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Springtime in the Rockies

Monday, May 7th, 2012 by The Santa Fe Naturalist

Newly-leafed aspen among the conifers

It seems like I was just writing about icy trails and late winter snowshoeing, but suddenly there’s been a change of scene and the mountains are stirring with new life and issuing invitations to have a walk. The snow has vanished from the middle elevations of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and many of our most popular trails are free of ice and spangled with the first wildflowers of the season.

One of the most popular walks among visitors to Santa Fe is the Borrego-Bear Wallow loop, whose trailhead sits at an elevation of 8880 feet, squarely in the middle of the lovely mixed-conifer forest, immediately north of Hyde Memorial State Park. There’s free parking just off the the Ski Basin Road – NM 475 – and it’s only an eight mile drive from downtown Santa Fe. The loop itself is about a 3.2 mile ramble through a shady woods, with a 640 elevation loss/gain, and a sunny meadow at the bottom alongside Tesuque Creek perfect for a snack break or a picnic.

The sign at the intersection of Borrego and Bear Wallow Trails

The Borrego Trail drops down through a forest of Ponderosa, White Fir, Douglas Fir, and Aspen on its way to the Winsor Trail along Tesuque Creek, which you will take downstream until its intersection with the Bear Wallow Trail, which will take you back up to the trailhead.

The aspen are leafing out now, in a fresh yellow-green that contrasts vividly with the much darker evergreens:

Aspen along the Borrego Trail

Is there any tree more delightful than the aspen? It’s handsome in summer and winter, and it is exceptionally beautiful in the spring and fall. Would that we all passed through the seasons of our lives so gracefully.

White fir with grizzled grey bark grow along each of the trails, calling for your attention:

The mixed-conifer forest

These trees frame views of the higher ridges to the northwest:

The Sangre de Cristo

Meanwhile the forest floor is dotted with color and new life:

Red columbine are blooming all along the trails. Hummingbirds rejoice!

The exceptionally tough Creeping Mahonia

And the delicately-flowered Rocky Mountain clematis

One of my favorites peeks out this time of year:

The cheerful Canada violet

Meanwhile a variety of small deciduous trees send forth their first leaves and flowers:

Tiny flowers on the twigs of the lovely Rocky Mountain Maple

Tesuque Creek is singing with snowmelt:

Tesuque Creek at the midpoint of your walk.

It wasn’t too challenging this time, but you have to cross this stream twice to make the loop, and sometimes you have to be inventive. Here’s a picture of the Borrego crossing:

Kids LOVE this spot

On your ascent back up along the Bear Wallow Trail, you’ll pass one of my favorite trees, a Limber pine perched on a rugged outcropping of gneiss above Tesuque Creek:

Limber pine and Tesuque Canyon beyond

In that most delightful of nature books, “A Natural History of Western Trees“, Donald Culross Peattie writes “. . . and Limber Pines have a way of growing in dramatic places, taking picturesque attitudes, and getting themselves photographed, written about, and cared for. . . ” This specimen is no exception. It grows in a dramatic place, and I’ve enjoyed my tea in its shade many times.

So plan for a springtime walk in the mountains when you make your visit with us in Santa Fe. We can help you with lots of suggestions, and our neighbor, the Travel Bug, can supply you with maps and guidebooks of every kind.

New life

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The Tyuonyi Overlook Trail

Monday, February 27th, 2012 by The Santa Fe Naturalist

The Frey Trail descending into Frijoles Canyon, seen from the Overlook

Even after years of visiting the park, I’ve discovered that Bandelier National Monument still has pleasant surprises concealed within its boundaries. Bandelier is one of the most popular day trips out of Santa Fe, just about an hour’s drive west of town, and most visitors feel amply rewarded with an excursion to the cliff dwellings in Frijoles Canyon, and the pleasant walks along the little Rito de Frijoles, burbling in the shade of the singing Ponderosa pines and the warm glowing walls of the Bandelier Tuff. But the park has an extensive network of trails throughout its bounds, and some of these are easy walks that give a different perspective on the way the Ancient Ones lived – and which will reward you with some wonderful views of Frijoles Canyon and the archeological sites it shelters.

