On Monday, September 19, I walked up to the backside of Pajarito Mountain on the Zero Road East from the Pajarito Mountain Ski Lodge. It was one of those heartbreakingly beautiful fall days.
Ski area was working to get Lone Spruce chair lift cables up and put lift in working order. The cables fell to the ground during this summer's Las Conchas fire. After our very long monsoon, with regular afternoon and/or evening rains, it was wonderfully relaxing to enjoy a sunny day with turquoise blue skies. There were some layered clouds and even though the clouds had dark bottoms, there was no vertical growth.
Saw pancake mushrooms 8" in diameter, couple of puffballs, golden eye, a few harebells, couple of lonely wallflowers along road bank, mullein stalks on ski slopes, pale pink wild germanium, Indian paintbrush, stubby remains of fireweed, thistles gone to seed, camas gone to seed with purplish stems, red clover, yarrow, dandelions, erigeron, asters, both yellow and purple. The sunny brilliance of the colors was amazing! The evergreens at the back of the mountain were a darker green color than I had ever seen them. I looked hard at the meadow of grass and evergreens, trying to conjure up a bear. Although the aspen leaves had not yet begun to change colors, a few had yellowed and fell and looked so pretty. I don't know why but it's a blessing to look upon a golden aspen leaf!
All my thought were not sweetness and light: Not too long ago, the death camas were blooming strongly on the mountain (the fireweed too) but now, they are all closing down, getting ready for winter.
I need to carry my windbreaker next time. At the top, to warm up and dry my sweaty shirt, I tucked my pant legs into my socks, put a red handkerchief around my neck and buttoned up my outer shirt.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
School Canyon Trail - Never Knew!
Today I met a friend at the Pueblo Complex parking lot for an explore of the School Canyon Trail. From the south end of the parking lot, in front of the Los Alamos Schools Credit Union, we crossed the broken down fence and carefully went down a rocky section to a trail that runs along the north bench of Pueblo Canyon from where Diamond Drive crosses Pueblo Canyon on a highway embankment fill called the Pueblo Canyon fill.
The trail follows a bench around School Canyon, a north-south tributary of Pueblo Canyon. All the canyons are looking especially lush and green after our very productive monsoon season. The trail travels below the Pueblo Complex, the lower and upper ball fields, the new Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church and the First Baptist Church of Los Alamos. School Canyon continues north, crossing under Diamond Drive, to its origination point near Burnt or LA Mountain, but the trail crosses from the west side of the canyon over to its east side, below the Baptist church, on a narrow, dirt trail along the base of the Conoco Hill fill on Diamond (with the loss of the Conoco station, maybe we should call it Shell Hill?) and then continues around to the east beneath the Sleepy Hollow neighborhood, the St. Dimitri of Rostov Orthodox Church and the Little Forest Play School.
There are plenty of neighborhood access points both formal and informal but the official School Canyon trailhead is located at the 37th Street playlot, off Villa Street. From the playlot, the trail continues briefly along the edge of School Canyon to a place where there is a cairn and stone steps that take you down to another bench level. Only problem was that we didn't see a cairn so we climbed down to the next bench at the first easy place.
Walking along at the lower level, we noticed a group of pretty aspens on the hillside above and next to them, we could clearly see steps going back up to the bench we had just come down. We wanted to be thorough about this explore, so up the steps we went to study the situation! We backtracked a bit to try to figure out how we had missed this. There was supposed to be a cairn and we now saw a few little ones at the top of the steps but nothing that would call our attention to the area so we decided to build a better cairn. We tucked it up against a boulder, hoping that it would be noticeable but inconspicuous enough that the Cairn Police wouldn't destroy it. Some hikers hate cairns!
Not long after going down to this lower bench, School Canyon intersects Pueblo Canyon, which runs west-east, but the trail is still called School Canyon Trail and continues until ends officially at Homestead Crossing Trail. But my friend and I, in our eagerness to go downhill to the Homestead Bridge, bypassed this intersection. The Homestead Bridge is a pedestrian bridge built on the site of a former homestead era bridge that once spanned upper Pueblo Canyon to connect Los Alamos Mesa, to the south, with the mesas north of Pueblo Canyon.
There is a photo donated by Peggy Pond Church in the Los Alamos Historical Museum Archives that shows a car driving across the former Homestead Bridge. This site in upper Pueblo Canyon was chosen for the original homestead era bridge crossing because it's fairly easy to cross since the canyon is narrower and less steep here compared with the soaring cliffs further east! Pueblo Canyon is a steep-walled, formidable obstacle to travel even though we don't give this much thought nowadays as we quickly drive over it on Diamond Drive!
At the Homestead Bridge, I parted company with my friend. She needed to be home at noon. I continued up the Homestead Crossing Trail, only .7 of a mile long, which follows the route of a road that went uphill from the Homestead Bridge. The trail tops out at 33rd Street, ending near Aspen Elementary School. I'm sure liberties were taken with the homestead era road the trail supposedly follows. Parts of it are entirely too close to the canyon edge and too narrow for a car or wagon to have safely driven upon! Most likely when the houses in the Aspen School neighborhood were built by the Atomic Energy Commission in the 1950's, parts of the road were usurped for private property.
At the top of the Homestead Crossing Trail, I sat on a rock and pondered which way I'd
walk back to my car. While musing, I enjoyed my lunch of dry roasted wasabi edamame mixed with salted peanuts and a little bag of dark chocolate covered almonds. I know it was bad to eat every last one but at least I had shared it with my friend - and they were delicious! As I savored the chocolate taste, I could hear exuberant shouts of the students at recess! I enjoyed their high-spirited noise but I if I lived beside the school, I'd quickly tire of it!
