Actually, it died earlier this month and we replaced it soon thereafter so that's not why I haven't blogged but it's a good enough excuse.
Last week, I went part way up Pajarito Mountain's Zero Road East. I usually go to the Logging Road on the south side of the mountain and turn around but that day I turned around at the 4 way intersection near the tall, skinny antennas because dark thunderclouds were overhead with more to the north. When the thunder sounded once too often, I turned tail.
Determined to get my 4 miles, I drove lower down Camp May Road and - horrors - walked on FR2998 which is still closed due to the damnable Las Conchas fire. I only went as far as the intersection with the Nail Trail. There were still dark clouds to the west but I decided that even if there was a cloudburst, I wouldn't drown but would only be inconvenienced. It's obvious, though, that a lot of rain has washed across and down this forest road. FR2998 was never in wonderful condition even before the Las Conchas fire but now there is a rocky, washed out section that will be an invitation for vehicles to find a way around it and make their own road. In the surrounding land, what didn't burn in Cerro Grande was toasted by Las Conchas, perhaps in a back burn to keep the fire out of Los Alamos Canyon. Some of the young aspens along the FR2998 may yet live but the forest along the Nail Trail, which was mostly spared by the Cerro Grande fire, now is fringed by tall ponderosas so badly burnt that they won't recover. That section scared me more than walking on the washed out forest road. Without a companion, I really didn't want to go further. The burnt forest has a scary loneliness to it.
Today, I went up and down the new Zipline Trail. It's my 2nd trip down and 3rd trip up. I hope that next summer the trail builders can make some of the upper section less steep. There are 19 switchbacks total on the almost 1/2 mile Zipline Trail that runs as a connector between the Tent Rocks Trail and the Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail. One section is so steep that I resorted to the seat-of-the-pants maneuver. There is trash on the hillside that the trail traverses - a rusted out truck body, rusted drum barrels, a rusted garbage can. Maybe there was yet another dump, perhaps a more informal one, below the Los Alamos Airport's north boundary
The monsoon fizzled yet again today so it was hot. On the way down the Zipline I amused myself with with this thought: When I die and go to Hell, at least I'll be acclimated to the heat!
When I reached eastern end of the Tent Rocks Trail, I followed the Pueblo Canyon arroyo upstream and turned right into an interesting side arroyo that runs between Kwage Mesa and the southeastern-most residential neighborhoods on North Mesa. It's full of tent rocks and deep enough that although you can see the towering cliffs of North and Kwage mesas, the arroyo's actual walls rose above me on either side. I went as far as a dry waterfall which would have taken some effort to climb to explore further so I saved that for another day.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Zipline Trail
The Zipline Trail is a connector trail between the Tent Rocks Trail in Pueblo Canyon and the Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail. The YMCA Youth Conservation Corps started it last summer and completed it this week. I think the recent LA Monitor article that heralded its completion said it's 2,500' long and has 450' elevation gain. It's a very nice trail but not one for the old and infirm which in today's heat, I almost qualified as! It has many vertigo-inducing changes of direction and even a VW sized boulder that hangs too far over the trail. I clung to the boulder to get around it but someone less chicken would have no problem.
To access Pueblo Canyon, I started down the Ranch School Trail in Acid Canyon from the Walkup Center. I enjoyed seeing all the greenery in Acid Canyon.
I didn't check my GPS to see how far down Pueblo Canyon I went to intersect the western end of the Tent Rocks Trail but there is a 3' tall brown plastic trail marker that says "Tent Rocks Trail". There are really no tent rocks right at the intersection although there are lots of them at a false trail intersection that I encountered about 10 minutes before. At the true Tent Rocks Trail intersection, you cross Pueblo Canyon's dry wash and start uphill right at a 3' tall rock cairn.
The Tent Rocks Trail has two large, fallen trees that you have to go around. The trail goes in and out of dry drainages and has 3 small, wooden bridges. The third bridge has two of its slats laying on the ground. Once again, I don't know how far I went on it before I intersected the Zipline Trail but it seemed that it was very close to the eastern terminus of the Tent Rocks Trail. (The Tent Rocks Trail gives hikers an option to get off the sewer access road in Pueblo Canyon but the trail only goes a mile or two of the long traverse down Pueblo Canyon to the state highway transportation yard.)