This Sunday’s adventure started near the old Amphitheater not far from the entrance to the Park. On my last visit to Bandelier I walked down the Frey Trail, which is the pre-1939 way of getting down into Frijoles Canyon, and at the brink of the descent, admired a precipice of Bandelier Tuff off to the west:

Descending into Frijoles Canyon on the Frey Trail

A closer look at the map showed another trail not far from this one, that actually leads to the top of this cliff. It’s called the Tyuonyi Overlook Trail, and of course I immediately made a mental file to have a walk on it on my next visit to the Park. This past Sunday was a perfect opportunity for a winter hike on the sunny flanks of the Jemez Mountains, and after throwing a few things in the day pack, made the short drive west to Bandelier and the Juniper Campground just inside, where the trail begins.

The sign at the trailhead

Your walk begins in a grove of fragrant Ponderosa:

Off on our adventure

Much of the walk winds across the dry, sparsely wooded top of the plateau just north of Frijoles Canyon, which still shows signs of stress from our drought around 2005. There are a surprising number of archeological sites up here, with small interpretive signs to enhance your stops:

Partially excavated ruins just off the Tyuonyi Trail, up on the mesa

There are more modern cultural features up here too, like this rustic corral:

A corral near the old CCC Amphitheater

Distant views of the volcanic mountains that surround Bandelier lie off to the south and west:

The San Miguel Mountains and sharp Boundary Peak southwest of Bandelier

In only 45 minutes of easy walking you reach the Overlook, perched high above the ruins of Tyuonyi Pueblo:

Looking down from the Overlook at Tyuonyi and the Visitor Center

This is a perfect place to sit and contemplate the vast history, cultural and natural, of old New Mexico.

Contemplating the past

The Tyuonyi Overlook Trail loops back to the trailhead across the mesa so you don’t have to retrace your steps back to the Amphitheater. There are beautiful views up Frijoles Canyon:

Looking west up Frijoles Canyon

And dizzying ones down:

Just above the ladders to Alcove House, looking down

Bandelier, like all National Parks and Monuments, is a wild place at heart, and evidence of the more brutal side of Nature isn’t hard to find:

A murder site along the trail, thoroughly picked over

Past and present mingle to thoughtful eyes. Modern pine cones holding new life lie over a bed of the Cajete Pumice that showered over the mesa perhaps only 40,000 years ago:

Pine cones and pumice littering the mesa

The return trail winds through an airy forest of Ponderosa before returning you to your car:

Fire and drought-thinned forest typical of the Pajarito Plateau

This was a very rewarding walk, and a perfect one for a late winter day in New Mexico when you need to get out for some sunshine and exercise, but don’t feel like facing the icy and somewhat muddy trails in Sangre de Cristo Mountains nearer Santa Fe. So be sure and put the Tyuonyi Overlook Trail on your mental list of things to do when you come visit us!

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Winter Adventures in Santa Fe

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 by The Santa Fe Naturalist

Fellow travelers above Aspen Vista

The mountains above Santa Fe have been getting just about as much snow as anyplace in the Rockies this winter, and if you’re in the mood for a winter adventure, New Mexico is the place to come! Ski Santa Fe is having a stellar season:

The top of the hike, at the Quad Lift of Ski Santa Fe

With yet another coating of fresh powder last Friday – and soft flurries all weekend – I decided to get out the snowshoes and make a trek up the mountain and see things for myself. I chose Aspen Vista as my starting point, and at the spur of the moment decided to take a route straight up the mountain, where a path had been broken in the fresh snow, leading in an inviting way through the spruce and aspen:

Into the woods

The great thing about snowshoeing is, first, you can wander through the forest almost any way you please, far above the tangle of fallen timber and other obstacles on the forest floor, and second, you have the traction to ascend steeper slopes without switchbacking along a trail. (Of course, you have to have the stamina to ascend – and I was beginning to have some second thoughts around 11,000 feet altitude!)

It’s always worth it. I passed through hypnotic groves of aspen with violet shadows on the snow:

Aspen and light

I came upon a completely unexpected meadow and had a chat with some fellow adventurers and their dog:

The unexpected meadow. A good place to break out the thermos!

Santa Feans have an obsession with spiral shapes – I don’t know how many stone spiral mazes I’ve come across hiking in our mountains – and there was a veritable Stonehenge of a spiral, built of snow, at the top of the meadow:

Snow circles

Persistence paid off with marvelous views into Big Tesuque and its cloud-shrouded ridge:

The view south into Big Tesuque at the top of my climb

The path ended at the boundaries of Ski Santa Fe near the Quad Lift, with many happy skiers:

Ski Santa Fe - the Quad lift and slopes beyond

After a little rest, it was time to head back down the mountain (at a far faster clip!)

