Desert Hikes

I was greeted in Santa Fe by an unprecedented heat wave. The national park and most good hiking areas are closed due to fire danger. There is a fire raging near Durango as evidence of what can happen. Tuesday morning we got right to it with a hike somewhere. My hosts dutifully explain where we are going each day and kindly ask things like, "Do you want to hike 10 miles at 14 miles today?" I remain neutral in all decisions and just let them dictate my life for a couple of days. The Tuesday hike is a hot one. I would jokingly compare it to the Bataan Death March, but at what point is that appropriate or acceptable. I don’t imagine it would have been joked about 70 years ago. But now it’s okay. We can tell jokes about the Spanish Inquisition, about the Salem Witch Trials, even Joan of Arc at the stake. How long until we hear 9/11 jokes? Holocaust jokes?

I am slowly becoming a hiking afficionado. They used to all be similar walks in nature. Now, I rate them. Tuesday’s good hike was followed by Wednesday’s better one. Up early, we hit the trail at 6:09 am in ideal conditions. Only during the last few miles did Bataan come back to mind.  The second day’s trail was highlighted by a medallion tree. These trees dot the area, but we only saw one. Someone drills holes in the tree to determine its age then memorializes the year of its birth(?) with a medallion. 

The first day’s hike was highlighted by a rattlesnake. The sound of a snake’s rattle is real scary. And here’s a tip: when hiking in New Mexico it is only polite to let your host go in front. 

I was going to add some photos of rock formations I saw between Salt Lake and Santa Fe, but apparently I can only add photos to a post once. Your loss. We will walk the ‘hood today, but don’t think buildings and civilization. The area around here is not that different from where we’ve been hiking. Just flatter, no rocks and some houses around. 

Tomorrow: Texas.