Tag: mountain hike

The Petroglyph cliff. The Mother Road episode 17

Still in Santa Fe and still just loving it here. Another hike was in order, again not a particularly long or challenging one but still good to get out and stretch some limbs.

This selection from Alltrails was La Cienaguilla loop and from the reviews it was not a huge elevation but did promise some pretty decent petroglyphs on the cliff face of the mesa.

It was a short drive from the campground….almost convenient…. 😁.The trailhead parking lot was mostly empty when we arrived…… (we definitely appreciate having the trails to ourselves when it happens..!!)

Despite reviews that say this is a hard trail to follow……we found our way fairly easily…… a flat sandy path along the base of the mesa….and then pretty much straight up…..

It was steep and rocky, but not terribly far to reach the base of the cliff….

Once there at the base….not the top…..the petroglyphs were numerous… it put me very much in mind of the pictographs in Skaha, British Colombia.

The pictures were quite fascinating…..apparently they age between the 13th and 17th century. To view more of them we had to edge our way along a rocky ledge path….

….but the further up we went, the more glyphs there were…..

Eventually we made our way up onto the top of the mesa… not a huge elevation but the view is still pretty impressive….

Taking a bit of a break from the graphics, we followed the Alltrails path around the mesa and down the other side…….

and a couple of crows that were making me very nervous as I gingerly made my way across the slope….just waiting for one of them to clonk my head……they did not……but they did keep the blogtographer amused.

Then….as we made our way down we found even more petroglyphs….

They were all just so cool……!!! and for a site that is so open they are so unspoiled. We had expected to see some more recent graffiti….but if there was any we did not see it…..and were very pleased not to.

As the day wore on the temperature began to climb….and time to call it and head home to the brave little air conditioner that could…. 😂….and a shower…!!!

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Nambe Badlands. The Mother Road episode 16

The old route 66 does a loop up through Santa Fe, adding time and distance to the journey. Even although this is the original route there was still a little bit of debate whether we should do this loop or not. We were conscious of the increasing temperatures in some of the destinations ahead of us, and the urgency of having that a/c unit repaired.

In the end we were so glad we decided to do it. We fell instantly in love with Santa Fe with its cooler climate in the mountains particularly welcome, especially with just the one air conditioner working.

The cooler clime created the opportunity to get the old legs stretched out again and Alltrails offered us a couple of likely candidates. The downside of a trip like route 66 is a lot of time sitting and driving and this far into the summer months…..the heat adds to the disincentive to be particularly active.

We picked a hike on the road up toward Taos, (Taos is on the list for a return visit 😁) Nambe Badlands. We have seen many different badlands landscapes by now but never tire of them…..they are all incredibly beautiful, and all so very, very different …

It’s a loop trail……

and we had lots of water….it was cooler than Tucumcari….but still pretty hot…!!!

There was really no shade for the truck….

….also no real hope of any shade for us on this particular trek through the coulees…….

…..and up onto the plateaus and mesas…..

……. taking every opportunity for a little shade…..

The path was well laid out and easy to follow ……..

….and the views were suitably spectacular…..

..as per the landscape we went up,

then down,

then up and down again….

…and again……

We kept up a steady pace and drank lots of water……

..it really is a spectacular landscape…breathtakingly beautiful…..and then….on the way down we met one of the local residents. Our first sighting of that old Western movie favourite, the Diamondback rattler.

I did not get anywhere near him despite encouragement from the photographer (“it’s for the blog..!!!!”) I circled around the bush. He may have been stretched out lazily in the heat, but I was not about to find out how quickly he could coil….!!!

Finally….hot, sticky and dusty we sighted the truck again……it was good to be out……but good to be done…..

……now home for a shower…!!!

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November 9th, Dogtown Trail….head in the clouds.

This was the trail recommended by the couple we met up the hill on the last walk……the weather is definitely changing now…and it was a bit of a last minute decision to do this one….it had been heavy rain all morning but we decided to go for it and so glad we did.

The trailhead is up a steep winding road from Okanagan Falls …about 20 minutes from our current home spot. The drive was up into an ‘out of the way’ little valley…and a less well travelled road.

I was finding it tough going as we headed up the hill….it did not seem that steep so I was thinking it was just cos it was quite a bit colder……by this point we are in to multiple layers of clothing….(and my newly finished latest knitting project, a very cosy double layered hat..!!!).

There was also this weird bucket/barrel swing thing hanging from a tree , in the middle of nowhere…any ideas?…anyone..?

Halfway up the path, the view is down in to a valley we did not know was there. Another chocolate box scene…as now there are the snow capped peaks behind.

As we approached the top of the hill, where the promise of more views down the other side resided….the clouds were moving in fast ( at that elevation) Mr Adventure was all for pressing on “into the clouds”…!!!

So…up in to the clouds we went……cold, slippery with poor visibility……but it was quite fascinating….silent and moody for sure….!!! But of course…no view from the top.

As we started to descend….coming back out of that cloud level was another amazing unveiling by mother natures weather department…..with the wispy cloud above us and the visible sun rays down in to the valley below……and the glinting waterways and roofs of the buildings below in full sunshine……

….and as ever….the return journey down the path reveals how steep it actually is…..leaving me strangely reassured about how hard I found the journey up. I think we are getting so used to seeing these steep grades that we are losing our sense of ‘steep’…lol…..

It turned out to be quite an exciting hike all in all…….yet another different terrain…..and another fabulous visual experience……Thanks Deb and Keith for the heads up on this one…….

Next trip out will be Hawthorne mountain….(.AKA Snowy Mountain per Mr Adventure…!!!)

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