The path back down the mountain, through the spruce

And then home, for a well-earned rest.

It looks like conditions are going to be favorable all winter here in Santa Fe, so make some plans to get out in the snow while you’re here. Unlike skis or snowboards and their accessories, snowshoes are inexpensive to rent, and you can pick up a pair or two right on your way up the mountain from town, at Cottam’s, in Hyde State Park, about half way up to the snowy places.

Even if you choose not to get on the path less traveled, don’t rule out a short hike along some of our high country trails while you’re here in the winter. A day or two after a snow, many trails, like Aspen Vista are compacted sufficiently for an enjoyable walk in regular hiking shoes.

This could be you!

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Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument

Sunday, January 29th, 2012 by The Santa Fe Naturalist

The classic view: Seven Dwarfs Overlook

One of the most remarkable hikes you can make in the entire American Southwest is all of about 40 minutes drive southwest of Santa Fe, in one of our newest National Monuments, Kasha-Katuwe. This phrase means “white cliffs” in the Keresan language spoken by Cochiti Pueblo, which you will drive through on your way over to the Monument. For those of us around here it’s always been known as “Tent Rocks” – for obvious reasons, as you can see from the photograph above. It’s an amazing geological window into an apron of white volcanic tuff ejected from one of the older volcanic centers in the Jemez Mountains, and its display of bizarre “hoodoos”, or earth pillars, is about as perfect as any on the planet.

The drive into Tent Rocks is well marked now, and since its induction into the Federal Park System, the road from Cochiti to the parking area has been completely paved. There is an entrance station where a $5 charge per vehicle will be taken, and once you get to the parking area, you’ll find plenty of paved spaces, some shelters, an interpretive kiosk, and a restroom. There are two trails in the park, one short loop that takes you to a small habitation carved into the soft tuff, similar to ones in Bandelier National Monument, and another, a little over a mile and a half long, that takes your into a beautiful slot canyon and then out again, and then up a mesa for some of the most expansive views in the Southwest.

The view as you start your walk

After crunching across a short distance of soft pumice underlying the typical juniper biota of this part of New Mexico, the trail will veer into a much more enclosed canyon:

Entering the canyon

There’s an unusual assemblage of vegetation here, highlighted by the white tuff. A few Ponderosa Pines thrive by virtue of water channeled by the canyon. An almost endemic species of manzanita grows here and nowhere else I’ve seen in the region. At the appropriate time of year, in May, you’ll see cholla cactuses blooming in every shade of magenta, prickly pear in festive yellow, with their rose-like extravagance of stamens, clusters of hedgehog cactus in scarlet bouquets, and sidebells penstemon flowering on short spikes growing out of impossibly arid slopes.

Soon the canyon literally closes over your head:

The Slot Canyon

It is extremely narrow in places and you might find yourself walking sideways. This is NOT a place to be caught during a summer thunderstorm. On this visit, a layer of icy snow, covered in wind-blown grit, actually smoothed the walk through this confined place.

Overhanging walls of volcanic tuff

This part of the walk has an almost cave-like feel. Eventually the slot opens again into a light-drenched Shangri-La of desert landforms:

A pyramid of tuff

Everywhere you turn there seems to be a photographic opportunity. You’ll start channeling your inner Ansel Adams before you know it:

A spire of tuff

The trail turns again, shortly, and you’ll begin your ascent onto the mesa that crown the Monument:

Ascending the mesa

In summer you’ll be reaching for your water bottle at this point. In winter, you’ll probably be wishing you’d put on crampons; this part of the hike faces north and there are some treacherous places, slippery with ice.

Once on top, however, the views are unsurpassed:

This could be you!

Every mountain range in Northern New Mexico is on display, in panoramic vistas.

Looking back toward Santa Fe

Looking into the Jemez Mountains, with the canyon below.

If you have any interest in geology, Kasha-Katuwe is an imperative stop. Almost every way that volcanic pyroclastics can be deposited is displayed here, from air falls of tephra, to pyroclastic flows, to volcaniclastic aprons laid down by floods. If you’re interested in landforms, well, the place speaks for itself. Be sure and get a copy of the High Desert Field Guides for Kasha-Katuwe before you go!

