Monday, picked up 4 grocery bags full of trash in the vicinity of the Route. By the time I got to FR2998, it was late afternoon so I decided to walk down Camp May Road because the shadows along the Route reminded me that mountain lions like to feed at dusk. The bags of trash were too heavy so I had cached them periodically in several places along the road. When I got to my car, I drove back to pick up the bags.
Tuesday, did some useless work to delineate the Route better. During the back burn to establish a fire line to fight the Las Conchas fire, some of the logs that mark the Route burned. It's also marked with rock cairns but they're hard to see at times. On one section, I really overdid it with lining both sides with logs. When I could, I confined the path to a bare dirt since it's probably not good to spread out too much in an area recovering from fire. After this work, I was tired and since walking on a paved road is far easier, I went out to Camp May Road at the Shotgun Shell dirt parking area and completed my walk.
Today, I undid a minor re-route that I'd done Tuesday because I realized that it wasn't at all obvious and where it was originally was further above a tiny drainage and drier. Also today, near the Ocean, I decided that logs on both sides were overkill and I lined only one side of the path. I wanted to stay more left where there was bare dirt and it seemed the way was obvious. In the process of doing this, I discovered a short, ready-made trail connection and it made sense to start using that.
Today, I collected 3 more grocery bags of trash, some which wasn't really along the Route but I could see it glinting so I picked it up. That's it, though, for my annual trash pickup! Today, I didn't quite go up to FR2998 but instead finished my walk on Camp May Road. Once again, I'm superstitious about walking by myself along the Route when it's feeding time for the animals. Speaking of animals, I saw a total of 4 deer today! Again, I had to drive up to retrieve the cached trash bags. They'll go out in my trash tomorrow. Gee, if any neighbor looks in our trash can, they're going to think "They sure drink a lot of beer!"
I may have seen the resident jogger again today. I parked where West Road is blocked off and saw a jogger just coming off the steep trail the bicyclists have built that shortcuts up to the Ocean. In the past, I went up and down that shortcut twice but it's steep so I'll stick to going up the old dirt road remnant just below Camp May Road, hopping the guardrail before the first steep hill on Camp May Road and crossing the paved road to go up to the Ocean.
I realize that any maintenance I do on the Route is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. There are so many fire-damaged trees along the Route which will surely topple one day. Today, at Guardrail Hill, below the second major climb Camp May Road makes, I happened to notice a towering burnt snag, the very bottom of it chiseled narrow by the back burn used to fight Las Conchas. It leans like the Tower of Pisa and I hope when it falls no one is there and it falls away from the Route.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Red Dot to Blue Dot Tuesday and Broken Mesa Ruins Wednesday
The Red Dot to Blue Dot hike on Tuesday was with the women's group. I almost bailed the night before because we got a little snow in Los Alamos. I thought sure the trail would be snowy and icy but the hiking leader, who lives in White Rock, emailed everyone in the morning after she checked the trail that it was clear!
When we first started on the Red Dot, we heard cranes overhead. There were waves and waves of them flying in fluid V's and squawking. Some flew so low that I could for the first time see what truly large birds they are.
I did my usual unimpressive, slow hobble down the Red Dot but who cares since I made it without falling. The group wasn't in a huge hurry as they are not speedsters either. We stopped often to admire the petroglyphs etched into the black basalt and the lingering fall colors.
At Pajarito Springs, they all stopped for a snack. I prefer to stop for a full lunch but this group does snacks instead. I wasn't sure how long I'd have so I waited until they resumed hiking and then ate 2 Raw Revolution bars while we walked on fairly level ground. Managed to clean my teeth while walking also!
We found the crowned lady petroglyph (if you reach the rock with "Toast" and "Chook" (sic), you've passed the turnoff) but, really, "she" looks more like an anatomically correct man!
They stopped for another snack at a viewpoint above the Rio Grande and I ate my mix of roasted, salted edamame and peanuts and raw sunflower seeds. I figured I needed the energy for the climb out of White Rock Canyon.
