Overview:
Central New Mexico contains many hiking gems, but even in that company the Hop Canyon Loop in the Magdalena Mountains is a lustrous stunner. It offers easy access, a clear tread, vertiginous canyons and an unruly mob of high and darkly forested peaks. The Hop Canyon Loop tours a sky archipelago and offers a lightly exposed extension onto North Baldy Peak. Ambitious hikers could add a second side trip to South Baldy for a rousing and exhausting day in the mountains.
Driving Directions:
- From I-25 (going either north or south) take Exit 147 for Socorro, NM. The exit ramp turns into the northbound lanes of California Street. Reset your odometer as you pass the first gas station.
- After 0.6 miles on California St, at the first stoplight, turn left onto Spring Street.
- After 0.4 miles on Spring Street, at the first stop sign, turn left onto US-60.
- After 25.8 miles on US-60, immediately past the Forest Service Station in Magdalena NM, turn left onto South Kelly Road.
- After 2.0 miles on South Kelly Road, at a fork, veer right onto Hop Canyon Road. (There is no road sign, but a sign at the fork has a right-pointing arrow labeled “Hop Canyon”).
- After 4.4 miles on Hop Canyon Road turn right onto the trailhead parking area, signed, “TR 25”.
Paved roads lead almost all the way to the trailhead. Hop Canyon Road becomes a gravel road after 2.0 miles. The roadbed narrows and degrades as you go further up Hop Canyon. Leave the Porshe at home. With careful steering, however, even a soft-suspended sedan can be driven to the trailhead.
Trailhead:
A pine-shaded gravel pad offers parking on the west side of Hop Canyon Road. There are no toilets, trash receptacles or water service. (Water flowed in a seasonal stream across the road, unreliable in warmer seasons). If you wish to follow a clockwise loop, then cross Hop Canyon Road to find the trail. There is a sign saying 25A about 20 feet into the woods. If you wish to follow a counterclockwise loop (heading for South Baldy) then stay on the west side of the road and look up-canyon for the trail. About 100 feet up that track you will find signs saying “TR25” and “North Baldy Trail #8 / 5 miles”.
Data:
- lowest elevation: 7723 feet
- highest elevation: 9875 feet
- net elevation gain: 2152 feet
- gross elevation gain: 3428 feet (GPS data)
- gross elevation loss: 3479 feet (GPS data)
- distance: 10.3 miles
Hike Description:
Cross Hop Canyon Road and follow the trail past a sign for trail 25A. The trail briefly descends the canyon, but then turns east to cross a waterway. On this date there was a good flow of water, but no difficulty crossing dry footed. The ponderosa in this small canyon soon disappear. The open, drier, northwest facing slopes support pinion and juniper in graciously spaced intervals. The spacing permits views down Hop Canyon to a small butte called Elephant Peak.
The trail segues into an unnamed sidecut to Hop Canyon and begins a gentle ascent. The wall to your right lies on the flanks of point 9613 (per USGS maps). The cliff-ringed summit of this high point can be recognized from many points on this loop, a useful aid to navigation. As you climb views open over the flanking western hills to the distant and rarely visited Withington Wilderness. Keep your planning for future hikes in careful check and focus on ascending the trail you are on!
Near the top of this first canyon note the odd talus field on the right. Talus falls from many of the cliffs in the Magdalenas, but the canyon top is cliff-free. Perhaps, you might muse, the rocks are mineralized so as to be susceptible to radical freeze-thaw cycles. With that thought in mind, be rewarded by the sight of an abandoned mining dig at 1.3 miles, atop a small saddle. The trail turns southeast and begins a series of switchbacks threading through ponderosa pine and Douglas fir. On this date short patches of icy snow hogged the trail – footing was awkward on these sun protected slopes. Peek-a-boo views open to the north, including close-by Granite Mountain northeast of the town of Magdalena. At 2.4 miles from the trailhead, immediately below a second saddle, come to an obvious trail junction. Don’t be fooled – the intersecting trail is but an elk boulevard. Continue straight across and rise to the saddle.
The trail turns left in the saddle, pulling away from point 9613 and pushing towards the main ridge. Ascend sunny meadows housing lofty ponderosa, which thin to montane grasslands as you near the ridge. Contour southwest (right on ascent) around an open knoll. The main loop is going to take you south (to your right) onto the main ridge. A notch in the ridge lies below your feet. From there the ridge rises south as a crescendo of darkly forested humps, hillocks, knolls, knobs, knuckles, and frank mountain summits. The challenge is to pick out South Baldy without stumbling.
