Pajarito Mountain Every Which Way

Oh, I love the onset of Fall's cooler temperatures after summer's heat and before winter's deep freeze.  I love the way the forest floor is dappled with spots of yellow and red.  Gathering boletus and admiring wildflowers is just a fond memory that I hope to repeat next year.

Today I hiked up Pajarito Mountain, going up Zero Road East from the Lodge, over and up Evershine Ridge, connecting back with the Zero Road East, then taking bike trails on the back of the mountain over to the Mother Lift and down Rim Run to the Logging Road back to the Lodge.

The aspens are very slow to change this year.  I see some color on the hillside above Pajarito Canyon, below the Knife-edge, but can't tell if it's really aspens or just shrubs that are turning.  Pajarito Mountain is not showing much color except for isolated patches here and there.  Looking across at Cerro Grande today, the aspen patches were still green.

Some of the small aspens on Pajarito Mountain have brown spots on their leaves.  A woman who works at the library told me that maybe the aspen colors will fizzle this year due to all the rain we got this summer.  I admired a patch of thimbleberry that's turned yellow.  I'll take what I can get even if it's only a patch of autumn colors here and there.

I saw a WI hiker on top, eating his lunch in the shelter of the Mother Lift.  His wife had gone to the top of the Lone Spruce lift but then went back down to gather some wood.  She seems to be the wood handler of the family, having badly injured her finger while splitting wood last winter.  The couple won't be going to Los Griegos tomorrow with the WI group.  Neither will I - the LL group switched hikes because of the predicted heavy rains and will hike locally tomorrow to get done before the rains come.  Anyway, I wouldn't be able to keep up with the awesome Amazon who will lead the group up Los Griegos tomorrow!

The weather was cooler today and even some rain.  I need to bring a windbreaker next time.  There are still many ways left to tackle Pajarito Mountain.  La Niña this winter may give me lots of opportunities to do so.  The weather forecasters say that this winter's La Niña has established itself with stunning rapidity.  If I understand correctly, we're supposed to have warmer and drier conditions this winter because of La Niña.  I know that last winter was an El Niño event and, boy, did we get snow - lots of it!

I had this thought:  If I had to troll the woods everyday to gather and hunt my food and shelter, would I love being outdoors as much or would I curse the hard work and harsh lifestyle?  I thought this after reading about the hunter-gatherer lifestyle in The Peopling of Bandelier.  It's one thing to go out and blithely admire and appreciate Nature, garnering mental sustenance from the land, knowing that the creature comforts of home await, but entirely different to derive all physical sustenance from the land.

Cañada Bonita with Husband Yesterday

Husband made it to meadow - I continued on to my official 4 mile RT turnaround point. 

On the hike, I asked husband about CNBC Obama-thon and he enjoyed telling me about the questions directed at Obama.  He said that Obama has to be careful of what he says so as not to scare the stock market, that den of thieves! 

Husband seems happy with his half-time schedule.  He had to ice his ankle in the evening.  I'm trying to convince him to use two hiking sticks, old ski poles, to help his balance but he's not interested.  Probably if the physical therapist recommended using two hiking sticks, he'd believe it but he won't believe me.  I hope he remembers to ask the physical therapist about it next week.