cyberhobo

On our way home we investigate this short nature trail. It looks like it’s geared toward bird watching, and there aren’t many birds now. I wonder if my leg will feel better after a short rest, but unfortunately it doesn’t.

Yesterday was a strange day of driving around, changing our minds about our destination, not hiking, and ending up on a gorgeous high ridge in the Jemez near Forest Road 376. This road is closed in the winter, and there is a hot spring 6 miles up it. That’s a longer hike than we had…

After our work day Ann takes me to this trail near a tiny town between Santa Fe and Madrid. I’m just wanting some exercise, but this turns out to be quite beautiful. The trail is clearly intended to be a tour of old mines, but the sky is soft, the air is warm, and the…

After a very quiet, pleasant night by the Rio Chama we hike up the mesa across from Ghost Ranch. The top is close to the “official” Continental Divide Trail route. I’ve always thought that a through hiker would have to be crazy to stay on the official trail and skip Ghost Ranch. That opinion still…

It feels like it may actually be a little chilly today, but by the time we drive up to Ghost Ranch the weather is once again sunny and the perfect temperature for hiking. We hiked through Ghost Ranch on our CDT hike, and it’s interesting to come back and be disoriented, seeing things differently from…

The Dale Ball trail system is an intricate network of trails that cover the lower foothills east of Santa Fe. They’re nice little trails, well signed, wending through the backyards of the posh hillside neighborhoods of Santa Fe. There are nearly endless variations possible. My hike today hits 24 separate trail junctions, out of 41…

The balmy weather continues as we make our way up to Taos Ski Valley. This is much more of a resort area, and the general steepness of the terrain gives it an adventurous feel. We figure that the sense of adventure might extend to an embrace of backcountry skiers, but on our way up we…

Stuffed with delectable victuals from my friend Capn Bill in Dixon, we continue our freeloading tour of New Mexico ski areas with Sipapu. This is a very small, low-key hill. You can get an RV site with your lift ticket here. We’re tempted, but we stick with our hiking MO. These slopes are definitely the…

Today the sun is luxurious. It’s almost too hard to get going in the drowsy warmth, but we make it up to Pajarito for an afternoon run. We climb lazily, and I forget to take pictures of the bright day. The snow up here won’t survive many more days like this. My camera experiments aren’t…