At 2.9 miles from the trailhead come to a forest service sign saying “Hop Canyon Trail #25 / Forest Rd No. 101 2.5 miles”. Here Trail 25A ends at a T-intersection with Trail 8, the North Baldy Trail. To your left the North Baldy Trail ascends on an obvious path. To your right there is a broad mass of ledge-laced, downward-sloping terrain. Look for cairns that lead across these rocky surfaces into the notch (mentioned above). For the side trip to North Baldy you first want to turn left.
The trip to North Baldy summit is slightly longer than a half mile and lots of fun. The trail clings to rock surfaces on a narrow ridge top. Reaching the summit block the trail traverses the block’s south face through a long stretch of scrub oak, eventually discovering a roads-end on the southeast corner. The road corkscrews uphill on the east side of the summit block. On the north side the road plummets, so you must go off-trail on terrain blissfully free of scrub oak to gain the summit. There are fossils in some of the summit rocks (check the cairns). To the south lies the bulk of the Magdalena Range, including South Baldy. To the west lies the San Mateo Mountains, including the Withington Wilderness. The northwest quadrant is an inexpressibly vast plain. The Bear Mountains lie close-by to the north. Beyond, the huge bulge of Mount Taylor dominates the horizon. The east side is a hodgepodge of ranges, most of which were not visible on this hazy day. Close in, and visible despite the haze, was the Sierra Ladrones, Strawberry Peak and the Socorro Mountains.
Return to the signed junction and scan below, once more, for those cairns that theoretically guide you onto the southern leg of the North Baldy Trail. Descend on friendly ledges, passing between house-sized outcroppings of pale, friable rock, to lose about 300 feet onto the notch. The trail returns to its normal self, a clearly visible trough in the ridge-top soils. This trail clearly suffered a harsh winter. Push aside as many fallen limbs as you can, going briefly off-trail to avoid deadfall that won’t be bullied. Cliff-sided Point 9613 is a beacon on your right. Arrive at a high point of 9825 feet. Dark Canyon cleaves the east-facing slopes on your left. A rubble-strewn descent delivers you to a saddle and yet another rise, this time bursting through tree line to a signed trail junction. To the south (left if going clockwise) the obvious North Baldy Trail continues to South Baldy. Go west (right if going clockwise), on a faint tread that returns to the woods.
A brief ascent brings you to a saddle with a view to the bald south slope of South Baldy. A small ascent still remains until you leave the rim above Hop Canyon and begin descending on the slopes leading into Agua Fria Canyon. Huge old-growth ponderosa and Douglas fir grace this terrain, a rare sight. The trail switchbacks on steep terrain and, having traveled 7.6 miles, you will arrive at a gate in a barbed wire fence. In theory you should be able to unlash a stick from the post on your left, pass through the gate, then re-lash the stick to the post. That stick, however, is broken and there is no obvious way to unlash the entire thing. The system does, however, allow you to unlash the bottom part, and you can scoot under the top part. From here the trail contours to the north on very gentle terrain. You will pass through ungated fencing at 8.2 miles where a trail informs you that it is 2.5 miles back to Hop Canyon trailhead.
At 9.0 miles the tread regains the rim above Hop Canyon. Point 9613 returns to sight. Follow the rim west, along side wire fencing. Eventually the trail unexpectedly pivots back east (where did the fence go?) and writhes down the walls of the canyon. Arrive back at the car having traveled 10.3 miles. Stop in Magdalena for an ice cream, you’ve earned it!
Recommendations:
As usual with trails nearing 10,000 feet, Acute Mountain Sickness (a.k.a. altitude sickness) is a concern. AMS shows small respect for gumption, strength or experience. If your party includes hikers newly arrived from Portland (Maine or Oregon) then give them a chance to stretch out on a lower tread.
If your group is adapted to altitude, then consider adding a side hike to South Baldy. That would not be especially easy (South Baldy rises to 10,800 feet) but it is fun to see the astronomical observatory and the hefty gear used at the Langmuir Laboratory lightening research facility. Clearly, you will want to avoid these ridges during monsoon season.
I never put on my microspikes. That part of the Magdalena hiking season seems to have passed.
Some older maps will show the North Baldy Trail clinging to the east side of the ridge line. That was not my experience. In many places it was square on top of the ridge, but where it had to depart it did so to the west.
On a cold late-March day two bottles of water were fine. In warmer weather bring much more. There aren’t any reliable springs near the ridge that I could find.
Links:
Tom Lohr, at the SkyAboveUs site, reports on doing this trip in the counter-clockwise direction. He mentions concerns regarding pets on this hike, with emphasis on the risks poised by mountain lions. He also mentions places where you can see the Very Large Array of radio telescopes.
The HikeArizona site describes the Grand Enchantment Trail (GET) where it crosses the Magdalenas, overlapping with some of the loop described here. It has suggestions on where water might be found. No guarantees! Water quality on the GET can be very poor – treat any water you take.
New Mexico Meanders 
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