The Slog

We are very thankful that we came down to ABQ to ride out the bad weather. I think we used the time well by addressing the photos on the computer. We want to move 11,000 pictures over to a separate hard-drive (we did this once before after two years on-the-road) so that We're not dealing with so many pictures when we manipulate them for use on the blog. But first, we wanted to move them to the iCloud for an additional back-up. That is the process that is taking so long because the upload is transferring the pictures in full resolution, a very data intensive procedure. Using our MiFi we uploaded about 1% of the pictures in 24 hours. Today when we went to the Apple Store and used their WiFi connection, we uploaded more than 1/3 of the pictures in 4 hours.

We've returned home from the Apple store and have continued the upload - it will probably take more than a week depending on our WiFi connections at the up-coming state campgrounds. Maybe by the time we get to Denver the process will be complete!

Here's a view of the Sandia Mountains on Friday, during the storm.

On Saturday the storm clouds had moved out and left a coating of snow on the mountains that had been clear of snow on Thursday, when we arrived.

Apple Store in ABQ where we spent much of the day. We arrived at 11:30 am, for a walk-in appointment and within 10 minutes Sarah was sitting by our side helping to diagnose the slow upload. It turned out she was knowledgeable about the iPhone so she brought over Codi to help us with the iCloud. In consultation with the Genius Bar the determination was that, yes, it was going to take a long time to upload the pictures to the Cloud. The speed was dependent on the WiFi connection so we decided to hang around in the store for a while to use Apple's wifi -bad decision!!

I have been wanting to up-grade my iPhone to a "7 Plus" with a better camera - so we don't have to be dependent on the SLR camera for decent pictures to use  in the blog. What better use of our waiting time than to shop for a new phone?!! Meet Jensen - she was our wonderful, knowledgeable guide to all thinks iPhone. She was also a super friendly, all-around pleasant person to spend time with!

I now have a new, super-pretty gold iPhone in a pink case. I think Kathryn will like it; I know Maura will love it!. It has two lenses and a portrait feature that blurs the background so the focus is all on the subject (see my Sweetie, above). Pretty good picture, huh?

Tomorrow we head north, back on schedule. We called the state park and were told that, yes, they did receive a fair amount of snow, but that the campground had been plowed out, the roads were clear, and the temperatures were expected to be in the 60s this coming week. We hope for the best!

Almost trapped!

As we mentioned at the end of yesterday's blog, we decided to abandon Angel Fire and head south, back to the ABQ area, to escape an approaching cold spell with possible snow. We almost didn't make our escape.

This morning when we awoke, we were greeted with blizzard conditions and 6 inches of snow on the ground. This was a big surprise because the weather forecast that we checked yesterday didn't say anything about snow. Our NOAA weather app showed rising temperatures through the morning and the snow diminishing around 8 am. Wrong! The temperature remained around 32 degrees and the snow kept coming. The campground owners, a young couple, knocked on our door about 9:30 am to tell us that the road back over the mountain pass to Taos was closed.

I was keeping an eye on NOAA's satellite weather picture for the area and the blue snow pattern seemed stuck over Angel Fire. By about 11 am the snow lessened and it looked like there would be a pause in the snow from about noon to 2 pm. We went online to NMroads.com to learn that the pass was open but that there was a warning of only "fair" driving conditions. We decided to make a run-for-it at 1 pm.

Snow pictures from around noon.

As you can see, the pass was down to bare pavement with some patches of ice.

We inched over the pass going about 15 - 20 mph. Fortunately there was no one behind us for most of the way. Note the highway sign, an indication of how winding the road was.

After cresting the pass, the other side was less steep

and...

we were able to increase our speed to 25 mph.

Then, all of a sudden, we were below the snow line and the trees were green. 

It took us over 30 minutes to drive the 14 miles from Angel Fire to Taos. Then it was back over the road we came up on yesterday. The scenery was the same, only in reverse. There's the Rio Grande Gorge.

The Rio Grande.

Camel Rock doesn't look so much like a camel going in this direction, but...

here's a picture of the Camel Rock Casino.

We drove past Santa Fe and 37 miles later were greeted by the Sandia Mountains on the east side of ABQ. We were happy to see them. We heard on the news tonight that it is supposed to go down near freezing in ABQ this Saturday night. We'll take that over the 12 inches of snow and 15 degrees predicted for Angel Fire.

Angel Fire

We chased this mountain range from Santa Fe, up through Taos and over to Angel Fire. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains are a segment of the southern Rocky mountains, extending from south-central Colorado to north-Central New Mexico. The Sangre de Cristo mountains were named in 1719 by the Spanish explorer Antonio Valverde y Cosio, who noted a red tint on the snowy peaks at sunrise and sunset and named the peaks for the "Blood of Christ."

Heading out of Santa Fe, traveling north.

This is the third time we have passed this hill and rock formation know as Camel Rock. We passed it before on our way to Bandelier National Monument. Across the road is a casino called the Camel Rock Casino.

High desert and mountains.

Heading into the foothills.

A river appeared beside the road...

(enlarge to see a dilapidated bridge)

which turned out to be the Rio Grande River.

A pretty full river.

We didn't stop but the scenery was...

awesome!

Coming closer to the mountains.

That's Taos at the base.

It turns out the the storm that we experienced yesterday in Santa Fe, and which brought a new coating of snow on the mountains, is bringing more cold weather the next few days and over the week-end. Here, in Angel Fire, the temperature every night is supposed to go well below freezing and on Saturday doesn't get above freezing during the day. We have decided not to stay and tomorrow will drive back down to Albuquerque. 

