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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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.…