There’s a lot of information available on the web about hiking Tesuque Canyon—but most of it seems to be the upper part of Tesuque. The lower part of the canyon is just as close to Santa Fe and makes for a nice morning walk. The trailhead is a little hard to find, but worth the effort if you’re staying in Santa Fe and want a fairly easy stroll. From the Santa Fe National Forest site, these are the directions to get to the trailhead for Trail 254 Winsor Trail Part 1 Tesuque to Aspen Basin:

Turn off of Bishop’s Lodge Road (County Road 73A) onto County Road 72A, at a sign here that reads Big Tesuque Canyon. Watch for the two small areas on the right identified as trail parking areas. Park here and follow up the road, go across the stream and behind the residences to a dirt road. Turn left on the road, and then follow the trail east as it passes through more private land to the forest boundary which is about a half mile from the parking area.

The sign for Country Road 72a is small—like a neighborhood street sign. It also has a “dead end” sign because the end of the road basically turns into the trail.

I didn’t follow the trail for more than an hour. It may be possible to turn it into a loop, but I didn’t have a map. I believe the USGS Map: McClure Reservoir shows this trail.

	At the beginning of the trail, you’re surrounded by tightly bound juniper fences on either side. Between the fences and the trees, you’re almost in a tunnel. The stream is behind the fences here. It’s a fairly easy walk with sounds and smells of horses and other livestock until you reach the forest.
	Once in the forest, the stream is still fenced off for riparian protection. This fence doesn’t last very long. The trail meanders upwards at a gentle rate and follows the stream. The colors in the fall were very nice indeed, especially along the stream where there were deciduous type trees. The hillside was mostly piñon, ponderosa and various juniper trees, including the one-seed juniper. There were some bluish-hued junipers that I didn’t recognize.
	After about a mile there’s a log down for a stream crossing. At this point, the trail on the other side of the water went in two directions. Going right took me back along the stream—but I don’t know if you would end up back at the starting point. Going left led further up into the mountains.

You can turn this hike into an all-day hike or just a nice morning walk.