Discover the Beauty of Lover's Leap Trail

Ever wondered what it feels like to conquer a rugged uphill trail and be rewarded with a breathtaking sunset? Join me, Craig Natural Medic, as I brave the steep grades and rocky terrains of Rockhound State Park's Spring Canyon area. Nestled in the majestic Big Florida Mountains near Deming, New Mexico, this adventure promises serene beauty and a bit of a challenge. I'll share candid moments from my hike up the Lover's Leap Trail, from heavy breaths to awe-inspiring vistas, all while offering valuable tips from a local park ranger and my own amateur geology insights.

Get ready for an immersive experience that captures the essence of this less-developed park—complete with details on facilities like picnic tables and hiking paths. Whether you're a geology enthusiast or simply someone who loves the outdoors, my journey aims to inspire you to explore Rockhound State Park and beyond. Plus, don't miss a sneak peek at my upcoming visits to City of Rocks State Park and iconic Utah destinations like Zion and Capitol Reef. Tune in, lace up your hiking boots, and prepare for an adventure that celebrates nature in its rawest form.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

All righty. So here I am, craig Natural Medic, at Rockhound State Park, the Spring Canyon area. This is a pretty cool area. See how I'm parked down there. They lock the gates here at four o'clock and I guess they open them at eight. But according to the park ranger down there at the main part of the park, he said you can park and walk in here. So anyway, other side of that ridge, as I said the the other time, you can see the antennas on top of the little floridas. We're in the big floridas, I would say that's where the other part of the park is. So it's not that far apart, a couple of miles apart.

Speaker 1: 0:34

This is what it looks like in the park. As far as the facilities, you've got some picnic tables. You've got some hiking trails. I'm at the pay station right now. You've got some picnic tables. You've got some hiking trails. I'm at the pay station right now.

