A Little Bit of Green

Saw a little bit of green on today's walk on American Spring Road.  True, it's only evergreen but I've enjoyed watching these "baby" ponderosas "grow up" after the 2000 Cerro Grande fire.  Wonder if volunteers planted them here?  They escaped burning up in the 2011 Las Conchas fire. They are a hopeful sign.

American Spring Road is melting out.

"Lost" on Water Canyon Trail 281

Today, we walked up Water Canyon Trail 281 for the first time since the June 2011 Las Conchas wildfire. It looks so different - with less trees to block the view, you can see how rocky the south facing side of the canyon is and the canyon looks so much wider.

The canyon looked so different, in fact, that I thought, in the photo below, that I was approaching the meadow everyone calls Sawmill Meadow, below Red-tailed Hawk Point. Husband parked on a rock while I followed the obvious trail a little further up canyon, marveling at what I thought was a brand new hiking opportunity opened up by the wildfire.

Eventually, I realized I had mistaken the first (south) fork of Water Canyon for the main canyon channel. Truthfully, though, being in the throes of such a delusion is exciting!  I concocted in my mind a brand new landscape, which, when you think about it, is exactly what the wildfire did!

Approaching first (south) fork of Water Canyon 

Rio Grande in Winter from White Rock Rim Trail

On Thursday, I hiked with the Townsite senior center hiking group.  Six of us walked part of the White Rock Rim Trail from Kimberly Lane to Overlook Park.  Very brisk temperatures - our leader didn't even wear a hat but the rest of us sure did!

The walk was a revelation: Since I stopped snowshoeing this winter, I thought all trails would be icy, muddy or both so I mostly confined myself to paved surfaces.  I was so wrong and will rectify the error of my ways and get out more on real trails!  We hiked early enough, starting at 9 am, that the trail surface was either snow-packed, but not icy, or plain, old terra firma (I so love terra firma!)

After the Storm

Our little mountain town spent much of December basking in warm, sunny days.  Made for great hiking but our burnt hills are testament to what happens when we don't get moisture.  On Friday, a nice snowstorm finally brought moisture to our mountain town.

This is today from the Canyon Rim Trail.  Pajarito Mountain is to the right of the tall snag. (Neatly hidden behind the tall snag is an unsightly communications tower!)

Mountain Meadow Dream

Dreamed yesterday that I walked up Valle Canyon and ended up in this little mountain meadow on land owned by the Valles Caldera National Preserve.  It had to be a dream because ever since the United States government in 2000 purchased this land "to provide opportunities for public recreation", among other purposes, there's been no way to hike all the way up Valle Canyon without "trespassing" on this "public" land.

Lummis Canyon from Lower Alamo Trail

Went on a group hike yesterday in Bandelier National Monument on the Lower Alamo Trail (also called the Burro Trail).  This is the view from our lunch spot, looking down into lower Lummis Canyon with the vastness of the Pajarito Plateau on the horizon.

The Pajarito Environmental Education Center, the nature center in Los Alamos, has posted a short survey that seeks input about what stories you envision the nature center should tell about the Pajarito Plateau.

Afternoon Along The Route

Wonderful walk along The Route.  Dillied and dallied picking up sticks and stones, eating my lunch along FR2998, investigating strange construction occurring in woods, collecting pine  cones - Ponderosa and Douglas fir.  All the intense colors of autumn are gone now and the landscape is in its arid winter mode. Yet and still, I'm always struck by the color and texture of the grass in the golden afternoon sunlight - and even by the long shadow of a rock cairn.  How to explain how I felt this afternoon - at peace.

Armstead Spring: Ice Maker

This is looking down into Water Canyon from FR181/American Spring Road, where the road and canyon meet. Armstead Spring issues, day and night, never-ending, out of a rusted iron pipe with its valve box handle permanently open. An ice accumulation is forming from the steady dribble of Armstead Spring.

Cloud Pregnant With Possibilities

Walked up Zero Road East on Pajarito Mountain today. This dark cloud confronted me at the back of the mountain.  Saw a hiker I knew and asked "What's that cloud thinking?" She didn't buy into the possibility that the cloud had anything in mind but I'm positive that cloud was thinking SNOW!!  It was cold enough.  I felt vindicated when on the way back down the mountain, I saw a few snowdrops!  Hey - it's a start!!

Townsight and Lone Spruce lifts finally have their chairs back in place from when the lifts were damaged by the June 2011 Las Conchas wildfire.  Pajarito Mountain Ski Area worked long and hard to make that happen!

Aspens Along the Camp May Road Trail

I check out the fall color every year on these young aspens along the Camp May Road Trail.

First, I took their portraits from the east.

Then, I went to the west to photograph them and along came a jogger so I snapped her photo.