Whatever you do, bring the camera:

Light

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The Coyote Call Trail

Sunday, January 15th, 2012 by The Santa Fe Naturalist

Looking north into the Valle Grande from the Coyote Call Trail

The winter light is so beautiful here in northern New Mexico that every weekend calls out for a walk somewhere in the country. This weekend was no exception, and that intriguing volcanic range on Santa Fe’s western skyline, the Jemez Mountains, was particularly seductive – the range catches snow as if to cool down its hot and turbulent past, and the great caldera in its heart, with its vast meadows, simply radiates light on a clear winter day.

Much of this range is protected now by the Valles Caldera National Preserve. Under the terms of its establishment with the Federal Government, the preserve must attempt to pay for itself through a variety of services to the public. There’s no charge to drive though it, but it is not a National Park – yet – and you generally can’t go hiking just anywhere you like without making arrangements and paying a small fee. There are, however, some short and delightful trails on its perimeter that are free, and a friend and I decided to check out one we’d driven past many time before – the Coyote Call Trail.

This is a popular trail for viewing elk, of which the preserve has an enormous population, and in the winter it makes a wonderful loop for snowshoeing or cross-country skiing. Openings in the forest give views north of the Valle Grande and its crown of volcanic domes:

At one time this vast meadow held a crater lake, and today, its dense lake-bed soil and the fact that the basin traps cold air inhibits the encroachment of the forests on the surrounding mountains. Small creeks wind their way across the Valles, meandering in a lazy way until they find exit through the rugged lavas to the southwest. These are buried in ice and snow now, although we did see one ponded spring, apparently fed by volcanically-heated water, covered in happy waterfowl.

This trail just cries out for a saucer sled, to speed you back to your car:

Views through the trees on the east end of the trail (where we were stopped by uncompacted snow) show the Sierras de los Valles that cradle the Valle on its east side, and form the western backdrop to Los Alamos on the other side:

As you can see, this ridge has been severely burned by the Las Conchas Fire, the largest of all the fires that ravished New Mexico this spring. There’s very little of this loop that hasn’t been scorched, so if you are wanting to visit a verdant forest this summer, this walk isn’t for you. It’s still beautiful in the winter, and the animals haven’t forsaken it:

Sketching odd animal tracks on the snow

There are plenty of untouched groves that will seed future growth:

A pristine aspen grove

And the views are marvelous. Look how small the Valle Preserve Staging Area – the visitor’s center just right of the La Jara dome – looks, swallowed up by the snowy meadow:

The smallest lava dome in the Preserve, with the Staging Area to its right

Oh – we did see a coyote. He wasn’t on the trail – he was out in the Valle Grande hunting rodents under the snow – but I wanted to mention it. These mountains never fail to hand you a wildlife encounter.

View through a clearing

A natural sculpture of fire and ice

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From Stardust to Sardine Cans: a guided walk in the Cerrillos Hills

Saturday, December 3rd, 2011 by The Santa Fe Naturalist

One of the most common cultural artifacts found in the Cerrillos Hills

Consilience. That’s the word I suspect was trembling on the lips of our guide for the afternoon, Ranger Sarah Woods, as she led us for a walk with that eye-catching title, along a dusty, juniper-dotted trail in Cerrillos Hills State Park, Sunday afternoon. Consilience literally means a “jumping-together” of knowledge, and when you’re wanting to link stardust with rusty old sardine cans from late 1800′s, while standing in the arid hills of the oldest mining district in New Mexico, you need all the jumping together you can get.

The biologist E. O. Wilson revived that unusual word in his 1998 book “Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge“, and appropriately enough, Sarah’s background is ecology, one of those sciences that concerns itself with the way organisms relate to each other and their environment. Perfect for taking the big-picture, “how does this relate to that” viewpoints so necessary when you need to relate stardust to sardine cans. Or to turquoise, or bald-faced lying miners, or old holes in the ground, or State Parks in New Mexico, for that matter.

We met in the parking lot of the Cerrillos Hills State Park, about half an hour’s drive south of Santa Fe, just off the famous “Turquoise Trail“, NM Highway 14, the picturesque back way to Albuquerque from Santa Fe.

That's Sarah Wood, our ranger and guide for the afternoon

Cerrillos Hills State Park is the newest park in New Mexico’s state park system, and its network of trails is dotted with helpful interpretive signs. The park also features a remarkable calendar of guided walks with naturalists and historians for the daylight hours, and, for those of you wanting to explore the night sky, a dedicated ranger-astronomer with telescopes hosting frequent evening excursions into the Universe.

