El Cabezon

El Cabezon, originally uploaded by craptastica.

This giant ridiculous mountain beat me. I ventured out last Sunday (yes, Superbowl Sunday... I am an official loser) to climb this mountain and I couldn't do it.

I left early before the sun had kissed the horizon and drove to the Ojitos wilderness to visit the remnant volcano they call Cabezon. Cabezon is a known landmark in New Mexico. It was used as a monument by travelling pioneers in the old days and is considered a sacred site by many of the nearby pueblos.

I arrived shortly after the sun rose above the Sandias. I had no map and really no clue how to get there. I drove around for a while before I decided to give up, ditch my car and start walking. Like my last experience in the Ojitos Wilderness the wind was brutal. Within a few minutes I felt battered, and before the day was out I'd be windburned, sunburned, and freezing cold.

I ended up walking about 2.5 miles to the mountain over the soft sandy sediments in the Rio Puerco basin and the rough unforgiving igneous rocks that remain of what was once lava flows. When I got to the 'head' of the mountain it looked like it was a sheer vertical cliff of over 100 feet from me to the top. I walked around the base until I found a trail and began climbing.

It was the most sketchy, avalanche-prone, non-trail I had ever walked. Eventually I got to a point where I'd have to do some bouldering. I went a little ways up, but my time was running low (had to pick Sara up from the airport) and I was afraid of falling and being miserably alone and injured.

So I gave up. I hate to say it, but it's true. I put my tail between my legs and went home.