At the top of the Zipline Trail, I followed the Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail along the north side of the airport to the Mesa Trail, down into Graduation Canyon and back to the Walkup Center. All the time I walked, thunderheads were steadily building both east and west over the Sangres and the Jemez mountains. I would have liked a lunch break but instead kept moving. I didn't eat lunch until I got to my car at 2 pm and then headed to the library to look at the county fair exhibits. It was raining when I left the library around 3 pm. My GPS said I did 6 miles. I'm glad I beat the storm but I felt tired enough from the heat that my body thought it was a longer hike even though my mind knew it was only 6 miles! Next challenge is to one day start from my house and go down and up the Zipline! I much prefer going up a steep hill than down!
To access Pueblo Canyon, I started down the Ranch School Trail in Acid Canyon from the Walkup Center. I enjoyed seeing all the greenery in Acid Canyon.
I didn't check my GPS to see how far down Pueblo Canyon I went to intersect the western end of the Tent Rocks Trail but there is a 3' tall brown plastic trail marker that says "Tent Rocks Trail". There are really no tent rocks right at the intersection although there are lots of them at a false trail intersection that I encountered about 10 minutes before. At the true Tent Rocks Trail intersection, you cross Pueblo Canyon's dry wash and start uphill right at a 3' tall rock cairn.
The Tent Rocks Trail has two large, fallen trees that you have to go around. The trail goes in and out of dry drainages and has 3 small, wooden bridges. The third bridge has two of its slats laying on the ground. Once again, I don't know how far I went on it before I intersected the Zipline Trail but it seemed that it was very close to the eastern terminus of the Tent Rocks Trail. (The Tent Rocks Trail gives hikers an option to get off the sewer access road in Pueblo Canyon but the trail only goes a mile or two of the long traverse down Pueblo Canyon to the state highway transportation yard.)
At the top of the Zipline Trail, I followed the Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail along the north side of the airport to the Mesa Trail, down into Graduation Canyon and back to the Walkup Center. All the time I walked, thunderheads were steadily building both east and west over the Sangres and the Jemez mountains. I would have liked a lunch break but instead kept moving. I didn't eat lunch until I got to my car at 2 pm and then headed to the library to look at the county fair exhibits. It was raining when I left the library around 3 pm. My GPS said I did 6 miles. I'm glad I beat the storm but I felt tired enough from the heat that my body thought it was a longer hike even though my mind knew it was only 6 miles! Next challenge is to one day start from my house and go down and up the Zipline! I much prefer going up a steep hill than down!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Solace
WI group walked up Pajarito Mountain today. In their inimitable fashion, we started out as a larger group but dispersed into smaller groups. One woman who recently hurt her ribs walked up Zero Road East from the ski area lodge and then went down the Logging Road on the badly burned west side of the ski hill, two others wanted to stick more to the bike trails, several didn't go very far: one had vertigo, another had a torn meniscus, several simply didn't want a long hike.
Only 7 of us and a dog made it to the top of the mountain. We walked to just short of I Don't Care ski run when the group decided to have lunch at the top of an unburnt ski run. I walked further to take a photo of the Las Conchas fire damage in the Valles Caldera National Preserve from the top of I Don't Care. The forest on either side of the ski run is charcoalized. With the trees burnt, it's poignantly evident how close the grasslands of the caldera are to the ski area. The grass in the caldera has already greened up from the monsoon. Some of the volcanic domes in the eastern caldera have burn damage. The Jemez Mountain Trail Runs Facebook page has scads of photos of the Las Conchas fire damage because it severely affected their 50 mile route. They'll have to re-route that run next year.
From I Don't Care, I looked with binoculars at the road from Camp May up Cerra Bonita, the mountain just north of Pajarito Mountain Ski Area. I'd like to walk that road because although the conifers are toasted orange, there doesn't appear to be a lot of charcoalized trees waiting to fall right down onto the road. Beyond Cerra Bonita, to the north, I was surprised to see a lovely green meadow with a road running through it - maybe Pipeline Road. Caballo's meadow looks almost a neon green in contrast to its charcoalized forests.
Since I knew from past experience that after lunch, the group planned to barrel straight down a precipitous ski run to the cars, I walked back to the south side of Pajarito where I found a grassy area on the Valles Caldera side of the fence and enjoyed lunch of a protein bar and wasabi edamame. Screw the Preserve and their damnable fences that keep people out!
After a peaceful lunch, I walked cross country to Zero Road East, past the snow-making pond which is an impediment to cross country travel. Earlier, we could see that even with all our rains, the pond doesn't look any more filled up than before the monsoon. The walking was easier because some tussock grass clumps burned. I saw a downed spruce, still green at the top, but toppled because it's root had burned, neatly snapping the tree off. I saw a charcoal skeleton of a huge, old spruce and I felt sorry for it.