One of the new signs at Cerrillos Hills State Park

Soon we were off on the Jane Calvin Sanchez trail, up a dusty path of crumbling shale, the once-murky, muddy floor of an ancient sea, now baking in the New Mexico sun.

On our way

Sharp eyes can find marine fossils from the Cretaceous Period in these fragments of shale. And while these rocks are baking in the sun these days, it wasn’t long ago – geologically speaking – that they were broiling in the heat of violent intrusions of scalding magma, forced up from the lower crust as New Mexico began to decompress after all that “building the Rocky Mountains” business. I mean, 34 million years ago is the new 20, don’t you agree?

The forcefulness of these intrusive episodes can be gauged by the completely upended strata – shouldered aside by wedges of magma – that you see on your drive down to the park, at New Mexico’s little “Garden of the Gods”, on Highway 14 just before you get to the village of Cerrillos:

Colorful tilted strata along the edge of the Cerrillos Hills intrusive complex

These magmas carried up the traces of gold, silver, lead, copper, and other elements which gave birth to the Cerrillos Hills and Ortiz Mountain mining districts.

All of this is stardust, you know. Giant stars, bloated with hydrogen and contaminated with the 91 heavier elements born via long-acting and complex thermonuclear reactions, carry the seeds of their own destruction by virtue of their massive size (And we’re talking big – Sarah showed us pictures). When these stars finally implode/explode under their own stupendous, self-inflicted gravity, they fling these elements as dust and gas out into the universe. And in the course of time, some of this material is gathered into new stars and planets, among which is one system with a modest star and a planet we call home.

Peering at the Ortiz Mountains in the glare of our own little star

To find out what this has to do with rusty sardine cans littering the New Mexico desert, you’re going to have to go on Sarah’s walk, yourself. There are all sorts of fascinating side-tracks related to these cans, such as these holes in the hills:

A mineshaft dug into bleached rock in the Cerrillos Hills

And the presence of this rather attractive mineral:

Fragments of turquoise found in these hills - and mined for centuries

Plus it’s pleasant just to be out here, under the vast – turquoise – skies:

A walk in the Cerrillos Hills

So have a look at that calendar of events and choose something that piques your interest. It’s all related, one way or another. It all hangs together. Sarah quoted John Muir: “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” Muir also made this happy observation: “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”

And to that I say, Amen.

Posted in Beautiful Day Hikes, New Mexico Day Hikes, What To Do in Santa Fe | 1 Comment »

Little things

Sunday, October 30th, 2011 by The Santa Fe Naturalist

Brightly colored autumn forbs on the forest floor

Most of the leaves have come down from the aspen in the mountains above Santa Fe, and the highest peaks are already shining with the first snows of the season. The glorious light of late fall streams over the forests now, warm and raked, dappling the trails with shadows and spotlighting the minor characters of the forest floor for a fleeting moment of fame. Often overlooked by view-seekers on summer hikes, or health-enthusiasts on their mountain bikes, the little things of the forest come into their own this time of year.

I had a meditative walk on the Chamisa Trail not far from town last Sunday and I gave these small players my attention for the afternoon.

Shadows along the Chamisa Trail

Light sifting through the canopy picked out late season flowers here and there:

Harebells defying the frost

A patch of columbine taking in the afternoon rays

A choir of asters looking up from the leaf litter

The dour oaks throw off their usual reticence this time of year, and give a grudging blush of color:

Gambel oak at trail's edge

Aspen leaves shine on the ground like golden coins:

Leaves on stone

Even the cool conifers take on a warmer hue:

A spray of Ponderosa needles

So go have a walk this afternoon and keep your eye out for those little things. It’s their time to shine!

Autumn light

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New Mexico Studio Tours

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 by Santa Fe Red

One of the best things about autumn in New Mexico is the chance to wander to the artists’ studio tours that occur throughout the fall months. Not only is the weather truly superb, one can meet the artists, see their studios AND buy art direct from the artist without gallery fees…a real win-win! The month of October is prime time for weekend art touring and golden aspen viewing both.

