2008 October

Through her job, Ann procures the opportunity to tour a large coal-fired power plant. I’m mostly curious as a consumer of electricity to see one of the more environmentally problematic methods of power generation up close. The San Juan Generating Station, at 1800 megawatts, would be capable of powering New Mexico by itself if it was wholly owned by the state. It’s a plant that has been criticized for air quality problems, in a county where smog levels recently exceeded federal health standards. Unfortunately I don’t think to take a picture of the very visible brown haze over the San Juan valley, but I get quite a bit of footage of the facility itself. On a brighter note, much of our tour centers on the environmental improvements being implemented as a result of a lawsuit that promise great reduction in pollution emissions. The tour guides were understandably a little touchy about the brown cloud, and suggested that the nearby Four Corners plant was probably the cause. Aside from that, these guys were very open to questions, and proud of their improvements.

To get the rest of the details, click the full screen button at the lower right of the slideshow, then “Info On” at the top:

The satellite view of the plant is a must-see:

In great contrast to the day, we finish by heading to Chaco Canyon for a clear, silent, peaceful Halloween night outdoors.

Four weeks after spraining her ankle at Sugarite Canyon, Ann got this supportive and stylish brace to help her keep from re-inflaming the injury. Now at six weeks, it seems to be working, and getting her plenty of attention from the style-conscious senior crowd at the post office. She’s no longer using a cane, and we’ve been going for short bike rides around Rancho Viejo for some much needed exercise. Life is not easy with a serious mobility limitation like this. I almost went crazy after one week of inactivity caused by my ankle cactus-spine injury. I can only hope that Ann is now on the path back to full mobility.

The day seems unreal, it’s so summery. Not a cloud in the sky, just warm enough to sweat, a little breeze rattling the dead aspen leaves. I keep questioning whether the real world is ever this nice? Could I be dreaming about hiking? The Baldy trail has a few brief steep spots descending into Apache Canyon, then climbing ridges to Glorietta Baldy. The fire lookout takes me by surprise - I hadn’t noticed it on the map - but I take advantage for a little summit footage. It’s only just past noon, so I continue up Thompson Peak before returning to the Arroyo Hondo trailhead via a slightly different route. Slides:

Today’s bike exploration is a success. After passing what might have been a no trespassing sign on a dirt road heading north from Rancho Viejo, I intersect a dirt jogging trail, as I hoped. This bends east, climbing to the Santa Fe rail line to Lamy, which has another rutted dirt track along it. I’m just barely able to follow this one on the enduro recumbent, but it takes make straight into Santa Fe as I’d hoped. The last part is even paved! I take the express route back for a nice loop.

There are an intriguing number of dirt roads surrounding my new neighborhood. My recumbent bike is no mountain bike, but I can usually handle a trail on it if things don’t get too steep or rocky. I have some high hopes for old railroad beds in the area, but the first I investigate is quickly yields a gate with a private property sign. I loop around on some decent tracks to paved roads, run some errands in Santa Fe, then hunt around the Santa Fe Community College for connecting trails. No luck there either, so today I just get my workout. It’s been long enough since I rode the recumbent to make my legs hurt!

Mom takes me on her favorite hike north of Bay City. Many different kinds of trees are turning here. Mom finds a few mushrooms, but she says the harvest has been much better in past years. We see swans from the boardwalk near the marsh, but we decide they’re the introduced variety rather than the wild kind with black beaks. Slides:

I’m visiting my mom in Michigan this week. We’re treated to this amazing autumn spectacle at a friend’s house in Ann Arbor:

There are miles of trails right out of Los Alamos that I haven’t touched yet. Most of the town is surrounded by burn areas from the 2000 Cerro Grande fire, which gives it a unique flavor. Burn areas are often pretty, but horrendous to hike through due to piles of deadfall and thorny new undergrowth. The large collection of wealthy athletes in Los Alamos makes this one burn area where there are some good maintained trails. I sally forth at 9:50am from the Mitchell Trailhead, a small two-car parking area and sign across the street from a row of large houses, thinking I should easily be able to make a 20-mile loop and be back before dark on good trails. Of course my boundless optimism will prevent that, ensuring that I crawl through a few miles of thickets, brambles, and deadfall before the day is done, and arrive back at the trailhead shortly after dark. Slides:

My first optimistic decision is to add an extra mile and a few hundred feet of climbing to see the natural arch near the Mitchell trail. I don’t regret it. Rock formations are appealing to me even when I’m not climbing them.

The burn area has a few stands of aspen left that are bright orange and yellow, some darker orange Gambel oak, and lots of stark snags to provide contrast. Because most of the new growth is low, there are plentiful views. It reminds me of the large burn area on the Continental Divide Trail in the Scapegoat Wilderness in Montana.

Up higher I return to unburned forest, a totally different world. The trail tunnels through Engelman Spruce and Aspen, clearing only occasionally for a view. Those views are now green and gold, the forest providing a totally different complement to the fall colors.

I labor up the steep climb to Caballo peak by 2pm, and feel I have time to attempt an extended loop. There’s a “route” marked on my map with a dotted line that descends Vallecito de los Caballos. I think I remember ascending it in February 1996 through snow and shaggy elk. I’ve been in the forest long enough to hope that it escaped the 2000 fire, but that is not the case. I start clambering over a few fallen trees, then more, then I’m in full-fledged thorny burn thickets. Resigned, I pick my way through. It takes so much focus, always trying to pick out the least painful route for the next twenty feet, that the time goes quickly. I even enjoy parts of it. After at least four miles of it though, I’m happy to emerge onto a road in lower Guaje Canyon.

The hiking is easy road and trail to the outskirts of Los Alamos, then it gets confusing. The town is on a mesa, and the surrounding canyons are full of ad-hoc trails. I’m fortunate to take only one wrong branch on my way back to the trailhead. The last half mile is lit by a nice half moon.

I’ve released a new plugin that I use to create the bar graphs in my blog sidebar. I’m going to try to host it almost entirely on the WordPress site, so this may be the only post about it here. Here’s the link:

Tally Graph Plugin at WordPress.org

I admire Steph Davis for her climbing, diet, and ability to express the inexorable draw one can experience toward the outdoors. The book is not as much about her personal relationships as I thought it might be given the subtitle “A climber’s guide to love and gravity”. She quotes some of the same Rumi poems that moved me most about love in its most ethereal, word-resistant forms, though. She keeps the specifics private, and that’s fine. When it comes to her affairs with the outdoors, she reveals more than enough. I felt more kindred-spirit fellowship than breakthrough insights reading this, but it inspires me to keep at my pursuits and keep reading her blog High Places. I’ll probably read the book again too.