Birthday hike

Last Sunday, my two sons and I went on a hike in the Sandia Mountains, not too far from our house because that's what I wanted to do for my birthday, before I get too old, ;).

I packed up some water (2 bottles), a couple of granola bars, two apples, a bag of carrots and sugar snap peas, and a couple of string cheeses. I knew Trevor was packing snacks but I wasn't sure if Ross was. I brought along my rain poncho because it had been misting in the morning and it still looked like it might rain some more. I brought along a sweatshirt because it was chilly, and I wore my handmade alpaca hat, just because. After I loaded everything into my backpack, along with my camera and some other odds and ends, I thought that maybe I was overpacking. After all, we were only going five or six miles in just a couple or so hours. Oh well, I thought, better to be prepared, than not. Right?

Around 11:00 we arrived at the trail head and this deer or elk skull had been placed on the mountain lion and bear warning signs. Kind of eerie, huh?

I took a photo of the map because you just never know if you might need it. This map is actually covering the entire mountain. Our plan was to do the little red triangle in the bottom right corner, the Faulty Loop Trail.

 Along the way, there is a small waterfall and some little caves which the boys had to explore.

Here's a misty view of the nearby village.

My youngest son always has to ham it up for the camera.

Besides seeing the edges of my backpack and my "borrowed" walking stick, which I happily picked up at the trailhead, I wanted to show you how the plants grow in rocks around here.

I just love this tree. Can't you just see all kinds of mythical, magical things in it? I mean, I see a long beak-faced woman kneeling with her arms up, reaching for the sky. Do you see the elephant, or warthog, with the tusk? Can you see the green man's face right next to it? Okay, well, I guess I have a vivid imagination, then.

There were a few flowers along the way, nestled in amongst the rocks.

Here is part of the trail we hiked. This was one of the lesser rocky areas. Isn't it pretty?

 Here's an artistic view of a tree. 

It was cloudy and cool but it never did rain. It felt like an Autumn day without the fall colors, just a perfect day for a hike.

This fallen log makes a perfect, natural bridge across the gully, doesn't it?

Unfortunately, we came across several more deadfall trees across our trail, like the one in the photo below, which we had to climb over. It's much larger than the photo makes it appear. We wondered why the path appeared so little used and then we suddenly realized we were on the wrong trail! When we  stopped for lunch, there was an intersection of three trails. We chose the trail to the right when we should have done a 320 degree turn back onto the lower trail. Oh no! After thinking that we were so close to the end, I was devasted when I realized we had miles still to go. By now, my ankle was hurting and I was tired. I felt like I had "hit my wall." My younger son gave me good advice from his trek guide days. He said, "Never think about getting to the end of the trail until you are actually finished, in camp, or driving home, because you just never know how much further you might really have to go." It's true, I was so looking forward to being done and now I had to keep on hiking. We took a break, ate some snacks, and started back. Until now, I was actually doing better than I had hoped for. I was wearing my ankle brace and it only hurt on the extreme "ups" and downs" because my bad ankle just doesn't flex much yet.

We passed this little hut made of old tree limbs and wondered who had made it? Trevor had to go check it out inside.

We checked the map on my camera and found where we had made the wrong turn. In the end, we found it easier to backtrack the whole way out. This is a big mountain with lots of trails but it amazes me how easily one can get lost. The trails look alike after a while and directions can be misleading. I was actually thankful for the excess of food and water just in case we had to spend the night, or something. I went on this trail by myself a few years ago and made a wrong turn and ended up several miles up from where I started, probably the same route we just made. I certainly didn't expect to make any wrong turns this time, however, with my sons along. I think it's called the Faulty Loop because there is a flaw in the map; it's not really a loop at all. LOL.

We did make it out shortly after four o'clock. Not too bad for my first hike, only four and a half months after breaking my ankle. We celebrated our return to civilization with burgers, cokes, and fries at Carl's Jr. I wasn't too terribly tired yesterday, but boy, today, I'm feeling the pain. It takes me a few steps to get my muscles moving and walking normally again. My hips and upper thighs sure got a work out.
What a goofy family shot, huh??

It's happening outside

My boys and I arrived late Friday night at my mom's house in northern new Mexico. We gave her a bouquet of flowers and some birthday presents. Of course, we sang Happy Birthday and watched her blow out the candles on her birthday cake. Then we headed up to my cabin for the night. We are welcome to stay with my mom but I love my little cabin at the top of the mountain.

When we unlocked the shutters on the windows in the morning we saw my lodger sleeping under the window boards. He takes a little while to wake up. Then he flys away for the time we are at the cabin but he comes back when we leave.
We had egg burritos with sausage, green peppers, cheese and salsa and freshly brewed coffee for breakfast. Then it was time for a little work.
A couple of years ago my husband cut an enormous pine tree down that was growing too near the cabin. This was taken last fall and it doesn't do it justice. The tree is much bigger than it looks. The base is easily 2 feet across. This is a view of THE TREE from inside my cabin. This is the upper part. You can see how close it is to the cabin. If it had fallen wrong it would have taken down the cabin.It still needs to be cut up for firewood. Ross is quite handy with a chainsaw so he went to work at it. However, our big chainsaw wasn't acting properly and the small one wasn't big enough to do the job so we only got the upper branches cut up on this trip. It was still a pretty good load to bring home. Here he is trying to figure out what to do with the blasted chainsaw!After the woodcutting, Ross wanted to have some fun, so he went fishing at one of the little ponds down at the bottom of the mountain. I joined him for a while but he wasn't having any luck at all.

I decided to go for a walk near my cabin. I only made it to the field next door but I took lots and lots of photos.

This vine was growing up through a pine tree. Does anyone know what kind of plant it is?

I love how the rocks are mossy and the trees grow all around them. It rained a few days earlier and this rock still had a puddle of water in it. This is a four foot high boulder that I climbed on.
Does anyone know what this cute little vine is called?
Look at all these young pine trees! They're all about 2-4 feet tall.

I love how all these branches are so crooked. Unfortunately, they look like dead trees so we'll need to take them down.
This pretty pine tree is growing up through the branches of the other trees.The ranchers were very creative in the old days, using anything they could for fencing.

There is a whole art on barbed wire. Every rancher twisted his a little bit differently.
I came across some scat, a lot of scat actually! This pile was huge!!! This is only a few hundred yards from my cabin. Seeing that, and then another pile near it, I decided it was time to return to my cabin.

Later in the day, my boys were driving away from my mom's house at the bottom of the hill and they saw a black bear run across the road in front of the truck. It was huge, they said, 300-400 pounds! Judging from the pile of scat I saw, I would agree.

Here's a picture of Trevor, kicking back and enjoying the cabin.

Soon it was time to go home again. Always, too soon!

FYI- I spoke with my mom yesterday and she saw the bear walking near her yard. She agreed that it was big! And the other day, she saw a hawk circling around near her Pug dog. He must have decided that Tobey is too big because he gave up and left. There are eagles in the area though so I guess she needs to keep an eye out for Tobey when he's outside now.

It's happening outside- song: Outside, artist: David Bowie, album: Outside