Long Canyon Trail (TR 63)
The Long Canyon trails starts about eight-tenths of a mile up the Wheeler Peak Trail (TR 90 -- a.k.a. the Bull of the Woods Trail) at an elevation of 10,079 feet to the Gold Hill Trail (TR 64) at an elevation of 11,922 feet over a distance of 2.8 miles. It is the shortest route from the Taos Ski Valley parking lot to Gold Hill -- saving seven-tenths of a mile over the most common route which is the Wheeler Peak Trail to the Bull of the Woods Pasture and then the Gold Hill Trail from there. Some might prefer the longer trail as the total elevation climbed is 2,452 feet and taking 4.4 miles instead of 3.6 might be perceived as less strenous.
As is frequently the case, the USGS Topo map incorrectly portrays this trail. It is longer than shown, starts closer to the ski valley than shown, and meets the Gold Hill Trail closer to Gold Hill than shown.
This trail is described (somewhat inaccurately) by the Forest Service here.
The complete map and profile view is here.
The sign below greets you at the end of the trail which is almost exactly at the treeline.
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Data files for download:
- DeLorme Topo USA® 8.0 draw file. Download this file and store it in your DeLorme Docs/draw folder which is either in the root directory of your "C" drive or in the DeLorme Docs/draw folder in My Documents, depending on which version of the DeLorme software you are using.
- GPS XML file
- Google Earth kml file
