Southern Route 4, the Jemez Mountain Trail, somewhere around Jemez Pueblo.
Escaping the city heat was only one of the things on our minds yesterday when Tom and I headed off for a day out. The kid’s been driving us crazy, my RA won’t stabilize, and once in a while I need back-to-nature.
Much as I like Albuquerque, I come from a succession of small towns in Connecticut then Kansas then Connecticut again and then Massachusetts. Albuquerque’s got a population of just over a half million. Sure, it’s spread out – much as most western cities – but that can make for a butt-load of cranky-pants people driving in 104 degree weather.
Soda Dam is a 300-foot long natural dam created by mineral deposits from a hot spring. Very cool.
We’d promised the dog that he could get out too, so northward ho the three of us went. Mountains sounding coolish (compared to here), we headed up the Jemez Mountain Trail, a national scenic by-way, towards Los Alamos. Enjoy some pics!
Welcome to Battleship Rock; it marks the confluence of the Jemez River and San Antonio Creek. Yesterday it also marked the location of a nascent forest fire. Maybe you can see it to the right of the rock. Fortunately, the fire was contained by last night. Especially fortunate as I took the photo standing in the driveway of a YMCA camp, and I could actually hear the kids celebrating someone’s birthday in the mess hall.Vibrantly green conifers all over the mountains.
New Mexico – it’s not all dry desert. We hiked about a third of a mile down to the stream, but my knees opted not to continue on to the hot springs.Really, the only clouds we saw all day.
To come around a curve and find…this amazed Tom and me. It’s the Valles Caldera National Preserve. It’s one of the largest volcanic calderas in the world, about 17 miles in diameter. You might have seen it on the news this week. A woman running a marathon stumbled upon a mama bear and her three cubs. Thank goodness she lived to tell the tale.I loved it up there so much that the next plan is to spend a couple of nights in Jemez Springs when we get a chance. Tynan’s happy; there are a couple of little motels that welcome polite dogs. He can be very polite. As long as we give him lots of snacks.
Will you be escaping the city this summer? Where will you go? What will you do?
Getting away from heat is what I’d do! So…. The pics on your blog are upside down. Is that b/c I’m looking at it on my ipad?? Or are you taking pics with your iPad? If you are, turn the iPad with the Home button on the right for horizontal pics and at the top for vertical pics. Just a suggestion…
Hi, Karen. Someone else mentioned that the pics were upside down. She was also looking at the blog on an iPad. They’re fine on my android phone. Interestingly, when I import the photos from my phone into wordpress, they’re always upside down and have to be turned around. Not sure what’s up there…
The vistas in the West are amazing, aren’t they??? I can think of several in Colorado that Peter and I just adore. It can be intimidating though. When my Japanese teacher visited, a city girl, she was freaked out by all the sky and felt quite uneasy. I am happy to be back where there are more trees and more green. And I have friends who are heading back to the West Coast as they miss the big sky… I hope you continue to enjoy NM. It sure is a change!
Must admit that big sky was a reason to come here. I loved that about Kansas too. Forest is nice too, particularly around mountains when it suddenly opens up onto those vistas…
Getting away from heat is what I’d do! So…. The pics on your blog are upside down. Is that b/c I’m looking at it on my ipad?? Or are you taking pics with your iPad? If you are, turn the iPad with the Home button on the right for horizontal pics and at the top for vertical pics. Just a suggestion…
Hi, Karen. Someone else mentioned that the pics were upside down. She was also looking at the blog on an iPad. They’re fine on my android phone. Interestingly, when I import the photos from my phone into wordpress, they’re always upside down and have to be turned around. Not sure what’s up there…
Looks all rightside up on my phone – nice pix!
Come visit and see the places in person!
The vistas in the West are amazing, aren’t they??? I can think of several in Colorado that Peter and I just adore. It can be intimidating though. When my Japanese teacher visited, a city girl, she was freaked out by all the sky and felt quite uneasy. I am happy to be back where there are more trees and more green. And I have friends who are heading back to the West Coast as they miss the big sky… I hope you continue to enjoy NM. It sure is a change!
Must admit that big sky was a reason to come here. I loved that about Kansas too. Forest is nice too, particularly around mountains when it suddenly opens up onto those vistas…