Pajarito Mountain Monday Musings

Where did I go today? Zero Road East up Pajarito Mountain, where else!! Don't know what it is about that road and that mountain which makes me start thinking philosophically but I started thinking about how just a week ago, I was moaning about the high heat - 90 degrees inside the house! The only relief was to  spray myself with water, again and again. Then, lately the monsoon graced us with an appearance. Dark clouds formed, rain fell, thunder rumbled. The spring flowers are long gone and summer flowers are senescing. I now believe that summer will NOT last forever and cooler temperatures WILL come. But, and here's where the philopsophizing begins: I don't appreciate summer, or anything, enough while it's here and the cause is cosmic. Each minute is 60 seconds. Each hour is 3,600 seconds, etc., etc. Think how fast a second is. It feels as though my life has flown by and I was largely "sleeping" during most of it.

OK, now for reality: I picked up a 8" diameter ball of discarded, plastic caution tape and carried it down the mountain, depositing it in the wastebasket in the ski hill office. I think it had been left there by recent construction activity on the skinny tower with the more than 20 guy wires. The tape closed off the ski hill jeep road just uphill from the tower. When the tape wasn't needed anymore, someone broke it off the road but left it wrapped around shrubs and trees at the side of the road to lay there for eternity so I hauled it away.


Further reality: At the back of the mountain, just before the snow-making pond, I looked to the southeast and could see smoke from a small fire in the distance. It could have been on Bandelier National Monument land. We had a lot of rain, thunder and lightning last night so it was probably a lightning caused fire. I called the Los Alamos Police Department non-emergency number just to make sure it had been reported and it had been.

Looking toward Pipeline Road - so green!

Tschicoma Mountain and Caballo Peak on the way up Zero Road East. Note blue skies and no storm clouds.

Little cloud dots (low down between the big clouds) flying overhead.

Tschicoma Mountain and Caballo Peak on the way down. Cloud cover has increased but no rain fell on my watch on the mountain.

My Lunch Spot Today!

Redondo from Coyote Call Trail, Valles Caldera National Preserve.

Valle Grande from Coyote Call Trail, Valles Caldera National Preserve.

Pajarito Mountain - Storm Coming

Walked up Zero Road East today. Coming down, storm clouds were gathering to north but only produced a little thunder and a little rain. (Last Friday, walking on Camp May Road Trail, lots more rain, even hail.)

On the way down, spied a bull elk above me on a ski run. Too far away to take picture with my tiny point and shoot. He seemed to be cautiously enjoying the mountain but very aware of me because he took cover in the woods when I stopped to watch him. At first I thought he was a rock or bear or stump, until he moved!

At the back of the mountain, found a long stick - wood was fresh and bark all peeled off - nice enough to haul downhill. At home, sawed it in two. I now have a stout "bear stick" to whack any bear that ventures too near. Course, my golf umbrella also serves that purpose, plus I can open and close it, while holding it high overhead. Hopefully, I will look like a frightful, gigantic insect flexing my black carapace - up and down, up and down! Surely I will scare any bear away (and many a fellow hiker as well!)

Wall of Green - FR181

Incredibly green scene, from FR181/American Spring Road. This belies how dry it is. Wind stirred up dust devils as I walked. The breezes cooled me but net effect is they further dry out everything. Monsoon is shorting us and all we're getting is hot, hot, hot.

Pajarito Mountain ridgeline, background.

Remnant grove that did not burn in either Cerro Grande or Las Conchas wildfires. Always seems to invite me in.

Cliffs above Upper Water Canyon, looking eastward.

Another forest spared by both Cerro Grande and Las Conchas wildfires.

Townsite from Townsight

Back on The Mountain today! Pajarito Mountain, that is!! As I parked, three modulars (probably from Granite Mountain filming) were being hauled down Camp May Road. Yay, they're gone!! Now I can roam the mountain again in peace.

It's quintessential summer up there now - butterflies and flowers everywhere. Wonder if bears eat red elderberries? There are a lot that will ripen soon. Didn't see any roaming bruins but spent some time throwing sticks and stones off the road (so I wouldn't trip on them) and hoped the noise scared them away.

Had a thought today about why I like to be outdoors hiking: When I'm hiking, I feel "timeless". That is, I have no age, I'm just traveling through the scenery, putting off all cares and worries for the meantime.

