Dog Canyon Trail

Dog Canyon Trail is located in Oliver Lee State Park, just outside of town. At 11 miles and 3100 feet, it's the first real hiking I've done since last summer. Last week I ended up hiking 15 miles through the Lincoln National Forest up near Cloudcroft, but without much scenery or elevation gain it was more of a tranquil walk.

Dog Canyon

From the parking lot you see up into the canyon, the massive stone faces towering over you. Yet you don't realize you'll be hiking to the top of one of those rocks. In the East, most hikes are done through the forest so you don't see the elevation before you. The exception to this in my hiking experience was of course Tuckerman's Ravine up Mt. Washington in New Hampshire.

The treeless trail!

Frankly I've never liked trees much, the towering kind at least. I've always been in love with vast open spaces where the sun shines unconditionally. As a kid I dreamed of what the desert in Arizona would be like, hot and sandy, no trees. When I was a teenager I received a large cactus as I gift and I cherished it.

Looking down on Alamo

But as an adult I moved to Florida where there is plenty of sand and the palm trees provide little shade, and I soon forgot about the desert. Only as I was driving through Texas on my way to New Mexico did I remember this childhood fascination and all of those memories came back in a flood of excitement and curiosity.

Up close and personal to the canyon wall. Don't look down.

Hiking up the rocky terrain of the canyon to 7500 feet, with its unobstructed views of the city, canyon and mountains was a perfect desert experience. The climb was strenuous but the trails were easy to follow and not to technical.

The view only gets better

The first three miles climb steadily but slowly. In fact many people stop at three miles and turn around, for at this point the trail sweeps up around the ridge of the canyon on a narrow bed of loose rocks and continues this way to the top of the canyon, about 1.5 miles.

Around 4 miles, climbing this to the top? Nope, but that would have been cool.

Although you can see the canyon open up before you as you climb, you can only see the trail a few hundred feet in front of you so you don't actually know where it's taking you. You think you're headed to one side and before you know it the trail points the other direction.

The famous White Sands of Alamo in the distance

So when I reached what appeared to be the top of canyon, and I still had a mile to go, I thought there must be another stunning view ahead,even though all I saw was a grassy wilderness. Because trails don't end in the middle of nowhere. They end at mountain tops or roads, and I couldn't imagine a road running through here.

It was looking bleak, but with about a half mile to go the trail again ascended sharply and I saw blue sky up ahead. Yes, there was indeed a climax to this trail. But as I crested the hill, I saw only grass and trees marking the beginning of the Lincoln National Forest, and finally a sign indicating the trail's end. At a road. See, I was right about that.

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