Red Canyon, Manzano Mountains

Opal Lake, Pagosa Springs, CO

Left on Blanco Basin Road from US Hwy 84 south of Pagosa Springs for 10 miles, then Castle Creek Road for another 3.5 mi to the trailhead. This hike is a short 1.2 miles to the lake.

The trail was steep at the start and lined with Aspen and then opens into a meadow that leads to the lake.

Flower and butterflies everywhere.

Mineral deposits give the lake its milky color. A great mid summer hike. Absolutely perfect.... except for the mosquitoes.

Chimney Rock Archaeological and Historic Site, continued

The ancestral Puebloan people built there homes next to the twin pinnacles of Chimney Rock. They started building in the 900's AD and left by the mid 1200. Why they left the valley and their farms to built high up on the mesa is unknown. Chimney Rock is believed to be an outlier community connected with Chaco Canyon.

Below, grinding corn into maize.

Chimney Rock, Colorado

Chimney Rock is an ancient Native American site like Mesa Verde, Bandelier and Chaco Canyon. As we pulled up to the registration cabin, we were greeted by very busy and hungry hummingbirds.

Abi can you tell how many hummingbirds are in each picture?

Mora Flats, Pecos Wilderness

The Mora Flats are a large marshy meadow crossed by several streams. Starting from Iron Gate Campground (18 miles in on NM 63, past the town of Terrero) it is an easy 2.5 to 3 miles to the flats. (We selected to hike in the Pecos because the Sandias, Manzanos and Mount Taylor areas are all closed due to drought.) The first 1/2 mile of the trail led to the junction of Hamilton Mesa and Mora Flats. As we arrived at the junction, a hiker reminded us that the great views are from Hamilton Mesa. We hesitated a moment and then decided to go ahead with our original plan. Most of the Mora Flats trail has a very gently, mostly down grade and was lined by Aspen. The most challenging part of the day was not the hiking but the 4.5-mile drive to the trailhead on a bumpy, unimproved road that really required a high clearance 4WD vehicle. Thanks to Jim's skillful driving, we got stuck only once. (I was reminded that we attempted to camp at Iron Gate Campground on a 4th of July weekend with Kenli and Shaw a few years back and had to turn back because we got stuck in mud.)

To our dismay, we discovered that the Flats and surrounding hills have been badly affected by the drought. The Flats looked dry and the trees, as you can see in more detail in the picture below, are dying.

This area is supposed to be covered with wildflowers in spring: false pine lupines, wild irises, geraniums and wild strawberries. We found irises and lupines. They were attractive but small and clearly suffering from the drought.

Doningo Baca, revisited

This was a day of playing hooky for me. I had planned a day off from work months ago to go to the San Antonio hot springs in the Jemez Mountains with Jim, Katy and Marlin. It turned out that the gate is closed until June. So, for my day off we went hiking in the Sandias and revisited Domingo Baca. This time we missed the turn off to the main wash and scrambled up a side wash. Still fun with plenty of things to see.... boulders

streams and mini waterfalls....

lichen....

and, of course, the tram. The trail stops right under the tram.

Durango Snow Shoe Hike, January 2, 2011