In the canyon, we were blessed with sunny weather, no snow and ice. Hiking up the Blue Dot, we were blessed with overcast skies so we didn't overheat - we are, after all, postmenopausal women and we overheat easily! I like to get elevated heart rate when walking uphill but since I was behind someone that was doing a good pace, I didn't worry about going faster and stopped often to look back at the Rio Grande.
Today's hike started at one of the gates along NM4 outside of Pajarito Acres. The directions said Gate 8a and .8 mile from Monte Rey Drive S. but I drove right past because I didn't see the cars parked behind the dirt and gravel piles that the state highway transportation department has there. Also, my stubborn mind was sure the directions were mistaken since the true Broken Mesa trailhead starts further south on NM4. I was able make it back in time for the start of the hike.
We followed the Potrillo-Water Canyon connector trail, which parallels NM4, to the north-most entrance to lower Water Canyon, the one that goes past the orange, swiss cheese cliffs. We walked down Water Canyon, past a man holding an overexcited dog that was eager to greet all 16 hikers, to the Broken Mesa Trail crossover. We followed that uphill to the Saddle between Broken Mesa and Beer Mesa (explanation forthcoming). Up we went on the north side of Broken Mesa to view the Indian ruins. No one seemed much interested in them. One woman commented that she finds Indian ruins underwhelming. I would have been happy to eat lunch there but Indian ruins are best appreciated in the company of those who appreciate the spirit of the place. So, down we went to the saddle again and then up Beer Mesa, so named for the day a female hiker drank a bottle of beer at lunch!
Lunch was a hurried affair. The brave alphas sat at the very edge of the mesa. I chose to sit on a basalt rock with a small field of basalt between me and the edge. Still, I had splendid views of Water Canyon. With so little time to linger over lunch, I had to clean my teeth (I like clean teeth!) while we hiked back to the saddle again.
There we proceeded back down to Water Canyon and then went up to the Water Canyon-Potrillo Canyon saddle. Down we went into Potrillo Canyon then up the mesa between the two canyons. Dead trees have been extensively chipped here like along the Powerline Trail, perhaps to create a firebreak.
I thought that we'd go out to the end of the mesa and then back down to the Potrillo Canyon-Water Canyon connector trail to get back to our cars but our leader took a right at the powerline and we walked over to the canyon with the big electric substation. They all went down a cliffy, snowy area but I walked just a little past that and went down on more of a trail, marked by a tattered, white plastic flag hanging from a tree branch. Magically, we were exactly back at our cars!
I thanked the leader, telling him that now I had many ideas for hikes to take this winter. I usually always go on the standard trails in that area - Potrillo, Water and Powerline - but there's a lot of powerline
right-of-ways and trails not in any guidebook that allow many other options.
The leader kept a very fast pace but he'd always stop and wait for the slower ones to catch up. My GPS said we did 6.44 miles. We got back to the cars around 2 pm. Weather was sunny and gorgeous! Cranes were in short supply. We heard them several times but couldn't see them overhead.
When we first started on the Red Dot, we heard cranes overhead. There were waves and waves of them flying in fluid V's and squawking. Some flew so low that I could for the first time see what truly large birds they are.
I did my usual unimpressive, slow hobble down the Red Dot but who cares since I made it without falling. The group wasn't in a huge hurry as they are not speedsters either. We stopped often to admire the petroglyphs etched into the black basalt and the lingering fall colors.
At Pajarito Springs, they all stopped for a snack. I prefer to stop for a full lunch but this group does snacks instead. I wasn't sure how long I'd have so I waited until they resumed hiking and then ate 2 Raw Revolution bars while we walked on fairly level ground. Managed to clean my teeth while walking also!
We found the crowned lady petroglyph (if you reach the rock with "Toast" and "Chook" (sic), you've passed the turnoff) but, really, "she" looks more like an anatomically correct man!
They stopped for another snack at a viewpoint above the Rio Grande and I ate my mix of roasted, salted edamame and peanuts and raw sunflower seeds. I figured I needed the energy for the climb out of White Rock Canyon.
In the canyon, we were blessed with sunny weather, no snow and ice. Hiking up the Blue Dot, we were blessed with overcast skies so we didn't overheat - we are, after all, postmenopausal women and we overheat easily! I like to get elevated heart rate when walking uphill but since I was behind someone that was doing a good pace, I didn't worry about going faster and stopped often to look back at the Rio Grande.
