Great hike and a beautiful day. 12 of us braved going down the Red Dot Trail to Pajarito Springs and then along the River Trail and up the Blue Dot Trail. The rest of the group did a relatively flat hike along the White Rock Rim Trail. Male hiking leader kindly showed us petroglyphs including the Spanish Lady one but "she" looks more like a "she-man" because of obvious graphic details. Some speculated that the "appendage" may have been added later. I made careful notes on how to find the Spanish Lady so next year when the Monday women's hiking group does this hike, I can show them this petroglyph.
Only disappointing thing is that groups go into White Rock canyon but never go down the the edge of the river, at least along this trail. When groups hike the Falls Trail or Ancho Rapids, they do have lunch at the Rio Grande. Along the way today, I saw a wonderful beach where we could have dined riverside but since it was in the sun, no one showed any interest. Instead, for lunch we holed up in the shade of some junipers - kind of a blah lunch spot IMHO.
I saw scarlet mallow and I think chocolate flower but wildflowers are sparse even in warm White Rock canyon.
On the way down the Red Dot, I was pathetically slow. Once when the group all stopped to strip outerwear off, I caught up with them. They were talking about a hiker who barely lived through this hike. They were perhaps inspired to bring this up by watching my slow, cautious descent into the canyon which most likely made them sure that I was losing it physically. But, on the way up, I smoked them! Only one hiker was ahead of me. I decided that I would go for elevated heart rate and walk up the Blue Dot in one continuous flow. I like uphill much better than downhill because I feel more stable. Although, on the way up, when my foot got caught on a rock, I nearly "bought the ranch"!
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