My in-laws refer to this as “the water tower trail.” They’re not wrong; the trailhead is up a hill and behind a giant water tower from the parking area.

• Length: 4.1 miles
• Time: 1 hour and 27 minutes
• Elevation gain: 354 feet

This Thanksgiving was our first trip back to Ruidoso since the fires, and after this hike along Lincoln National Forest’s Spaghetti Bowl Trail, all I have to say is: damn.

It was a good, easy hike. Just enough to work up a sweat while taking in the views of an eerily beautiful dead landscape.

The Spaghetti Bowl Trail is numbered T120, but it has five offshoots and/or options A–E that complete the “spaghetti.” They’re confusing even with good signage; now that the signs are gone, they’re impenetrable (but you can’t get permanently lost; keep going downhill and you’ll hit one of two campgrounds with parking lots: Sam Tobias Memorial Campground and Cedar Creek Campground).

It’s a little deceptive, if you walk counterclockwise along T120E like we did: coming around a switchback around mile three, your starting point comes back into view, and it feels like you’re basically done. But you’ve got at least a mile of walking left.

We started the hike highly layered up, because November, but the lack of any kind of cover due to the fires meant that all four miles were extremely sunny, and we mostly ended up in t-shirts.

We did this hike, or a similar one, a few Novembers ago when it was lush and green. I would have recommended it then, and I recommend it now. It’s just more yellow than green, and more sad than meditative.

Bring a hat, my friends.