Today's hike started at one of the gates along NM4 outside of Pajarito Acres. The directions said Gate 8a and .8 mile from Monte Rey Drive S. but I drove right past because I didn't see the cars parked behind the dirt and gravel piles that the state highway transportation department has there. Also, my stubborn mind was sure the directions were mistaken since the true Broken Mesa trailhead starts further south on NM4. I was able make it back in time for the start of the hike.
We followed the Potrillo-Water Canyon connector trail, which parallels NM4, to the north-most entrance to lower Water Canyon, the one that goes past the orange, swiss cheese cliffs. We walked down Water Canyon, past a man holding an overexcited dog that was eager to greet all 16 hikers, to the Broken Mesa Trail crossover. We followed that uphill to the Saddle between Broken Mesa and Beer Mesa (explanation forthcoming). Up we went on the north side of Broken Mesa to view the Indian ruins. No one seemed much interested in them. One woman commented that she finds Indian ruins underwhelming. I would have been happy to eat lunch there but Indian ruins are best appreciated in the company of those who appreciate the spirit of the place. So, down we went to the saddle again and then up Beer Mesa, so named for the day a female hiker drank a bottle of beer at lunch!
Lunch was a hurried affair. The brave alphas sat at the very edge of the mesa. I chose to sit on a basalt rock with a small field of basalt between me and the edge. Still, I had splendid views of Water Canyon. With so little time to linger over lunch, I had to clean my teeth (I like clean teeth!) while we hiked back to the saddle again.
There we proceeded back down to Water Canyon and then went up to the Water Canyon-Potrillo Canyon saddle. Down we went into Potrillo Canyon then up the mesa between the two canyons. Dead trees have been extensively chipped here like along the Powerline Trail, perhaps to create a firebreak.
I thought that we'd go out to the end of the mesa and then back down to the Potrillo Canyon-Water Canyon connector trail to get back to our cars but our leader took a right at the powerline and we walked over to the canyon with the big electric substation. They all went down a cliffy, snowy area but I walked just a little past that and went down on more of a trail, marked by a tattered, white plastic flag hanging from a tree branch. Magically, we were exactly back at our cars!
I thanked the leader, telling him that now I had many ideas for hikes to take this winter. I usually always go on the standard trails in that area - Potrillo, Water and Powerline - but there's a lot of powerline
right-of-ways and trails not in any guidebook that allow many other options.
The leader kept a very fast pace but he'd always stop and wait for the slower ones to catch up. My GPS said we did 6.44 miles. We got back to the cars around 2 pm. Weather was sunny and gorgeous! Cranes were in short supply. We heard them several times but couldn't see them overhead.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Restorative Work Day on the Route
OK, so I didn't take baby steps in going back into the woods - I just went in whole hog today on the Route. Astonishingly, I saw a jogger! It really is a "real" trail when someone other than me uses it!
I shored up and rebuilt lots of stone cairns. I moved some small trees that had fallen across the Route. My gloves got blackened in the process!
Several massive trees have laid themselves prostrate across the path. I can't do anything about those. I'm sure they'll be lots more falling in the coming years. Pray for a chainsaw person to take a liking to the Route! One of the downed trees, completely charcoal, can be simply stepped over. The other route-block is two massive trees that fell away from each other but left a space between to travel through. Unfortunately, this involves stepping at the base of the one tree's root ball, not the most stable footing.
Then, there are several instances where I had, before Las Conchas wildfire this June, did a reroute because of a fallen tree but now those trees have burnt up and are no longer obstacles. Today I put one area back to its original path which was more direct.
The area above Guardrail Hill where there was a slash and trash event which resulted in lots of unattractively chopped up trees is looking good because lots of the slash and trash burned. Unfortunately, so did a lot of the conifers.
Snowflakes flew around off and on but held off falling more heavily until I got back to my car. The skies were wild today - a mix of snowflakes and sunshine and overcast. Next on my to do list, pick up trash and pack it out.
