Santa Fe County High Point Trip Report
Santa Fe Baldy (12,622 ft)
Date: September 23, 2002
Author: Ken Jones
From US Highway 84/285 in Santa Fe turn onto New Mexico Highway 475 and follow it to its end (in
about 18 miles) at Santa Fe Ski Basin. When you reach the ski basin, the road forks right (stay left) and
quickly bends right again. Stop at this corner (outhouse, picnic table) and park where permitted.
A sign to the right of the table indicates the Winsor Trail.
Take the Winsor Trail (number 254) to the right of the sign as it switchbacks up to the saddle east of Aspen Peak.
Sign in here at the Pecos Wilderness boundary. Continue on the Winsor Trail as it bears easterly.
Junctions are well signed, either by name or trail number. After following the Winsor Trail (254) for 4.5
miles to a meadow (which is being overgrown by trees) at about 11,000 feet you will find a junction.
Turn left onto the Skyline Trail (251), and follow it up to the saddle at 11,600 feet. Here the Skyline Trail
continues diagonally across the saddle and then drops to Katherine Lake. You want to turn left onto the
climbers' trail that arcs northwest, north, and northeast to the large summit cairn. This climbers' trail is so
well-defined that I ran into some fishermen on it who thought it was the Skyline Trail - they'd missed the junction.