Into the Woods

Actually, the title is that of a Stephen Sondheim musical that I saw yesterday with my grandson at the Duane Smith auditorium.  We both enjoyed it and laughed a lot.

But, the title also refers to my desire to take little baby steps back into the woods, our local Santa Fe National Forest lands, which are still under lockdown.  I won't go into canyons where monsoon rain loosened boulders may roll down to crush me but I do intend to explore some lesser burnt areas here and there.  Cripes!  I can recognize a burnt out stump hole when I see one and not jump into it!  As for falling trees, that problem will be with us for years and I'm willing to take my chances.  On last Tuesday's hike, I told someone that I viscerally miss walking on American Springs Road/FR181 and she told me she feels the same way about not being able to walk up Water Canyon to that same road.  I appreciated so much that she shared that with me!

I walked the first two miles of Camp May Road today.  My pet aspens along the Route have reached their peak and are blazing yellow!  That makes me happy.  I saw probably the same herd of deer at the same place again today, just a little past a mile up Camp May Road from West Jemez.  They browse at the very edge of Los Alamos Canyon.

I now understand how the aspens and gambel oak that were browned by the fire line burnout along Camp May Road will regenerate.  The aspens already have small seedlings around their skinny trunks and the gambel oaks too.  They will regenerate from the ground up.  I'm looking forward to all the new growth next year!

Overheard at the Los Alamos Heart Council's Health Fair Saturday:  A man said that the downed logs that prevented travel down Pajarito Canyon from Pajarito Mountain burned up in the Las Conchas Fire and it looks possible to once again walk down canyon from the back of the mountain.  I'll have to tell the friskier Wednesday group this and maybe they'll check it out.