This walk starts in Ready Pay Gulch and follows the most northerly of the major washes on the south side of NM-152 (“Pink Canyon”) to the Percha Box and then downstream to the Wicks Canyon confluence. On the map below, the walk starts at Wicks Canyon and follows the walk backward to that described above, thus the elevation profile should be read from right to left if starting at the black dot.
This walk is 3.6 miles each way. On the day that this route was mapped we started at the black dot, walked down county road B023, walked downslope to the Percha, and then walked downstream to Wicks. Our route back is as indicated above, making for a total round trip of 7.5 - 8 miles.
The view up Wicks from Percha Creek. March 30, 2018
On March 30, 2018 we found the water level in the Percha to be quite low, completely dry for substantial stretches. At the confluence of Wicks and the Percha we found that the pool of water still existed in the Wicks Slot. We first reported this development on January 12, 2018 in our update to the South Wicks Canyon walk.
The lower section of the Wicks Slot on March 30, 2018.
Butterflies were beginning to make their appearance on March 30. No snakes were observed, but several lizards were out and about. In the Percha near Wicks there were numerous Black Phoebes and Lincoln Sparrows. Killdeer were present and acting as if they were nesting. Several species of flora were beginning to flower, including two species of Mimulus.