Rainbows over Santa Fe

It was a rainy day which turned out just fine because tomorrow is moving day and we needed to get some things done, not go out a play on the trail! So it was laundry this morning and, after going to the grocery store, making soup, two batches, and baking a loaf of walnut bread.

On the way back and forth to the laundry room we passed theses flowers. Earlier in the day all the blossoms were wide open, but when it clouded over they kind-of went into hiding.

The sky is so "big" here that it can be storming rain in one part of the sky and...

(that's the Airstream on the left edge of the picture)

  the sun can be shining in another part - a recipe for a rainbow!

We can't remember ever seeing such a vibrant rainbow. We had just returned from the grocery store and it was about 4 pm.

(there's the Benz in the bottom left corner)

Then, about 7 pm, we noticed another rainbow in a different part of the sky.

Chamisa Trail

The Chamisa Trail is a nice mountain trail close to Santa Fe, winding through an evergreen forest and ending at a beautiful grassy meadow with a boulder beside the Tesuque Creek. We've been hiking in this area quite a few times because it's close to Santa Fe.

At the saddle after a rather strenuous climb for 1 1/2-miles. A number of trails converge here and we have to figure out  the right one to take to continue to the meadow.

We chose the correct trail and here we are in the meadow beside the large boulder and...

Tesuque Creek. I note that the trees are still bare. I think that we ate our lunch beside Tesuque Creek last week, in a different meadow.

On the way back these small yellow flowers caught our eye - Oregon grape.

Today's hike:

Length - 5.05 miles

Duration - 2 hours, 26 minutes

Elevation gain - 1,200 feet (123 floors on the Fitbit)

Falls Trail & Tsankawi Village Trail

We enjoyed Bandelier National Monument so much yesterday that we returned today for some more hiking. A Ranger at the Visitor Center recommended the two trails that we hiked today - one was from the Visitor Center, the Falls Trail, and the other trail was located in another unit of the Monument 12 miles away.

We borrowed a "loaner" copy of the Falls Trail guide from the Visitor Center. We had a loaner copy for the Main Loop Trail yesterday. While yesterday's trail focused on the cultural aspects of the Monument, today's trail and guide was all about the geology and the flora. First up in the guide was a description of the Tent Rocks alongside the trail.

We had to cross the Frijoles Creek a number of times.

Our favorite wildflower - Paintbrush.

As we proceeded along the trail the canyon, with the Frijoles Creek at the bottom, got deeper and deeper on our left.

The little guide mentioned water-loving trees that grow along the creek bottom. Cottonwood and Box Elder were both mentioned. The Box Elder (the name of our town of residence in South Dakota is "Box Elder") has leave formations similar to poison ivy, three leaves.

The trail we were on used to go all the way to the Rio Grande, the milk-chocolate colored ribbon at the bottom center of the picture. But the trail was washed out a number of years ago so it is now closed off.

The viewpoint of the Upper Falls is the last site on the Falls Trail.

Tsankawi (sank-ah-WEE) is located 12 miles from the more heavily visited section of the park, Frijoles Canyon. In the 1400s, Tsankawi was home to the Ancestral Tewa Pueblo people who built homes of volcanic rock and adobe, and cultivated fields in the open canyons below. Tsankawi is located on the Pajarito (pa-ha-REE-toe, "little bird" in Spanish)Plateau.

A little over a million years ago, a volcano erupted several times, covering the surrounding area in a thick layer of volcanic ash. Once compacted, the ash formed rock known as tuff. The thick layers of tuff created a plateau that was easily cut by streams, leaving the flat mesas and steep-walled canyons.

From the trailhead, we hiked a short distance and then had to climb a ladder to ascend to the...

flat beginning of the mesa.

The trail crosses the soft volcanic tuff.

Generations of Ancestral Pueblo people carved routes across this landscape. Walking barefoot or in sandals along these routes from their mesa-top homes to the fields and springs in the canyons below wore deeper impressions into the soft stone. 

Present-day visitors with hard-soled shoes cut the trails even deeper, some trails are now waist-deep trenches. 

From the mesa-top we had a spectacular view of the surrounding area.

The village of Tsankawi has not been excavated. It contains about 275 ground-floor rooms that were one to two stories high. After the Ancestral Pueblo people moved from here the elements took their toll on the stone masonry of the pueblo. With passing time, roofs caved in and winds covered the walls with dirt. In the picture above, Frederick is standing in the central plaza of the village.

Here we are descending a 12-foot ladder to several narrow paths that lead to cavates that provided additional space for dwellings.

The people here took advantage of the benefits of building stone structures against south-facing walls. 

Most of the caves carved into the stone wall had small masonry buildings constructed in front of them 

Narrow trail to the cavates.

The thick stone walls captured the heat from the sun in the winter, keeping the buildings and cavates much warmer than the air outside.

Inside the cavates, the inhabitants may have built small fires. In the summer the walls insulated the stone rooms, keeping them somewhat cooler than the air outside. 

Stairways or hand and toehold trails like this one were cut into the stone, providing easy access to the mesa-top pueblo.

Looking back the trail to the ladder which we climbed down from the mesa-top to the trail to the cavates.

Traveling the trail along the cavates.

There were many petroglyphs carved into the rock walls. Enlarge the pictures below to see examples.

I think this may be a depiction of Kokopelli.

Frederick answered his phone on the trail and ducked into an ancient room alongside the trail.

Just below him were more cavates.

In the distance we could see other hikers exploring the cavates along the trail.

Todays combined hikes:

Length - 4.64miles

Duration - 4 hours, 4 minutes

Elevation gain - 670 feet (68 floors on the Fitbit)