Oddly enough, despite the admonitions of "Big Brother" forest service, not a single burnt tree or burnt out stump hole attacked me during my day in the forest! When will "Big Brother" forest service allow us to legally walk again in the Las Conchas burn area?
I shored up and rebuilt lots of stone cairns. I moved some small trees that had fallen across the Route. My gloves got blackened in the process!
Several massive trees have laid themselves prostrate across the path. I can't do anything about those. I'm sure they'll be lots more falling in the coming years. Pray for a chainsaw person to take a liking to the Route! One of the downed trees, completely charcoal, can be simply stepped over. The other route-block is two massive trees that fell away from each other but left a space between to travel through. Unfortunately, this involves stepping at the base of the one tree's root ball, not the most stable footing.
Then, there are several instances where I had, before Las Conchas wildfire this June, did a reroute because of a fallen tree but now those trees have burnt up and are no longer obstacles. Today I put one area back to its original path which was more direct.
The area above Guardrail Hill where there was a slash and trash event which resulted in lots of unattractively chopped up trees is looking good because lots of the slash and trash burned. Unfortunately, so did a lot of the conifers.
Snowflakes flew around off and on but held off falling more heavily until I got back to my car. The skies were wild today - a mix of snowflakes and sunshine and overcast. Next on my to do list, pick up trash and pack it out.
Oddly enough, despite the admonitions of "Big Brother" forest service, not a single burnt tree or burnt out stump hole attacked me during my day in the forest! When will "Big Brother" forest service allow us to legally walk again in the Las Conchas burn area?
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Restorative Hike on Cerro Grande Peak
Took myself to Cerro Grande yesterday. Trail's been closed since last June's Las Conchas fire but was reopened Monday. It's been rerouted. Everyone complained (not me) about the old route because it was straight up. (Bandelier National Monument purposely calls the way up Cerro Grande a route and not a trail but I call it both.)
The reroute doesn't start until just above where it used to drop into Frijoles Canyon. Now, instead of going downhill into Frijoles and then having to immediately drag oneself uphill to the high pass meadow, hikers can contour left onto the unnamed slope south of Cerro Grande, through a mature forest of conifers and aspens.
I could see lots of work had been done to clear a trail over to the high pass meadow - lots of cut up trees. The forest here sustained patchy burn damage. There are some amazingly massive trees alongside the trail and it even passes between two of them. I must have just missed the peak aspen display since the brilliant leaves were now on the forest floor, instead of dangling from the trees. I have to say, even though I appreciated walking through this thick forest, it looks like it could use a prescribed burn before a catastrophic one occurs - too many trees.
At the high pass, near the meadow where we saw a bear cavorting this year among the dandelions, I could see the Bandelier rangers obliterated the old trail into Frijoles Canyon with branches and logs. From here, yellow diamonds briefly follow the old straight-up-the-mountain route before veering off sharply right (east). Now begins a series of 6 or so long traverses that take you through a partially burnt forest and the large meadow up to the false summit. The meadow traverses take you near where the 2000 Cerro Grande fire originated in the big bowl where Frijoles Canyon starts.
The burnt forest has a thick layer of slippery pine needles underfoot - not pleasant. In the meadow, I could look downhill and see yellow diamonds out of order, on the traverse below the one I was on. I'm afraid that hikers will shortcut straight downhill to the markers they can most easily see because sometimes the yellow diamonds play hide and seek. In one case, two arrow diamonds were placed at an angle so as not to be visible from the immediate marker below.
It will be interesting to see how the "ground truth" of hikers' feet trample the route out. When that happens, it will also be easier to walk on because walking in a tussock grass meadow or over slippery pine needles is not easy. Depending on how this route develops the longer, eastern route may seem more attractive because traversing back and forth is not my favorite way to go up a mountain if I can clearly see the top (or in this case, the false summit). I did, however, religiously follow the yellow diamonds but I can't control what other hikers do.
On top of Cerro Grande, which is now ringed by a severely burnt black conifer forest, I could hear the wind sounding like a freight train approaching the unprotected peak. Maybe the wind is why I saw no other hikers (although it didn't seem at all windy in the forest). Even though an interesting assortment of clouds were forming in the sky, it remained sunny albeit cool.
