-
St. John’s Atalaya Loop
Ann pours on the steam today, climbing Atalaya like a machine. Apparently all of our hiking has had some effect. She is ahead of me in preparations for our Wyoming hike as well. I decide that I may have to skip our weekend hike to catch up, and we discuss alternatives she might do without…
-
Mesa Chivato Loop
There’s a desert stretch of the Continental Divide Trail I’d like to map, and we figure it will be a good way to test ourselves and our gear in some hot, waterless terrain. The forecast is for sun and wind, but clouds and occasional rain storms spare us from the heat. Many cactus are beginning…
-
Walk to Wild Oats
It’s been a busy week, and we’ve lost some of our hiking momentum. We also have a lot of preparations to do for our July hike, like buying dehydrated food. We combine our two needs and muster a hike to Wild Oats with empty backpacks, which we fill with bulk bags. Our minds have also…
-
Santa Fe Baldy Loop
The forecast calls for warm weather, so we decide to risk another hike in the high country. This time we drive to the trailhead after work on Friday, with a couple of hours of light to get us started. I love hiking at twilight, but it doesn’t leave much time to find a campsite. After…
-
Dorothy Stewart / Picacho Loop
The weather is NASTY when we leave the house – windy, rainy, and cold. We decide that bad weather is a good time to make use of the popular trailheads near town, and indeed there are a couple of parking spots available at the Dorothy Stewart trailhead. As we get underway the sun comes out,…
-
Atalaya Storm Watching
Ann and I head up Atalaya after work. We get to the trailhead just as a storm is leaving, and as we climb we get to watch the next one approach from across the valley. I wonder if that’s what it looks like from a distance when the sun lights up each drop of rain.…
-
Next Bike?
Every other part of my trusty recumbent commuter and US perimeter-tourer is blown or about to blow. I even have a birthday coming up, but sadly I can’t get one of these yet:
-
Bandelier Capulin Canyon Loop
We’re shifting our focus from climbing to backpacking in preparation for our Wyoming CDT Hike this July. It’s a great time to do this – desert flowers are coming out, water is generally available, and temperatures are not too hot yet. We take advantage of all these things in Bandelier, starting at the visitor center…
-
Movie: Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Somehow the super-hip cinematography and soundtrack detracted from the essential gruesomeness of this story for me. I don’t know exactly why it missed where City of God succeeded in a similar vein. I wouldn’t say it failed, the glimmer just somehow took some of the impact out the gut punch, whereas it was enhanced in…
-
Rio en Medio Falls Hike
This short hike is packed with way more good stuff than I anticipated. It follows the Rio en Medio up to a secluded waterfall. The forest here feels old, maybe because of the giant Ponderosas, some of which are fallen and decaying. The river makes everything lush – in the lower areas some mystery plant…