People say that years ago, and there are photos to prove it, the south back side of Pajarito Mountain was more completely a meadow. Over time, the meadow became invaded by conifers. We're gradually losing our montane meadows in the Jemez Mountains. If Las Conchas helps to bring back the meadow, that's a good result but it wasn't worth it to destroy so much land and people's homes on Cochiti Mesa just to bring back the meadow. I wish that small fires would occur more often as they have beneficial effects whereas catastrophic fires like Las Conchas do little good.
I could see either smokers or dust columns in the Dome Wilderness area. It's hard to see what damage there is in Pajarito Canyon but the west side of the canyon wall looks burnt here and there. I couldn't tell if there is any damage in Water Canyon. It looked no worse than from the Cerro Grande fire damage it sustained in 2000 but it was hard to tell for sure.
I've walked up Pajarito Mountain the past 3 days. The ski hill workers are repairing the Lone Spruce ski lift which was damaged by the fire. On Monday, I saw a bulldozer smoothing down the very bottom of the fire break that was made from the top to the bottom. Today a hiker pointed out that the fire break has been reseeded - recovery begins. It will be a race for the ski area to open this season, assuming we get any snow!
The morning started out overcast and cooler and some thunderclouds had formed by the time I got back to my car at 1:54 pm. My GPS said 5.97 miles. I saw purple harebell, yellow cinquefoil and a scarlet bugler penstemon and very oddly, a ponderosa on the back side of Pajarito Mountain. Seems too high for a ponderosa to be growing but I saw it with my own eyes. I was surprised to see elk hoof prints on Zero Road East.
Even though the landscape around and on Pajarito Mountain has been radically changed by the Las Conchas fire, I'm finding solace in walking up the mountain. Although much has been damaged by the fire, I'm grateful that I can still walk up Pajarito and see that much beauty still remains.
Only 7 of us and a dog made it to the top of the mountain. We walked to just short of I Don't Care ski run when the group decided to have lunch at the top of an unburnt ski run. I walked further to take a photo of the Las Conchas fire damage in the Valles Caldera National Preserve from the top of I Don't Care. The forest on either side of the ski run is charcoalized. With the trees burnt, it's poignantly evident how close the grasslands of the caldera are to the ski area. The grass in the caldera has already greened up from the monsoon. Some of the volcanic domes in the eastern caldera have burn damage. The Jemez Mountain Trail Runs Facebook page has scads of photos of the Las Conchas fire damage because it severely affected their 50 mile route. They'll have to re-route that run next year.
From I Don't Care, I looked with binoculars at the road from Camp May up Cerra Bonita, the mountain just north of Pajarito Mountain Ski Area. I'd like to walk that road because although the conifers are toasted orange, there doesn't appear to be a lot of charcoalized trees waiting to fall right down onto the road. Beyond Cerra Bonita, to the north, I was surprised to see a lovely green meadow with a road running through it - maybe Pipeline Road. Caballo's meadow looks almost a neon green in contrast to its charcoalized forests.
Since I knew from past experience that after lunch, the group planned to barrel straight down a precipitous ski run to the cars, I walked back to the south side of Pajarito where I found a grassy area on the Valles Caldera side of the fence and enjoyed lunch of a protein bar and wasabi edamame. Screw the Preserve and their damnable fences that keep people out!
After a peaceful lunch, I walked cross country to Zero Road East, past the snow-making pond which is an impediment to cross country travel. Earlier, we could see that even with all our rains, the pond doesn't look any more filled up than before the monsoon. The walking was easier because some tussock grass clumps burned. I saw a downed spruce, still green at the top, but toppled because it's root had burned, neatly snapping the tree off. I saw a charcoal skeleton of a huge, old spruce and I felt sorry for it.
People say that years ago, and there are photos to prove it, the south back side of Pajarito Mountain was more completely a meadow. Over time, the meadow became invaded by conifers. We're gradually losing our montane meadows in the Jemez Mountains. If Las Conchas helps to bring back the meadow, that's a good result but it wasn't worth it to destroy so much land and people's homes on Cochiti Mesa just to bring back the meadow. I wish that small fires would occur more often as they have beneficial effects whereas catastrophic fires like Las Conchas do little good.
I could see either smokers or dust columns in the Dome Wilderness area. It's hard to see what damage there is in Pajarito Canyon but the west side of the canyon wall looks burnt here and there. I couldn't tell if there is any damage in Water Canyon. It looked no worse than from the Cerro Grande fire damage it sustained in 2000 but it was hard to tell for sure.
