On yesterday's WI hike up the Aspen Vista Ridge Trail, I fell in beside the marvelously fit 84 year old hiker. She's the one who told me I wasn't at the top of Tesuque Peak.
On our steep slog up Tesuque Peak, she mentioned that she no longer drives due to macular degeneration. She was driven to the trailhead in her car by another hiker.
I told her about my 3 Santa Fe area winter hikes that I'd like to complete one day. They are winter hikes because they are mostly flat and shadeless - the Spur Trail from Santa Fe Community College to the Rail Trail, Arroyo de los Chamisos Trail from Yucca Street to the Rail Trail and the rest of the Rail Trail from El Dorado to Lamy. I asked if she wanted to do any of those hikes one day and then I could take her to Vitamin Cottage afterward to shop. She has her own philosophy of hiking, though, and kindly suggested that I find someone else for those flat hikes. She doesn't hike everyday but swims also. When she does hike, she wants it to count. I have my peculiarity of insisting on 4 miles a day. Hers is to do at least 1,200' elevation gain.
Eventually, I wanted to go up faster to get to the top and then back down to my waiting husband so I said goodbye and asked her in parting to let me know this winter when she again does the hike to the Rio Grande down the Falls Trail in Bandelier. This is the one where she saw the Rio Grande magically transformed by rafts of snow.
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