USFS

Some hikes earn their lake. The Middle Fork Lake Trail, Trail 487 in the Carson National Forest above Red River, is one of them — a difficult two miles one way that climbs from 9,650 feet to a quiet alpine lake sitting at 10,845 feet. Mid-October is close to the last comfortable window to make the climb before winter takes the high country back, and for hikers who like their trails steep, wooded and uncrowded, it is one of the finest short backpacks-or-day-hikes left on the fall calendar.

If a fall trip into the Carson National Forest brings a whiff of smoke on an otherwise clear day, it may be planned fire at work. Forest Service fire managers have laid out an early fall prescribed fire season across the forest, with potential locations stretching from Valle Vidal to Ojo Sarco on the east side and from Tres Piedras to Canjilon on the west side.

Hopewell Lake is one of the quietest pieces of trout water in the Carson National Forest, and October is the month to check its status before making the drive. The Forest Service currently lists the Hopewell Lake Day Use Area as closed, so anyone hoping for a late-season picnic or a last cast should confirm conditions with the Carson before heading up Highway 64.

October brings a quieter, golden window to the Valle Vidal, the large unit of the Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico near the Colorado border. Broad meadows, spruce and fir forest, and cold, clear streams give this high country a different feel from the busier trailheads around Taos and Red River, and fall is when that space is easiest to appreciate.

October is prime fuelwood time in northern New Mexico. Nights are turning cold, hunting seasons keep the forest busy, and there is still time to put up a winter woodpile before snow makes back roads muddy or impassable. On the Carson National Forest, that work starts with a permit — and with knowing exactly what a dead and down fuelwood permit does and does not allow.

Two northern New Mexico mountain towns that have long been linked by a winding highway will soon be linked by trail as well. The Carson National Forest has approved the Questa to Red River Trail, an approximately 11.9-mile unpaved, multi-use pathway between the Village of Questa and the Town of Red River.

Mid-October is the shoulder season on Wheeler Peak, and the window for a straightforward hike to the top of New Mexico is closing. Snowfall typically begins in the Wheeler Peak Wilderness in early October, and every calm, clear fall day from here on is a gift. Hikers who want the 13,161-foot summit — the highest point in the state — without snowshoes or skis should be watching the forecast and picking their day now.

In the Carson National Forest, the roads are half the adventure — and knowing which ones are open, which are rough, and which close for wildlife can save a trip. Forest Service roads are the capillaries of the forest, and the Valle Vidal's network is the best example of how they work.

New Mexico's only full-service cross-country ski and snowshoe area is at a crossroads. The Enchanted Forest, tucked into the Carson National Forest three miles east of Red River at the top of Bobcat Pass, is for sale — listed at $250,000 after what its owners describe as the worst winter in 40 years.

Fire season in the southern Rockies rarely ends quietly, and this October has been no exception on the Carson National Forest. Fire crews spent the past week wrapping up work on two very different fires — one wild, one prescribed — as hot, dry weather kept the forest on edge.