Los Alamos Townsite from near Pajarito Mountain Ski Area Townsight Lift

Quick Shot from Satch Cowan Trail

Despite snowing and raining all day yesterday, May 1, the weather didn't win! The Monday group was able to do its scheduled hike this morning - up the Satch Cowan Trail and then up the Quemazon Trail to Pipeline Road. Trails were in good condition. We even enjoyed "visiting" winter as there was light snow alongside the trail the closer we got to Pipeline Road. The Wooten's Senecio (hopefully the right name) grows quite happily in the snow. Beautiful views of a still amazingly snowy Pajarito Mountain. Some aspens have already leafed out in that innocent-springtime-green while others are just in bud.  We saw a Steller's Jay, a big red-tailed hawk perched on a tall snag, and heard the fleeting, Tinker Bell sound of passing hummers.

Dome Road Winter Redux

I took these last week after Monday's big snow dump in the Jemez. A few cow elk were roaming the woods but not much else except for me.

Alamo Boundary Trailhead along Dome Road/Forest Road 289. Rabbit Ridge in background. Can't wait to hike this again. It's always so pretty in the spring with the wild irises blooming.

Dome Road swirls on past Graduation Flats (left) and Sawyer Mesa Road/Forest Road 287 (right).

Graduation Flats meadow.

American Springs Trailhead Map Display

To my wonder and amazement, last week I "accidentally" noticed this informative map displayed at the parking area for Forest Road 181, aka American Spring Road. Over the years, I have not seen much of interest posted here by the forest service so I basically ignored the brown, roofed structure. It looked decrepit. The week before, though, I saw a forest service employee  busily sprucing it up. It looked like he was applying stain. Maybe that's when the map was posted.

The map shows the trails for the "American Springs Recreation Area" and where dispersed camping is allowed and which roads vehicles can drive on per Santa Fe National Forest's Travel Management Plan.  Kind of neat to see such helpful signage!

First Time This Year on American Spring Road

I was going to title this "The Good, the Bad and the Utterly Ridiculous"...

This small, fallen ponderosa is last in line downhill from a row of ponderosas (and even a fir!) that sprouted along the road after the 2000 Cerro Grande fire.  It appears the shallow-rooted tree was undermined by the drainage ditch the forest service dug several years ago. This was to stem erosion caused by flooding after the 2011 Las Conchas wildfire. (BTW, officially, American Spring Road is Forest Road 181.)

The above-mentioned row of post-Cerro Grande conifers. I always look forward to seeing their progress toward becoming tall ponderosas like those in the background which didn't burn!

The first 2 miles (as far as I walked) of American Spring Road are dried out. This remnant snowfield is at the side of the road going into Water Canyon. Only a taste of winter remains. In the newly melted out meadows that I saw, the grass is still matted down from winter's heavy snow pack. About a month ago, I pulled into the forest road's unplowed parking area, just off NM4, and saw the road was still in deep snow cover, marred by tire track ruts. I didn't attempt to walk the road then. A lot of melting has occurred since - maybe too much, too fast.

Quick - someone call a plumber!! Looks like Armstead Spring has sprung a leak!! Pour, Armstead, down Water Canyon!! All the moisture we received this winter is the "Good" in my discarded title (see top of post)! No wildflowers yet but seeing the wild rose's red canes makes me long for the blooms of springtime. I'll even be happy this year to see the pink flowers of that thorny hikers's nemesis, New Mexico locust!

This would qualify as the "Ugly". This peaceful and pretty meadow, about 2 miles in from NM4, is used often as a mud proving grounds. Poor neglected, disrespected meadow!

Yes, always bring your "Lovey" with you when you shoot in the forest! This would qualify as the "Utterly Ridiculous"! This is the same meadow above and when it's not a mud proving grounds, it doubles as a shooting gallery!

White Rock Canyon from Blue Dot Trail

Yesterday, the Monday group, five of us, went down the Red Dot, then along the River Trail and up the Blue Dot. I go down the Red Dot Trail in slow motion. I feel like I'm descending a steep, dry waterfall. In some places, I use the "seat of the pants" method to negotiate the boulders.

I was surprised there aren't more wildflowers blooming yet. Only saw a few verbena and some spindly golden smoke. Maybe that was because my attention was on surviving the "trip" down the rocky trail! Once in White Rock Canyon, I absolutely love the River Trail. It's a whole different world down there with all the beautiful basalt boulders, the petroglyphs, the Rio Grande flowing and the splendid Pajarito Springs forever tumbling into its pool.

Going up the Blue Dot Trail, not too bad. Lots of switchbacks wind up the side of White Rock Canyon and before you know it, you're crawling out at the Blue Dot trailhead and are much pleased with yourself!

On the way up the Blue Dot Trail, I took lots of "enjoy the scenery" breaks. Rio Grande in midground, Buckman Mesa/Otowi Peak on left, Caja del Rio plateau on right and Sangre de Cristos in far background.