Winsor Trail

Temporary/Permanent Sign and Sign Post Installation

2023 Maintenance Season

During the summer of 2022 the SFNF TERMITES, in response to a request from the US Forest Service, installed temporary trail directional signs at key junctions along the Winsor Trail between the Ski Basin trailhead and the Skyline to Penitente Trail. This effort was in response to concerns raised about the adequacy of trail signs along this section of the trail. During the summer of 2022, two groups of hikers became lost while hiking the Winsor and side trails and had to be rescued. It was believed that the lack of information on the signs at the trail junctions (the name of the trail was given, but not the direction one would need to take to reach the Ski Basin parking lot), may have played a role in the hikers becoming lost.

During the winter of 2022, the SFNF TERMITES, using information collected from scouting trail junctions along this section of the Winsor Trail, developed and submitted to the Forest Service proposed signs for purchase. The new permanent signs for replacing the temporary paper signs were then ordered posts. New signs included not only the name of the trail but also where a right or left turn would take you at the trail junction. A number of the signs and associated posts were installed or relocated so that a hiker entering the Winsor Trail from a side trail would be facing the sign. This was done to prevent tired trail users from missing the sign and associated information.

Below is an example of one of the new signs:

<- Winsor Trail 254 ->

<- Ski Basin Parking Lot

Puerto Nambe ->

Mountain snow delayed installation of the new signs until the end of June. The new revised permanent signs were installed at the following trail junctions/locations:

• Winsor Trail and spur trail to Ski Basin parking lot

• Winsor Trail and trail to Ravens Ridge, including new sign post

• Winsor Trail and two Nambe Lake social trails in addition to the existing sign, two new signs and posts were installed, and the post for the original sign was replaced. The purpose of having a sign at each of the three exit trails (one official and two social trails from Nambe Lake was to ensure that hikers would encounter a sign giving the trail name and where a right or left turn would take a hiker as soon as they reached the Winsor Trail. The new signs will provide information for trail users to make the proper choice for the direction to be taken, either return to the parking lot or hike further into the Wilderness. 

• Winsor Trail and Skyline to Lake Katherine

• Winsor Trail and Skyline Trail to Penitente Peak 

Six TERMITES volunteers working in two teams completed the sign installation project in one day. Task associated with this project included carrying tools (post hole diggers, rock ram, and shovel), and five new signs to the appropriate trail junction, and carrying two signposts to the Nambe Lake Trail junction, approximately 2.3 miles one-way from the trailhead. At junctions of the Skyline to Lake Katherine and Skyline to Penitente Peak trails the existing deteriorated sign posts were replaced using nearby logs suitable for posts. The round-trip distance from the Ski Basin parking lot to the Skyline to Penitente Peak trail was approximately 10 miles with a gain and loss in elevation of over one thousand feet.

The TERMITES have received numerous compliments on the new permanent signs that were installed at key junctions of the Winsor Trail and side trails.

The Pecos Boundary sign at the wilderness boundary on the Winsor Trail was severely weathered. A used Pecos Boundary sign was located at the Espanola Ranger District office. A member of the TERMITES was able to refurbish the sign making it look almost new. The deteriorated boundary sign was then replaced with the newly refurbished sign.