Clouds Seen from Potrillo Canyon Trail Near White Rock, NM

OK, I grant you that Montana is known as Big Sky Country but New Mexico definitely deserves the title too!   It always amazes me that for all our aridity, the most amazing cloud shows fill our skies.

Exciting New Hobby for Recent LANS Retirees

Did you recently take the Voluntary Separation Package offered by Los Alamos National Security?  Do you now find yourself lying on the couch, bored and lethargic from watching too much TV?  Would you  love to take up a challenging new hobby, one with life-changing potential?  If the answer is yes, then please sign up for tightrope walking lessons now being offered in a canyon near you!

More Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail Oddities

Last Thursday, took a jaunt on Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail, starting from the Los Alamos Airport.

The "diving board with handrails all around" is north of the airport terminal.  There are actually two of them, side by side, with splendid views into Pueblo Canyon.  I've wondered for years about the origins of these "viewing platforms and what they were used for.   

The "storm drain pipe from airport fence into Pueblo Canyon" is actually part of the trail, i.e., you have to step across the very top of it.  There is a wooden fence at this very steep drop off along the trail.   I always admire the steep way down but don't think I'll take it.

The "rusted truck chassis" is simply picturesque.

diving board with handrails all around?

storm drain pipe from airport fence into Pueblo Canyon

rusted truck chassis

Pasque Flowers Along Gonzales Road

Another good year for Pasque flowers along Gonzales Road.  Looking for them is like an Easter egg hunt for adults.  At first you see nada but if you look more closely, you'll see scads!

Pasque flowers along Gonzales Road

Barranca Mesa cliffs from Gonzales Road

A Fine HIke on Cabra Loop Trail

Almost didn't go on this hike today because I thought the trail would be plenty sloppy from yesterday's snowfall.  It was wet and slippery in places so I was glad I changed at the last minute into waterproof shoes.  The snow-covered parts were a delight to walk upon, though.

We were a group of 11 undertaking our annual Pasque flower pilgrimage.  We found some beauties but I wonder how many were still buried under the snow.   Saw some perky Sue and Easter daisies too.

This is from Beanfield Mesa looking west across the canyon where the western section of the Cabra Loop Trail travels.  The mesa top above the cliffs is northeast of Guaje Pines Cemetery.

Go Forth and Multiply, Little Aspens!

For several years now, I've followed a path in the woods south of Camp May Road. Every year, I look forward to small group of young aspens turning golden.  I call them my Pet Aspens.  I was happy to see today that even though they are very near trees singed in the Las Conchas wildfire, most look healthy and are producing scads of catkins.  It really, truly is Spring!

Fully loaded with catkins!

More aspen catkins against blue sky.

Mystery Box Along Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail

This mystery box is on the Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail, near the Los Alamos Airport terminal.  Each time I pass this large, concrete box (it even has a lid), I wonder from whence it came?  And why the pipe opening on one side?

Hope it's not RADIOACTIVE!

Snowy Portion of Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail

I started late on my walk and didn't feel like driving to a trailhead so I decided to walk on the Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail, going east along the airport fence.  It started out promising - Pueblo Canyon below me basked in warmth and sunshine and although the trail had isolated patches of snow, ice and mud, it was mostly dry.  

As I approached the shaded part of the trail above the Zipline Trail and saw all the unmelted snow, I cringed.  I'd optimistically (stupidly) only brought along a ski pole. Mostly it was OK but on one tough section, the snow sloped downward from the shaded hillside, forcing me to the very edge of the trail where mud made the footing slippery.  If I fell, I didn't see a safety net catch me - it looked like I'd slide off the cliff.  I resorted to the "seat of the pants" method to get past the bad part.  The rest of the trail to Pajarito Cliffs Site was wonderful compared to this snowy section.  I'll wait until the all the snow melts before I hike this trail again!

no snow in Pueblo Canyon

lots of snow ahead

 a shovel to flatten out the snow would be handy 

Drove into the Jemez

Hadn't been in the Jemez for a while so I drove up yesterday and walked on the Dome Road starting from NM4 and going to Graduation Flats.  The forest service sign forbidding foot traffic is still posted on the locked gate.

Just after the Bandelier-forest service boundary, I was treated to another sign - that of a tree falling on a person.  Guess that is to warn what will happen to scofflaws like me.  My excuse is that everything in Bandelier is open and the first couple of miles of the Dome Road are in Bandelier.  The scofflaw part was walking a little bit past the Bandelier boundary line to see how Graduation Flats meadow fared during the Las Conchas wildfire.

Saw lots of elk print on the road so they are out and about.  The ice on the road is virtually all gone but there are some muddy spots.

I saw no vehicles on the road except at end when I was back at my car, changing my shoes, and a green forest service pickup pulled up to the locked gate and just sat there.  I felt like walking over and turning myself in but didn't.  Instead, I sat in my car and ate lunch with a pleasant view of Scooter Peak meadow.  The forest service guys eventually left.  I just missed being caught flagrantly trespassing on the closed road!  If I'd still been walking on the road and saw the forest service guys waiting at the locked gate, I'd have run away into the snowy woods!  My "bravery" astounds even me!!

On the drive back home, saw the view below of the San Miguel Mountains, with Boundary Peak and St. Peter's Dome.  You'll have to believe that in real time, the view was magnificent and larger than life.  I parked at the County Line Trail, near where the highway department was replacing guardrail posts, and walked uphill to take the picture.  I'm hoping someone with a digital SLR will go out to capture this view and do it justice before the snow melts.

Since I'd parked there, I took photos of the awful flood damage to the County Line Trail area.  A flood of boulders washed down the hillside after last summer's Las Conchas fire and the subsequent monsoon floods.  Fire and flood greatly compress geological time.

along Dome Road, charcoal stick trees with boulder

I'm in trouble; just past Bandelier boundary line

Graduation Flats meadow with background view of badly burnt area of Rabbit Ridge; the white dumpster bin has small boulders in it

forbidding sign and locked gate with Scooter Peak in background

Scooter Peak meadow

from NM4, view of San Miguel Mountains across badly burnt area of Frijoles Canyon and Sawyer Mesa

flood wrought boulder field at County Line Trail area at Sandoval-Los Alamos county line

Well, here I go breaking my brevity rule for this blog!  I meant to post this in Los Alamos Woods Wanderer but forgot and uploaded the photos to Los Alamos, New Mexico.  Hey, you know what - I absolutely love being verbose!!

Mulling the Caja del Rio Plateau

For hikers reluctant to set forth on a hike without promise of a view at the end, the prize destination for most White Rock area hikes is a view of the Rio Grande flowing through White Rock Canyon.  

At the Potrillo Canyon Trail overlook, where I hiked Monday, when I look straight across White Rock Canyon, first photo below, and see the wide, steep stream bed in the rugged canyon on the other side, I seem to remember long ago taking a pack trail down the side of that canyon.  It was a very rough trail and I don't remember how far we went or the exact path.  The hike was led by Bonnie Griffiths who led a group of us women on many satisfying adventure hikes.  This was pre-GPS units and Bonnie would look at a topo map, pick out an interesting place and go there to enact ground truth.  At one point, we hiked 3 days a week and even allowed an honorary man in our group!  

The Caja del Rio plateau, spawned by long ago volcanos, is a vast and interesting place with tons of trails and dirt roads to explore.   Wouldn't it be neat if someone offered a series of group hikes to explore the Caja?   

Rio Grande from Potrillo Canyon Trail overlook; Water Canyon is right foreground; unnamed draw (Thirty-One Draw?) across river

also from Potrillo Canyon Trail overlook; looking across Rio Grande and White Rock Canyon at Caja del Rio