Done with lunch, I decided to retrace my steps. After passing the Conoco Hill fill, I met an oncoming bicyclist, the only person I saw on the trail beside my friend! I stepped off the trail to let him pass and he kiddingly apologized about running me off the trail! I laughed!
I was very curious about the Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church parking lot because the church is built practically on top of Diamond Drive and looks like its parking lot is under-sized. When I got below the church, I walked uphill to the parking lot and counted the spaces. There are only 21 unless you count two extra narrow spots, then 23 and this includes 2 handicapped spaces. I really wonder if the church has an agreement with the First Baptist Church, their next door neighbor, to use their huge parking lot. Otherwise, parking must be at a premium for the church's congregation or it's a tiny congregation.
After the parking lot "study", I continued to my car via the Pueblo Complex ball fields and called it an enjoyable hike! I was grateful that my friend introduced me to the School Canyon Trail! I had no idea that beautiful, deep School Canyon and was tucked away beside Pueblo Canyon and had a trail running along its rim! I thought I knew the Los Alamos County Open Space trails in that area but I was wrong!
The trail follows a bench around School Canyon, a north-south tributary of Pueblo Canyon. All the canyons are looking especially lush and green after our very productive monsoon season. The trail travels below the Pueblo Complex, the lower and upper ball fields, the new Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church and the First Baptist Church of Los Alamos. School Canyon continues north, crossing under Diamond Drive, to its origination point near Burnt or LA Mountain, but the trail crosses from the west side of the canyon over to its east side, below the Baptist church, on a narrow, dirt trail along the base of the Conoco Hill fill on Diamond (with the loss of the Conoco station, maybe we should call it Shell Hill?) and then continues around to the east beneath the Sleepy Hollow neighborhood, the St. Dimitri of Rostov Orthodox Church and the Little Forest Play School.
There are plenty of neighborhood access points both formal and informal but the official School Canyon trailhead is located at the 37th Street playlot, off Villa Street. From the playlot, the trail continues briefly along the edge of School Canyon to a place where there is a cairn and stone steps that take you down to another bench level. Only problem was that we didn't see a cairn so we climbed down to the next bench at the first easy place.
Walking along at the lower level, we noticed a group of pretty aspens on the hillside above and next to them, we could clearly see steps going back up to the bench we had just come down. We wanted to be thorough about this explore, so up the steps we went to study the situation! We backtracked a bit to try to figure out how we had missed this. There was supposed to be a cairn and we now saw a few little ones at the top of the steps but nothing that would call our attention to the area so we decided to build a better cairn. We tucked it up against a boulder, hoping that it would be noticeable but inconspicuous enough that the Cairn Police wouldn't destroy it. Some hikers hate cairns!
Not long after going down to this lower bench, School Canyon intersects Pueblo Canyon, which runs west-east, but the trail is still called School Canyon Trail and continues until ends officially at Homestead Crossing Trail. But my friend and I, in our eagerness to go downhill to the Homestead Bridge, bypassed this intersection. The Homestead Bridge is a pedestrian bridge built on the site of a former homestead era bridge that once spanned upper Pueblo Canyon to connect Los Alamos Mesa, to the south, with the mesas north of Pueblo Canyon.
There is a photo donated by Peggy Pond Church in the Los Alamos Historical Museum Archives that shows a car driving across the former Homestead Bridge. This site in upper Pueblo Canyon was chosen for the original homestead era bridge crossing because it's fairly easy to cross since the canyon is narrower and less steep here compared with the soaring cliffs further east! Pueblo Canyon is a steep-walled, formidable obstacle to travel even though we don't give this much thought nowadays as we quickly drive over it on Diamond Drive!
At the Homestead Bridge, I parted company with my friend. She needed to be home at noon. I continued up the Homestead Crossing Trail, only .7 of a mile long, which follows the route of a road that went uphill from the Homestead Bridge. The trail tops out at 33rd Street, ending near Aspen Elementary School. I'm sure liberties were taken with the homestead era road the trail supposedly follows. Parts of it are entirely too close to the canyon edge and too narrow for a car or wagon to have safely driven upon! Most likely when the houses in the Aspen School neighborhood were built by the Atomic Energy Commission in the 1950's, parts of the road were usurped for private property.
At the top of the Homestead Crossing Trail, I sat on a rock and pondered which way I'd
walk back to my car. While musing, I enjoyed my lunch of dry roasted wasabi edamame mixed with salted peanuts and a little bag of dark chocolate covered almonds. I know it was bad to eat every last one but at least I had shared it with my friend - and they were delicious! As I savored the chocolate taste, I could hear exuberant shouts of the students at recess! I enjoyed their high-spirited noise but I if I lived beside the school, I'd quickly tire of it!
Done with lunch, I decided to retrace my steps. After passing the Conoco Hill fill, I met an oncoming bicyclist, the only person I saw on the trail beside my friend! I stepped off the trail to let him pass and he kiddingly apologized about running me off the trail! I laughed!
I was very curious about the Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church parking lot because the church is built practically on top of Diamond Drive and looks like its parking lot is under-sized. When I got below the church, I walked uphill to the parking lot and counted the spaces. There are only 21 unless you count two extra narrow spots, then 23 and this includes 2 handicapped spaces. I really wonder if the church has an agreement with the First Baptist Church, their next door neighbor, to use their huge parking lot. Otherwise, parking must be at a premium for the church's congregation or it's a tiny congregation.
After the parking lot "study", I continued to my car via the Pueblo Complex ball fields and called it an enjoyable hike! I was grateful that my friend introduced me to the School Canyon Trail! I had no idea that beautiful, deep School Canyon and was tucked away beside Pueblo Canyon and had a trail running along its rim! I thought I knew the Los Alamos County Open Space trails in that area but I was wrong!
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