Autumn Gold

The arts touring season starts the weekend of October 1-2, in the beautiful New Mexico village of El Rito, easily one of the prettiest spots up north. With 25 years under their belts, this bunch of artisans has it down. From weaving to santeros, painting to pottery, you’ll find much to admire from the 26 participating artists. Two venues are also stops on the new, state-wide New Mexico Fiber Arts Trail, those of Julie Wagner (#3) and Northern New Mexico Community College (#5), which boasts a fiber arts program. Yes, this pristine little village does have a college….and let’s not forget that El Rito Library promises “Death by Chocolate” desserts!

House Facade: Photo by Larry Sparks, El Rito

El Rito Studio of Michael Hennerty

October 8-10 (since Monday is Columbus Day, this tour has an extra!) welcomes art lovers to the village of Abiquiu, long renowned as Georgia O’Keeffe’s choice for the best New Mexico real estate. With 34 stops along the way, the Abiquiu Studio Tour is always well-attended, not only for the art but also for the natural beauty of the region. One can easily spend hours up north, what with O’Keeffe’s residence and Ghost Ranch both in the area. While reservations must be made in advance to tour the O’Keeffe home, the glories of Ghost Ranch are evident for all who care to go there.

Mujeres del Campo by Armando Adrian-Lopez, Abiquiu

Ruina del Santuario, Abiquiu: Photo by Armando Adrian-Lopez

The Galisteo Studio Tour claims the following weekend, October 15-16. Just a short drive from downtown Santa Fe, the tour is celebrating its 24th year. 31 stops guarantee a variety of works, and the close-in location means you can ruminate on a piece of sculpture or a painting and then return the next day after you’ve dreamt about how it will look when you bring it home. Four food stops mean snacking is possible. And while the art doyenne of Galisteo, Priscilla Hoback, is not participating in the tour this year (since her studio time this summer was spent instead in a restaurant kitchen, bringing the venerable Pink Adobe back to life), you may see her chatting with visitors from the swing on the front porch of her studio!

The Hoback Studio in Galisteo

Sculpture by Candyce Garrett, Galisteo

The Dixon Studio Tour hunkers down and waits until November 5-6 to have the weekend to itself. If you’re taking a day trip to Taos, stopping in Dixon for a spot of art is definitely worth the short detour. 30 years is a long time to perfect the occasion, and the Dixon artists open their tour with a reception on Friday, November 4 at 7:00p.m. just to get the creative juices flowing. 35 studio stops, roving musicians, food, and believe it or not, there’s even a winery for tastings!

Art and nature…it’s easy to see why the light and the landscape have drawn so many creative souls to northern New Mexico…take time to enjoy an autumn drive and discover for yourself!

Tags: Art in Santa Fe, free things to do in santa fe, Native American Art, Santa Fe, Santa Fe Weather, to do in new mexico, To Do in Santa Fe, Visiting New Mexico, visiting santa fe
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Upper Tesuque Creek

Monday, August 22nd, 2011 by The Santa Fe Naturalist

The view down the Tesuque Creek watershed, toward Santa Fe

It’s been wonderful being able to hike again in the mountains above Santa Fe, and maybe even more wonderful that the summer rains have finally come through for us. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains east and north of town have gotten soaking rains most afternoons, lately, some of them jazzed up with spectacular pyrotechnics. The grateful forests are swollen and vibrantly green with the showers, and grateful hikers are enjoying the newly opened trails.

The last couple of weekends I’ve made some hikes in the Rio Tesuque watershed. Many of the Forest Service Trails near town traverse this drainage, or depart from it: the Chamisa Trail, much of the lower Winsor Trail, Borrego, Bear Wallow, Big Tesuque, and all of Aspen Vista. I’ve been parking at the Big Tesuque Campground lately, and walking up that part of the trail that heads east to join Aspen Vista, and beyond, up to the “Butterfly Meadow” and, yesterday, all the way up to Tesuque Peak.

Even a short walk will bring you intimate rewards. Late summer flowers are in bloom along the creek:

Asters in a meadow along Tesuque Creek

Butterflies abound.

A Variegated Fritillary enjoying a thistle

There are places to sit and listen to the falling water that have all the serenity of a Japanese garden:

Sprays of grass along Tesuque Creek

More strenuous efforts to climb higher will bring the usual rewards:

A rustic bench thoughtfully constructed on Tesuque Ridge

Views from these elevations often show intriguing meadows that you rarely see from the lower trails, even if they happen to pass nearby. Here’s a little Shangri La of a meadow on the flank of Aspen Peak that is isolated from any path:

A meadow on the flank of Aspen Peak, above Ski Santa Fe

You might have noticed that the atmosphere in these photos is completely sodden with moisture, very typical of August in the Southern Rockies. Although I was spared any rain, much later in the afternoon this humidity discharged itself in a stupendous cloudburst over Santa Fe, flooding the streets and washing away the lingering remnants of this year’s Indian Market.

