Truchas Peak (more precisely, South Truchas Peak;

Tewa The Tewa are a linguistic group of Pueblo people, Pueblo Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans who speak the Tewa language and share the Pueblo culture. Their homelands are on or near the Rio Grande in New Mexico north of San ...

: ''K'usenmp'in'') is the second highest peak in the

U.S. State In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

behind Wheeler Peak. It is in the

Sangre de Cristo Mountains The Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Spanish language, Spanish for "Blood of Christ") are the southernmost mountain range, subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States. The mountai ...

northeast of Santa Fe. It lies within the

Pecos Wilderness The Pecos Wilderness is a protected wilderness area within the Santa Fe National Forest and Carson National Forest. The Pecos Wilderness lies within the Camino Real Ranger District of the Carson National Forest, and the Pecos Ranger District and ...

, part of the

Santa Fe National Forest The Santa Fe National Forest is a protected national forest in northern New Mexico in the Southwestern United States. It was established in 1915 and covers . Elevations range from 5,300 feet (1600 m) to 13,103 feet (4000 m) at the su ...

. (The north end of the mountain borders on the

Carson National Forest Carson National Forest is a United States National Forest, national forest in northern New Mexico, United States. It encompasses 6,070 square kilometers (1.5 million acres) and is administered by the United States Forest Service. The Forest Serv ...

.) The name of the peak is Spanish for "trout" (plural). It is the highest point in both Rio Arriba and

Mora Mora may refer to: People * José Maria Mora (1847–1926), Cuban-American photographer, often credited as "Mora" * Mora (singer) (born 1996), a Puerto Rican singer * Mora (surname), a Spanish name (includes a list of people with the name) Plac ...

counties. It is also the most southerly peak and land area in the continental United States to rise above . The entire mountain is a small north-south trending

massif A massif () is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, ''massif'' is frequently used to denote the main mass of an ...

with four identifiable summits, North Truchas Peak, Middle Truchas Peak, "Medio Truchas Peak" (unofficial name), and South Truchas Peak, the highest. Of the three subsidiary summits, only North Truchas Peak () has enough

topographic prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

(about ) to be considered an independent peak. The Truchas Peaks lie on the divide between the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

and the

Pecos River The Pecos River ( ; ) originates in north-central New Mexico and flows into Texas, emptying into the Rio Grande. Its headwaters are on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County north of Pecos, New Mexico, at an elev ...

. They are drained on the west by the Rio Medio, the Rio Quemado, and the Rio de las Trampas; on the northeast by the Rio Santa Barbara; and on the southeast by small creeks that quickly run into the upper reaches of the Pecos River. The massif also connects to numerous other high peaks in the region, many via the Santa Barbara Divide, a major east-west high ridge which separates the Pecos watershed on the south from the Santa Barbara watershed to the north. The Truchas group has a true wilderness character, as it is difficult to access the peaks within a single day. Many trails access the slopes of the peaks, most notably the Skyline Trail (Trail number 251), which traverses the eastern slopes at elevation around 12,000 feet (3,660 m) and accesses the Truchas Lakes, a set of small lakes in a

cirque A (; from the Latin word ) is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by Glacier#Erosion, glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from , meaning a pot or cauldron) and ; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform a ...

below the south side of North Truchas Peak.

Climate

References

External links

* * * {{Mountains of New Mexico Mountains of New Mexico Sangre de Cristo Mountains Landforms of Mora County, New Mexico Landforms of Rio Arriba County, New Mexico Santa Fe National Forest Carson National Forest Mountains of Rio Arriba County, New Mexico Mountains of Mora County, New Mexico

Climate

See also

References

External links