Ventana High Way

When I visited El Malpais last year I visited La Ventana. What I didn’t manage to do that I kind of wanted to do was to go to the top of it.

On this trip I managed to do so.

It’s now the day after I arrived at El Malpais, June 1. Last year, when I did the Narrows Trail, I had kept in the back of my mind being able to continue on top of the ridge and go around the Grand Curve to where La Ventana was. However, it was a long hike and while I did start going around the Grand Curve, I stopped before I got too far along and headed back.

This time, I wanted to see if maybe there was some way I could access La Ventana from within the Grand Curve, that is, without having to redo the whole Narrows Trail.

After I did my La Vieja hike, I made a quick stop at La Ventana (which is right nearby) and took a careful look at the western side of the Grand Curve (the part facing La Ventana).

Here’s a composite, panoramic shot of that.

Cliff Face Opposite La Ventana

[Click for full-size version.]

I was encouraged by the fact that Google Maps for the area shows the Narrows Trail continuing (and called the Continental Divide Trail) and then descending. This is what that looks like on a topo map.

Topo Temptation

The Narrows Trail and the La Ventana Trail (both existing) are marked in purple. If Google was to be believed, there was also that orange trail. Except . . . I’d looked for it last year and saw no sign of it. And, where Google says the trail was is quite impossible, looking at that cliff wall. But just the trace on the Google Map suggested that there once was some way to scale the cliff.

And the panoramic shot shows two possibilities, which I have marked with the blue dotted lines on the topo map. The only question was, which? (If any.)

So I went looking, going up the slope in front of the more northerly choice. (It somehow looked more accessible to me.)

Just a little bit up the slope I looked back and could see La Vieja across the way.

A Look Back at La Vieja

And way off in the distance was Mt. Taylor.

Continuing upslope a bit, following a good lie but not seeing any sign of a trail, I saw a nice flowering yucca plant.

Yucca

Turning around I could see La Ventana across the valley.

A Look Back at La Ventana

And then I spotted it: a rock cairn.

Sign of a Trail

Somebody at least, at some point, had thought this location trail-worthy. And it did look, at some places, like a trail (though I have to admit, at other places it looked more like a narrow, dry streambed, a rock gully). But I did keep seeing cairns.

About halfway up, here’s the view looking north.

Ascending View

That slopey bit in the near distance is the end of the bluff of the Narrows Trail.

I kept ascending and the top started looking within reach.

There’s the Top

In the meantime, there was this gorgeous blooming yucca (different species than the other one?).

More Yucca

And here’s a nice close-up of the flowers.

Close-Up Flowers

Beyond that it was just more rock gullies until I made it to the top.

Unseen Ventana

La Ventana is hidden behind that solid white block of rock. From there I kept circling around towards La Ventana. Here I am as we look back at where I came up. (It’s in front of my right knee.)

Looking Back

Here’s a close-up of that slide area that I went up.

Where I Came Up

As I worked my way around (and tried to avoid a lot of cacti, I came across this little horned toad.

Horned Toad

Eventually, I came around the the stream (well, right now, just a dry stream bed) that carved La Ventana. Here it is, looking up”stream”.

The Cause of La Ventana

And finally, the view of La Ventana from behind (taken while I was standing in the stream bed).

Above La Ventana

The trip back down was pretty uneventful, although a few times I was wondering if I’d headed down the wrong slide because nothing looked familiar.

And of course, as I did this hike, I could not stop myself from humming: