"A Stab in the Dark" Cruces Basin Wilderness

A spontaneous trip to a hidden gem in northern New Mexico!
After consulting with the ranger in Weminuche Wilderness, CO (my planned destination for 6/4-10) and learning that many high passes along my route, all high passes in fact, were unstable and very dangerous, I decided to follow the sun south in search of better conditions. note: I may very well return to W'nuche in August on the trip back east, as I really want to climb some 14ers. Sort of a crowning achievement to the trip, I hope...
I had heard good things about Taos (thanks, Brita!) and it is surrounded by National Forest lands on all sides, so i was sure to find some good trails. I spent the night of the 3rd there, ate well, and after consulting with Carlos in Mud and Flood, a local hike/paddle shop, headed out to the Cruces Basin Wilderness.
This is remote wilderness; access is over 30 mi of dirt "road," and the basin has no trails, save game paths. I was excited to hone my orienteering skills, and even the caution in my guidebook (and from Carlos) that trail head theft and vandalism was a problem in northern N.M. barely gave me pause...

the lowdown: The Cruces is a high-altitude basin, with 5 mountain brooks dropping from the ridgeline at 11,000' into the basin and flowing through the meadows before joining and thundering through a steep-walled canyon to meet the Los Pinos river. The vast meadows and exposed rock in the basin resulted from an 1879 fire, and also made the area a prime habitat for big game, including herds of elk and mule deer, and predators such as coyotes, mountain lions and bear...

dates: June 4-6

mileage, elevation +/-, pinnacle: 18-20mi; +/-5,700'; 10,680'-on Brazos Ridge

conditions: snow line @ 9,600' patchy, save north facing slopes, where coverage reached 6'

weather: overcast and high 50's on days 1 and 3, precipitation on day 2 freezing rain in the basin and snow (4") above snowline, around 30 at night. Constant, intense winds chilled constantly.

highlights: so much wildlife! Elk, mule deer, birds of all sorts... Seeing the melt swollen brooks cascade down, then rush through the valley and into the gorge. Getting back to the car after losing my compass!

lowlights: losing my compass on day 2!! bad when you're hiking on-rail, really bad when you're off-trail navigating! Seeing the car once i got back to it (details in the next post!)

the hike: I left the trailhead @ 10,400' and located the headwaters of Diablo Creek, which I followed north as it cascaded through steep pine forest into the basin. Once in the basin (9,600') the forest gave way to open meadows, with expansive views into wide valleys holding the other brooks, and lots of herd animals. All of the brooks were swollen, which made for interesting river crossings, but even better waterfalls in the gorge. I camped the first night just below the confluence of of all the brooks, at the mouth of the gorge below.
The next day i set off, still following the Diablo (now containg all the brooks from the basin,) only now i was on the cliffs above the gorge. I descended once into the gorge for an upclose view of the cascades. I won't lie--it was a bitch getting back up, even w/o my pack, but once you see the pictures, you'll know it was worth the effort.
Having reached the edge of the wilderness (on the small side @ 20,00 acres,) I headed back south by first heading up onto the northwestern ridge. I had travel through pine forest to reach the top of the ridge, but once there had expansive views of the entire basin looking south. I descended back into the basin from the ridge and picked up the Diablo again before heading up the ridge towards the car. Once i got to the edge of the basin i entered the forest again, and followed the brook towards the headwaters; after that it was only 2 mi to the car. I was on pace to return by 6 or so; i could car camp, which would allow me 3 full days before Canyonlands on the 10th, and Carlos had gotten me excited for a 3 day loop on the other side of Taos that i was looking forward to hiking.
Once past the headwaters I was navigating, then picked up my footprints from the day before, and put the map and compass away in my pocket. But my tracks were mostly obscured by fresh snow by 9,800' and totally covered by 10,000, which was a shame b/c the last 2 miles were the hardest in terms of route finding; having passed the headwaters of the brook, i no longer had it as a guide, and the forest was dense. This type of travel requires constant use of compass, sometimes following a bearing from tree to tree.
So you can imagine my horror when, after losing my tracks from the day before, i reached for my map and compass and found the pocket empty!!! I hadn't needed either while following the brook for the last mile or so, up 400' so i had to backtrack to the last place where i knew i had them both. Though i found the map, the compass was nowhere to be found, no matter how hard i looked. I almost always have a back-up compass, but i had given mine away and forgot to replace it!! So i was reduced to dead reckoning and reading the map. By 7, i knew i was within a half mile or so of the car, but i was tiring and hungry b/c i thought that by then 'd be eating well, in the relative luxury of car camping. After making a wrong turn and not realizing it for 15 minutes, i knew that my judgement was suffering, so i made camp for the night and finished the incredible book Drop Edge of Yonder by Ralph Wurlitzer (thanks Ter!)
In the morning i found the route to my car with no problem. On the hour-long hike back, I was feeling very proud of my route finding skills and very excited about the unique hike that i was about to complete; right up until the moment that my car came into view, I was judging my detour into New Mexico a "smashing" success...