Yesterday's WI hike was especially interesting because we went to an area in the Jemez Mountains I've long wanted to explore but couldn't because I didn't want to drive my sedan in on the gravel roads. Our driver drove her SUV about 12 miles total on gravel roads starting from NM4 and FR289 to FR36 to FR286 to FR268 to Del Norte Canyon. The .8 mile from the junction of FR286 and 268 (why'd they make it so confusing?) was the roughest part of the road.
Where we parked in Del Norte Canyon, it is wide, stunning and emerald green, even during our horrible drought. Most wouldn't think it stunning because it's not on the order of the Grand Canyon but it was so peaceful and inviting with its grassy meadow and the surrounding heavily treed ridges. Canyons like that make me swoon!
From Del Norte Canyon's meadow, we walked uphill on a very eroded trail (more like a shallow ditch) through the forest to a wide, dirt road. We walked the briefest distance in the talcum powder dust of that road and then turned left onto a grassy road through the woods. We turned right off that at a tree that has the remains of a 1" thick twisted metal cable attached to it. Then, along a contour line, we followed a very nondescript trail to a Santa Fe National Forest boundary sign nailed to a tree where we picked up a trail going downhill into Medio Dia Canyon. We had been walking on private land but there were no fences and no signs prohibiting our walking there.
At one point on our downhill trek, we encountered a large fallen log and the group split with a few of us following a trail on one side of the log and the majority following a trail on the other. It turns out that both trails go to Medio Dia Canyon but the one the majority took was the better one (and was the one we took on the way back). Even though the other fork started out looking like a very good trail, it deteriorated into a terribly steep, narrow, eroded ramp at the bottom. Guess who took that one in her road running shoes because she has no real hiking boots now!
This part of Medio Dia Canyon also entranced me with its wide, grassy expanse. At the start of the hike, there were 20 of us and 3 dogs. At Medio Dia Canyon, the group split into two with 5 of us continuing up Horn Mesa, into Bland Canyon and over to Bruce Place where we had lunch. Bruce Place is the site of a former homestead. Where we sat in the shade, we saw some kind of metal debris left from the homestead era. Before we left, I stood at the edge of the meadow where the homestead was and imagined the vitality of the people who had lived here.
When we got back to Medio Dia Canyon and checked on the other hikers who had gone up to the pond and the Smith cabin (another homestead site and where the group saw a mallard duck at lunch!), we found a note saying that they had all gone back. All told, we 5 had done nearly 5 miles and a little over 1,300' elevation gain.
But, back at our driver's car, we found all but one hiker had gone back. She is a tiny woman about the size and weight of a ten year old. Now we had one more person than we had car seats but, no problem! This diminutive powerhouse of a woman, who weighs 89 pounds, sat on her husband's lap for the drive back to our cars. Yes, they both were seat-belted together! It was so cute!! Ha - the day I sit on my husband's lap is the day he dies since I weigh a tad more than that woman and chances are I'd crush him!!