Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. ~Lao Tzu

Mother’s Day Hike

According to Nathan, ‘normal’ moms want to go to a movie on Mother’s Day, not hike 13.5 miles, climbing into and out of a 500-foot canyon twice. Who wants to sit in a theater when I can be out on the trail with these crazies? Besides, ‘normal’ is not a word that has been used in our house in a looooong time.

Hope all the moms out there had a wonderful day!!

Ready to head out

Just keep walking…

500 foot Alamo Canyon. We went down and up, twice.

Yup, we’re going down there!

Beautiful Alamo Canyon

Company on the trail

Potsherds out at Yapashi Pueblo

With 350 rooms, 6 kivas, and a reservoir, Yapashi was the largest settlement in Bandelier.

Stone Lions

Flowers were blooming everywhere!

Cerro Grande

At 10,199 feet, the summit of Cerro Grande is the highest point in Bandelier National Monument. It is only two miles from the parking area to the summit, so it is not a very long hike, but it definitely gets your heart pumping! What a good climb! It was an absolutely beautiful hike, though, with an absolutely amazing view. I think we need to climb it again!

Just keep climbing…

The summit!

The view of Valles Caldera from Cerro Grande

Beautiful view!

Tsankawi Prehistoric Sites

The Tsankawi Prehistoric Sites are absolutely amazing. Besides the trail and scenery being incredibly beautiful, the history is fascinating.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about Tsankawi is that you are walking in ancient footpaths that were worn into the soft tuff. In some places you can even see the foot and handholds that were used to climb up the side of the hill.

Up on top of the mesa are the ruins, and in among them are countless potsherds. People have a tendency to pick them up to look at them, then they will place them all together on rocks for others to see. As you are walking along, there will be random rocks covered with pieces of pottery. We have noticed this trend at other sites as well.

There are also numerous petroglyphs along the trail. Some of them were hard to see, but others looked like they could have been done just last week…

It is not a long hike at all, perhaps a mile and a half, but being there makes you feel like you are in another world. I can imagine how beautiful the village of Tsankawi must have been back in its day…

Hiking the Canyon

Last weekend we took a drive down the road to Ponderosa Campground. From there, we jumped on the trail that would take us down into Frijoles Canyon. This happens to be the same canyon we spend a lot of time in, we were just further upstream. From the parking lot at the campground to the visitor center in the park is about eight miles, the perfect distance to get the heart pumping.

Good morning, Pretty Girl!

Of course we were not exactly expecting snow, but as we neared the campground, that is exactly what we ran into. Snow never lasts long around here, so we were not too worried about it, even if there were a couple of us in shorts. (Luckily the little girl also had pants in her bag, because she ended up putting them on!)

This tree dumped a branch of snow down our necks while getting our packs out of the car…

 Extensive flooding back in 2013 pretty much washed this trail out, but with much work from the trail team, it is almost back together. There is about a mile section in the middle through the narrows where one has to pick their own path, but overall the trail was fantastic.

Care Bears like hiking, too!

 

We hiked the Canyon Rim Trail. which you can see here, last summer.

There has been a lot of mountain lion activity in this area lately. A couple of weeks ago they even closed one of the back-country camping sections due to so much activity. Apparently mountain lions like this particular hiking trail, too! We saw lots of prints, but no kitty. That is probably a good thing, although Rob was armed with his bear spray, just in case.

Here kitty, kitty…

Once we got into the canyon, the snow was pretty much gone. This is where we eventually lost the trail and had to make our own way. We lost track of how many times we had to jump the creek! It was great fun though and it felt so good to be outside. Can’t wait to see where next weekend takes us!

The Narrows

Jump!

Feels Like Spring!

The weather on Friday and Saturday was absolutely amazing! When you stepped outside, you almost had to laugh at the groundhog, because winter was nowhere to be found!

Beautiful sun up above, but already shady in the canyon.

I walked up the Frey Trail on Friday, partly because it felt so good to be outside, and partly because Rob was walking home, so I knew I would bump into him en route. I made it to the top when he came walking towards me, and we enjoyed a nice walk down together.

After a quiet winter, it appears as though lots of people have taken this trail lately!

There have been a lot of deer and elk in the area lately, so I was kind of hoping to see some out and about, but they must have all been enjoying an afternoon nap. There was plenty of evidence of their presence, though. Maybe next time. 🙂

Summer Adventures ~ July 2016

July was another wild and crazy month in the Harper house. It started with a trip to Lubbock, Texas. This was the kids’ first time to Texas, so we were able to add it to our map! While we were there, we were able to meet up with an old friend of mine. Rhonda and I went to middle school together over in Germany about a hundred years ago, or so it seems. We both came back to the US in the summer after 8th grade, and had not seen each other since. It was great to be able to catch up and for our families to finally meet.

