side of the ski basin rd can be a nice initial outing loop on snowshoes. A little dull and rather shaded (i.e. cold) but a good place to get a sense of using them.

If it comes down to 7000' then spikes on the Dale Ball trail system can be a huge amount of fun. Snowshoes could work there but I think spikes are more fun.

If you want to keep hiking in winter without dealing with snow, the Galisteo Basin Preserve trail system (40+ miles of trails) and La Tierra (closer to town, but not as open/wild as GBP) will give you snow-free hiking almost all of the time.

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u/lilithweatherwax 1d ago edited 1d ago

Thanks, ruled out nambe lake for now. I've done black canyon, but as of last week, didn't need snowshoes. I'll check out the snowshoe classic and dale ball, thank you!

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u/map_724 1d ago

If you’re new to hiking and not acclimated to the altitude, Nambe Lake is not for you. I did it last Friday and it is seriously tough. And I live here full time and hike several times a week.

Btw - almost no trails around town require snowshoes right now. Maybe spikes on a few, but even then poles and decent boots are probably enough.

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u/lilithweatherwax 1d ago

Point taken, I'll be avoiding nambe lake for a while.

Are there any trails which do require snowshoes? I was hoping to try it out and get used to it. If it helps, I'm reasonably fit, and acclimated to the altitude

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u/map_724 1d ago

IMO, no, not right now. If we get some snow this week you might try the Borrego/Bear Wallow loop the very next morning. It’s all above 8000’ and usually good for about a day as an easy snowshoe route.

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u/JeffreyRJ 16h ago

Any trail can be a snowshoeing trail. What is currently missing is snow.