Middlefork Lake Trail is a well-marked, moderate hike to one of 26 mountain lakes in the Red River, New Mexico area.  Middlefork Lake is at the base of Walters and Wheeler Peak, the highest mountain in New Mexico at 13,161.  Beautiful year around, it is especially fun in the fall with the golden aspens and in the winter on snowshoes.  Along the trail, hikers can see the Big Ditch which was a canal carrying water from the Red River watershed over the mountains to the gold mining in Elizabethtown.  Raspberries are plentiful in the summer. 

Vertical Gain or Loss: 1,200 foot gain

Trail Distance: 2 miles one way

Middlefork is accessible only by hiking or horses.  It is the fed by snowmelt and springs and is the origin of the Red River, the shortest river in New Mexico, and drains 18 miles, into the Rio Grande at the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic Rivers area.