09 Dec Spence Springs and Williams Lake – October Hikes in Northern New Mexico

Tuesday October 11th

We took the opportunity of flying into Albuquerque to spend a night in the city and check out another hot spring location before heading back to Taos. Joined by our friends Kali and Jaci, we toured about Albuquerque, checking out a couple spots in the University neighborhood for a happy hour and breakfast out, as well as hitting a couple thrift stores before leaving the city.

The drive up to Jemez Springs was under wide open skies with distant desert landscapes before it narrowed into the foothills of the Vallez Caldera National Preserve. The forest clung to the cliffs and mountainsides above us as we hiked a short path to test out Spence Hot Springs. We arrived mid afternoon with the full sun shining and the air a comfortable 70 degrees. The pools had perfect views of the valley and pleasantly bath-warm water. There was even a small cave big enough for 2-3 people closer to the mouth of the spring, sparkling with sun reflection off the pools outside.

Thursday Oct 13
We took advantage of an internet outage on the property Thursday to hike from the top ski valley trailheads one more time before the snow became permanent. We arrived up at the Wheeler peak parking area around 10a to Williams Lake, a quick 2.1 miles up to the valley under New Mexico’s tallest peak.

The lake was picturesque under the blue sky and we studied the upper trail to the summit of Wheeler. We decided to save it for another day, and were back down to the car shortly after noon, happy to have found another accessible hiking destination in our neighborhood!