I've walked up Pajarito Mountain the past 3 days. The ski hill workers are repairing the Lone Spruce ski lift which was damaged by the fire. On Monday, I saw a bulldozer smoothing down the very bottom of the fire break that was made from the top to the bottom. Today a hiker pointed out that the fire break has been reseeded - recovery begins. It will be a race for the ski area to open this season, assuming we get any snow!
The morning started out overcast and cooler and some thunderclouds had formed by the time I got back to my car at 1:54 pm. My GPS said 5.97 miles. I saw purple harebell, yellow cinquefoil and a scarlet bugler penstemon and very oddly, a ponderosa on the back side of Pajarito Mountain. Seems too high for a ponderosa to be growing but I saw it with my own eyes. I was surprised to see elk hoof prints on Zero Road East.
Even though the landscape around and on Pajarito Mountain has been radically changed by the Las Conchas fire, I'm finding solace in walking up the mountain. Although much has been damaged by the fire, I'm grateful that I can still walk up Pajarito and see that much beauty still remains.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Saw Flowers on Ski Hill
Forgot to mention: Death camas is blooming all over the ski runs. All it took was some moisture. Also saw the light lavender wild geranium, erigeron which must be getting on in age as it's losing its color and tending toward whiteness, maybe whitlow grass, Indian paintbrush, yarrow, lots of fireweed.
The moisture made the distance viewing misty so I couldn't see the Water Canyon area to assess the Las Conchas fire damage. I could see the first part of the Cañada Bonita/Nordic/Snowshoe trails well enough to see they are quite burnt. Cerra Bonita, the mountain directly north of Pajarito, has some burn damage - more toasted than charcoalized, if I'm remembering correctly. Need to go up on a clear day with a pair of binoculars.
The moisture made the distance viewing misty so I couldn't see the Water Canyon area to assess the Las Conchas fire damage. I could see the first part of the Cañada Bonita/Nordic/Snowshoe trails well enough to see they are quite burnt. Cerra Bonita, the mountain directly north of Pajarito, has some burn damage - more toasted than charcoalized, if I'm remembering correctly. Need to go up on a clear day with a pair of binoculars.
Pajarito Mountain - Finally
Finally had time to drive to the Pajarito Mountain Ski Area and walk up Pajarito Mountain. It was cloudy and thunder sounded a warning now and then but I made it to the back of the mountain. I walked up the Zero Road East jeep road to the logging road on the south side of Pajarito Mountain, below the lone antenna perched on the easternmost of Pajarito's double peaks.
After enduring the Las Conchas fire, the ski hill looks surprisingly normal from the area of the ski lodge - still pretty in green and moist from the generous rains we've gotten this week! On the jeep road, I walked past numerous patchy burns.
From the south back-side of Pajarito I could see a portion of the northern ridge of Cerro Grande has been severely blackened. It looks like the part of Cerro Grande owned by Valles Caldera National Preserve. I couldn't see into Valle Canyon but could clearly see that the fire had danced across Valle Canyon because the Knife-edge ridge between Valle and Pajarito canyons has definite blackening.
How many more times can firefighters save the the ski hill, the lab and the town before forest managers take serious steps to thin the forests and to step up their prescribed burns? Our forests are beautiful but they are too thick with trees. Drought makes them prone to insect infestation and wildfire. The forests of the Jemez Mountains will continue to be victims of global climate change and severe drought conditions like that which existed when the Las Conchas wildfire started the end of June. It's very good that the ski hill, lab and town were saved but what can be done to protect our forests from stand-destroying wildfires and make them more resilient to the vagaries of climate change and wildfires?
After enduring the Las Conchas fire, the ski hill looks surprisingly normal from the area of the ski lodge - still pretty in green and moist from the generous rains we've gotten this week! On the jeep road, I walked past numerous patchy burns.
From the south back-side of Pajarito I could see a portion of the northern ridge of Cerro Grande has been severely blackened. It looks like the part of Cerro Grande owned by Valles Caldera National Preserve. I couldn't see into Valle Canyon but could clearly see that the fire had danced across Valle Canyon because the Knife-edge ridge between Valle and Pajarito canyons has definite blackening.
How many more times can firefighters save the the ski hill, the lab and the town before forest managers take serious steps to thin the forests and to step up their prescribed burns? Our forests are beautiful but they are too thick with trees. Drought makes them prone to insect infestation and wildfire. The forests of the Jemez Mountains will continue to be victims of global climate change and severe drought conditions like that which existed when the Las Conchas wildfire started the end of June. It's very good that the ski hill, lab and town were saved but what can be done to protect our forests from stand-destroying wildfires and make them more resilient to the vagaries of climate change and wildfires?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)