Speaker 1: 0:53

Tomorrow I'm planning on going to City of Rocks State Park, which is on the way to Utah, which I'm headed to Utah this next week to go to Zion and Capitol Reef. Isn't it beautiful in here? Anyway, but for now I'm I'm gonna pay the five dollars to get in. Helps the park and the park rangers can give you a little fine. So you want to try to abide by the right regulations and stuff, but it's like they've got a bunch of little shelters for picnic tables up here. There looks like a bathroom and a little pavilion. Not a very developed park, but that's really my favorite. I like less developed park myself, but anyway, let's go explore spring canyon at rockhound state park outside of deming, new mexico. It's windy, if you couldn't tell that. Just walked up this paved road all the way uphill from the parking area and I'm fixing to go on this Lover's Leap Trail, which is 0.9 and very steep grades. I don't know if it's 0.9 one way or what that is. That's my attempt, though. Look at that big old rock face. I don't know what that's called. This whole park seems like it's in a bowl. 'm not a geologist, I'm a amateur geologist at best and wow, super cool. It's windy, if you couldn't tell that. Just walked up this paved road all the way uphill from the parking area and I'm fixing to go on this lover's leap trail, which is 0.9 and very steep. Whoo, pardon my heavy breathing. Y'all, we're in line about the steepness of the trail, but if you look up here. Look at that. That's that same big rock face. I don't know what it's called, but it's cool. The parks below, but you can see now I think I was pretty know what it's called, but it's cool. The park's below Hinksey now I think I was pretty accurate describing it like a bowl. Anyway, I'm going to continue up. I've come pretty far and I've still got to go up this a little bit, probably about another two-tenths of a mile, but as you can see. See it's all uphill. The good thing about uphill trails on the way back they're downhill and they're generally a lot easier and quicker. It's my hope it's right now. It's a little bit after seven mountain time. I'm hoping to get up here, see a nice sunset and get down off of this trail at least by 8. When I'm back on the paved part of the park I feel a little more sure-footed. Let's keep going. Okay, made it to the top Lovers Leap here in the beautiful Spring Canyon State Park, part of Rockhound State Park, I think. Maybe way over there is the Hatchet Mountains, I'm pretty certain Big old rock face here, kind of like the one down there. Park is down there, I don't know if you can see it very well. Total walking so far about one mile 21, and it was uphill. Guys and gals, it was uphill. It's like a little rest break, get a little snack. I don't head back down. So you know, you've heard that term, probably if you're my age. Bugs Bunny used to say, oh, I should have took that other turn at Albuquerque. Yeah, I'm not anywhere close to Albuquerque, but I came up this little rocky wash here. There is a trail there, but I think it's a much more rugged trail the official trails over here and you do have some different pine species. This is a pinyon pine right here. We're high enough up to get some pinyon pine, some more right there and behind me. Yeah, this should be a little easier going down. I struggled a little bit on the way up. I was getting pretty close to having my limit. Anyway, go down this way, it should be a lot easier. There are supposed to be some goats out here that were gift gifted to the I guess it's like new mexico from iran back in the 70s. They're supposed to be like hundreds of them out here, but I haven't seen one. But it's a pretty big area here at Spring Canyon it's like several hundred acres. I think it's close to like 600, 550, something like that. Between the two parks it's like a little over 1,000. So decent size. Always love looking at these cool lichens all over. The rock is cool. There's a cool tree. Anyway, heading down, don't have to do this in the dark. Another cool tree. Yeah, you can see where the trail goes right down there. I was on that trail but for some reason I missed the turn. I went up that rocky draw right there, which somebody has made it into a trail or it's a where. It's where the water runs off, and that was a lot tougher than this. This is how you make a trail where you follow the grade. The whole point of creating a trail is you don't want to cause anything that's going to hurt the environment, adding to the enjoyment of the environment, and you also allow for easy access or the easiest possible access. Easy access is not always part of it. Anyway, you can see the trail goes this way. You could see it going down. It goes back down there. So anyway, I'm going to keep going. The wind is dying down a little bit, but it's still windy and I'm so glad I didn't go down that rocky draw because it was super loose going up. I can't imagine what it would be like coming down. It's starting to get dark. I was hoping to be down by 8 o'clock. I think I'm gonna just make it. So. That's pretty cool lots of loose rock as you come down. So as you make your way down this trail, keep it easy. Okay, I made it back to the parking lot about the time that I wanted, about eight o'clock. You can see the big mountain behind me. I don't know what that mountain is, for sure I think it might be a monkey mountain, and I can see that they Lover's Leap Trail. 0.9 miles, that's one way. 0.9 miles to the top up there, where the mountains are sticking out up there, and very steep grades ahead. They didn't lie about that either. If you're going to come out here, you can come out when the gate is closed. Just pay your entrance fee or use your park pass, if you have one, and watch out for the goats because sometimes they go poopy. Right there there's some poopy. I did not see any, but I definitely saw where they were. All right, I'm almost back to the truck, but right up in that little hollow there is a geocache called Will you Spring For it? Okay, another trail right here I'm gonna have time. It's called the spring canyon trail. The geocache I just mentioned is up the hill a little bit. It's an old roadbed, I believe, and I think it's 0.62, but there's also another trail that connects to it, and next time I'm in the area I'll have to do that then. Okay, almost back to the truck. All right, I'm walking out. It is perfectly acceptable, like I said, to come in here with the gates closed. Just park outside the gate, pay your entrance fee or use your park pass. You can get a fine if you don't have entrance fees taken care of. Hey, so what do you think about that adventure? I walked almost right at two hours, exactly A little bit under three miles, according to my Garmin device. It's a nice trail. Be prepared though. Wear your good shoes, bring water I recommend bringing hiking poles and dress appropriately for the conditions, the wind, the air temperature was not that bad today, but the wind was really fierce during the day. When it got darker the wind started dying down and so it wasn't a big deal. But anywho, hope you enjoyed it. If you did give me a thumbs up, let me know if you've been in this area before. Down here by Deming, visit any of the parks or the BLM or Forest Service or CDT, whatever suits your fancy down here. Until next time, though, see you on the trail.