It has taken over a year for me to build a page for our 'ascent' of Mount Withington, mainly because we did it so fast due to some building thunderstorms that forced us to scram as soon as we could. We were on a quick Labor Day trip visiting the US-60 corridor of western New Mexico, with our main intent being a visit to South Baldy Peak. We were also very interested in a day visit to the Very Large Telescope Array, plus general exploration of the region. We had lots of rain throughout our trip - enough to force us to alter our plans but not so much to keep us off of everything. On our first night's camp in Datil, we had rain and fog, but it was nice. We had cloudy skies and some spotty rain while on South Baldy the day before today. Our plan had been to drive into the San Mateo Mountains and camp a few miles below the summit of Mount Withington, and hike it the next day, but the rain poured so heavily it made the road into the mountains a gooey mudbog. We got a few miles across the plain but after some skidding and passing through some major puddles we thought better of our plans and backed out, taking a hotel in nearby Magdalena. Our consolation was a visit with Ringo the kitty at the Magdalena hotel.

Today we gave Withington another go, and the roads had dried up enough to allow us passage. But the clouds were building again and looking threatening. We hoped to park and make a hike of the peak but opted to drive all the way to the top due to the potential for storms. This we did; our visit to the summit was short, enough to snap a few photos. Then we backtracked on down, and the rain soon followed. We had a nice picnic along some side roads out on the foothills, and spent the remaining part of the day with an extended visit to the VLA.

In May 2006 we planned to come back, camp and make a proper hike up Withington, but this time rain wasn't the issue - the lack of it was. The forests were closed due to the extreme fire danger, so all recreational activity was banned. We had no choice but to move on.

We certainly intend to come back to Mount Withington and hike it as it looks like a fun hike in a beautiful area of the state. Maybe the weather and conditions will allow us passage some day...