Liam’s long-awaited football camp finally came, only for him to be sick from a vaccination and miss almost the whole thing. I felt so terrible. Nathan ended up participating by himself while the rest of us watched from the bleachers. He had fun, but I knew it was killing Liam not to be out there with him. Nathan then participated in a week-long British soccer camp, which he really enjoyed. We also made it down to the Santa Fe Opera, which was amazing! We saw La Fanciulla del West, or The Girl of the Golden West. It was in Italian, of course, but we were able to read the English subtitles on the back of the seat in front of us. It was our very first open-air opera! Well, technically our first opera period!

Let’s see, what else? Regular days were filled with library visits, trips to the farmer’s market, swimming, small day hikes, that sort of thing. We started our back-to-school shopping and began keeping an eye on upcoming school events. The kids started getting excited to see who would be in their classes and who their new teachers would be.

And just like that, July was over. Sigh… Only a few short weeks of summer left…

Beautiful Alamo Canyon

Hiking to Alamo Canyon

Overlooking Bandelier NM

Santa Fe Opera!

Happy 4th of July!

Waiting in the park for fireworks.

Bandelier NM

Bandelier NM

Nathan at soccer camp

Football camp

Lubbock, Texas, Ranching Heritage Museum

Summer Adventures ~ June 2016

Since we are now finishing up our second full week of school (already!!), I figured I had better try and catch up on our summer activities! Of course, if I were a smart person (which obviously I am not), I would have been filling you in as we went along, but somehow time just kept getting away from me. So, better late than never… Right? Yea, we will just go with that…

I think the best way to do this is to do one month at a time. So, here we go with June!

We kicked off the summer with some camping up on the mesa, about three miles from home, and we had a blast. The days of June were filled with hiking and exploring, trips to Albuquerque for visits to the aquarium and Museum of Natural History, drives through the mountains. As the month went on, we celebrated Liam’s 13th birthday at Gravity Park, Catheryn took a week long art class at Fuller Lodge and loved it, we made regular visits to the library and farmer’s market, even got some work done on the car. And as the first full month of summer came to an end, my parents came for a visit. We had a really nice time while they were here, exploring the park, taking small drives, and just catching up.

June just flew by, but at the time we were not too worried because we knew we still had two months of summer left. What we failed to realize was that they were going to fly by just as fast…

Care Bears like camping, too!

Daddy’s boy

Rio Grande Gorge

Rio Grande Gorge

Nathan waking up from a night in his hammock.

We spent a lot of time at the track…

Ashley Pond Park

Liam’s Birthday on the Rock!

Liam’s Birthday on the Rock!

Gravity Park in ABQ.

Hiking…

My parents came for a visit!

Hiking…

ABQ Aquarium

ABQ Botanic Garden

The Scenic Route

On a beautiful Saturday, we took a drive to Albuquerque. It was National Park Week, so we figured a new park was in order. We opted to take the scenic route versus the freeway, and it was definitely worth it!

The spring greens were so vibrant and the red rock was just amazing.

Near the little town of Jemez Springs is Soda Dam. Here, mineral deposits have built up, creating a natural dam blocking the Jemez River. An underground hot spring has been flowing here for centuries.

It was a fun place to stop and explore on our way to Albuquerque.

Albuquerque has Petroglyph National Monument right in its backyard. In the visitor’s center, we watched an award winning film on the forming of the escarpment and the history of the petroglyphs, then we were ready to hit the trail.

There are a few trails to choose from, but we decided on the Piedras Marcadas Canyon hike. It was beyond amazing.

After a fun day of exploring, we had some New Mexican food at Sadie’s, then headed for home. We opted for the scenic route again, even though it was beginning to get dark. All that red rock was even more spectacular in the setting sun.

I am not sure what next weekend holds, but I do know that wherever we go, whichever direction we head, we will find something truly amazing in our path…

Quemazon Trail – Take Two

Water? Check. GPS? Check. Correct trailhead? Check. All right, let’s try this again!

Off of the Nature Trail is Cave of the Winds Trail, a small trail marked with rock cairns. The trail is less than a quarter mile, but if you can find it, it leads to a 100-foot cave. The cave entrance itself is merely a crack in the rocks, so even if you are lucky enough to find the trail, you may not be able to find the entrance. In our trail book, it took the author three trips to find it.

Lucky for us, our kids double as blood hounds, and there was no way they were missing out on this cave two weekends in a row. I just stood at the top of the trail, waiting, knowing that it was only a matter of time before someone yelled up that they found it. Sure enough, Liam was successful. “I FOUND IT!”

We were armed with flashlights, and the kids had a blast exploring the cave. It was quite amazing, minus all the spray paint, of course. But then again, the kids did get to crawl through an opening labeled the “The Birth Canal,” and that doesn’t exactly happen every day…

Once we were done exploring, we climbed the 200-feet slope back up to the trail, where Charbie was waiting somewhat patiently for us to return. I would definitely consider this trail to be “kid-friendly.” It is amazing what a difference being on the right trail makes!