At first I sat on a rock to eat lunch but I didn't feel comfortable with my back to the blackened woods so I ate standing up, eying the woods in case something terrible came tearing out. There's something eerie about a completely scorched forest - even the dirt is burnt black. Yet and still, Cerro Grande is still beautiful and I plan to go back one day. And yes, although I hate to say this, the fire really opened up tremendous views from Cerro Grande into the Valles Caldera National Preserve. It's perfectly obvious now just how achingly close the Preserve is to Cerro Grande and to Los Alamos and despite the Las Conchas fire damage to its cerros and valles, it too remains beautiful.
The reroute doesn't start until just above where it used to drop into Frijoles Canyon. Now, instead of going downhill into Frijoles and then having to immediately drag oneself uphill to the high pass meadow, hikers can contour left onto the unnamed slope south of Cerro Grande, through a mature forest of conifers and aspens.
I could see lots of work had been done to clear a trail over to the high pass meadow - lots of cut up trees. The forest here sustained patchy burn damage. There are some amazingly massive trees alongside the trail and it even passes between two of them. I must have just missed the peak aspen display since the brilliant leaves were now on the forest floor, instead of dangling from the trees. I have to say, even though I appreciated walking through this thick forest, it looks like it could use a prescribed burn before a catastrophic one occurs - too many trees.
At the high pass, near the meadow where we saw a bear cavorting this year among the dandelions, I could see the Bandelier rangers obliterated the old trail into Frijoles Canyon with branches and logs. From here, yellow diamonds briefly follow the old straight-up-the-mountain route before veering off sharply right (east). Now begins a series of 6 or so long traverses that take you through a partially burnt forest and the large meadow up to the false summit. The meadow traverses take you near where the 2000 Cerro Grande fire originated in the big bowl where Frijoles Canyon starts.
The burnt forest has a thick layer of slippery pine needles underfoot - not pleasant. In the meadow, I could look downhill and see yellow diamonds out of order, on the traverse below the one I was on. I'm afraid that hikers will shortcut straight downhill to the markers they can most easily see because sometimes the yellow diamonds play hide and seek. In one case, two arrow diamonds were placed at an angle so as not to be visible from the immediate marker below.
It will be interesting to see how the "ground truth" of hikers' feet trample the route out. When that happens, it will also be easier to walk on because walking in a tussock grass meadow or over slippery pine needles is not easy. Depending on how this route develops the longer, eastern route may seem more attractive because traversing back and forth is not my favorite way to go up a mountain if I can clearly see the top (or in this case, the false summit). I did, however, religiously follow the yellow diamonds but I can't control what other hikers do.
On top of Cerro Grande, which is now ringed by a severely burnt black conifer forest, I could hear the wind sounding like a freight train approaching the unprotected peak. Maybe the wind is why I saw no other hikers (although it didn't seem at all windy in the forest). Even though an interesting assortment of clouds were forming in the sky, it remained sunny albeit cool.
At first I sat on a rock to eat lunch but I didn't feel comfortable with my back to the blackened woods so I ate standing up, eying the woods in case something terrible came tearing out. There's something eerie about a completely scorched forest - even the dirt is burnt black. Yet and still, Cerro Grande is still beautiful and I plan to go back one day. And yes, although I hate to say this, the fire really opened up tremendous views from Cerro Grande into the Valles Caldera National Preserve. It's perfectly obvious now just how achingly close the Preserve is to Cerro Grande and to Los Alamos and despite the Las Conchas fire damage to its cerros and valles, it too remains beautiful.
Coyotes Abound
Started on Pueblo Canyon Rim Trail from Los Alamos Airport. Saw ahead of me two coyotes loping on trail. They disappeared into the bushes on the hillside which made me nervous about ambush so I picked up a stick just in case. I didn't need to use it, though, because after that, I only briefly saw one of them ahead of me on the trail and then they were completely gone. They seemed aware of me but fortunately not interested.
Then, driving out of town, we saw a coyote race across NM502 near the Best Western, heading for DP Canyon.
Then, driving out of town, we saw a coyote race across NM502 near the Best Western, heading for DP Canyon.
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