At the very crest of Tesuque Peak the land drops abruptly away into a cirque that cradles Santa Fe Lake and the headwaters of the Santa Fe River. Look at the spectacular view:

In the clouds on Tesuque Peak

Trust me. For a few amazing moments the clouds parted and this scene took on a Technicolor clarity that had to be seen to be believed. And then it was gone, back into the void. The Donovan lyrics sprang to mind: “First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is”. I realize these lines refer to a deeper spiritual reality – consult the Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra for details – but it was nice to see things manifest in sunlight and stone.

So come see us. The mountains may not be eternal, but they’ll be here for you.

Posted in Beautiful Day Hikes, New Mexico Day Hikes, Santa Fe Day Hikes | 2 Comments »

The Galisteo Basin Preserve

Monday, May 9th, 2011 by The Santa Fe Naturalist

The vast and beautiful Galisteo Basin, south of Santa Fe

After a rather turbulent early spring with freezing nights, cold winds, and almost no moisture, the days are finally warming up here in Santa Fe. It has looked like spring since mid-April, but it certainly hasn’t felt like it. But now May has arrived and the sun is beginning to triumph, and the west wind can bring a sudden taste of the desert to the city. If you’re here for a visit conditions couldn’t be nicer. (If you’re trying to get the garden started, you may have another opinion).

It’s always important to take a break from washing windows and putting up the screens and getting the soaker hoses laid in the vegetable patch, and on Sunday a friend and I drove about 16 miles south and east of Santa Fe to check out the relatively undiscovered Galisteo Basin Preserve. We took along a picnic lunch rather than the usual backpack fare:

Picnic under a grizzled old juniper

One can be civilized even in the Wild West.

The Galisteo Basin is a basin in two senses of the word. Geographically it looks like a basin: a vast open bowl of juniper-grassland with pinon-dotted hills, surrounded by blue ridges of low mountains. No canyons gash its gentle lines. The surrounding highlands give it a protected feel, unlike the exposed and open spaces of the Great Plains further east. People feel comfortable here. There are old villages like charming little Galisteo, and modern housing developments of an open plan are springing up, and no doubt there are ancient pueblos hidden from view by the passage of time.

Geologically the Galisteo Basin is a basin as well. When the Rocky Mountains were first born around 65 million years ago, the uplifts of ancient continental crust were paired with areas of subsidence that received the sediment shed from the growing highlands. The birth of the modern Rockies is called the Laramide Orogeny by the geological crowd, and the Galisteo Basin is a classic Laramide Basin. The climate was warm and mild in those days, subtropical with moisture blown in from the Pacific, unblocked by the Sierra Nevada (or for that matter any of California, which hadn’t been assembled yet) and rivers, lavish by our current New Mexico standards, brought plenty of mud, sand, and gravel down from the verdant new Sangre de Cristo. You can still find fossilized palm logs in the tiny riverbed of Galisteo Creek.

Conditions are much different now. We’re high and dry, and there’s not a palm tree to be seen:

The view southwest from our picnic

As more people move into this pleasant part of New Mexico, efforts are being made to preserve the Basin’s viewscape, and to give opportunity for public access and recreation.

A good example of sensitive multiple-use planning

Although our picnic was nice, gusty and nonstop winds brought on by afternoon warming put just a few too many positive ions into the air for human pleasure, and neither one of us felt like lingering after our repast. But the views were wonderful and the break in routine welcome, and no doubt we’ll be back out this way on a calmer day, to explore the trails so carefully laid out in this beautiful piece of the Old West.

The view back toward Santa Fe and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

Getting there:

The Galisteo Basin Preserve is south and east of Santa Fe, off of State Road 285, about 16 miles from town. 285 leaves Interstate 25 east of Santa Fe, after about 9 miles, and heads south through the planned community of Eldorado. The unpaved pullout to the Galisteo Natural Preserve can be found just off to the right of 285 very shortly after you cross the rail spur that cuts across the road (clearly signed with overhead signals). The entrance to the Preserve is also signed.

A link to activities.