Bandelier National Monument and Breckenridge

I know I have this tendency to write a lot, then drop off the face of the planet. It usually means that I'm traveling, or just really lazy. ;)  Last Monday after work, Tim tells me that he just found out the next day he was being sent down to Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico to do some trail assessments - which means per diem and a paid hotel... Sounds like a free vacation to me! He used to work there years ago and told me how neat it is, so I just had to go down there and check it out. Tuesday I finally got my truck back, and it's a good thing I brought it in  - we'll just say that there were some "other" things wrong with it, and I would never had made it to Glacier National Park, yet alone Alaska. Burning oil, it ends up, was the cheapest and easiest problem I had. Tim drove out early that day and by the time I got the truck back and was on the road, that huge winter storm had started its way into the Rockies and it looked like I just might need my 4x4 on the 8 hour drive. Fortunately, I took a different route than Tim and avoided the snow for the time being. Click on the photo for more pictures from my trip!

Tim worked all day during the week while I had the chance to explore the ruins of the Ancestral Pueblo people. It was pretty cool seeing the petroglyphs and remains of houses carved into the soft "tuff" rock - condensed volcanic ash, and to climb up all the slippery, snowy ladders up into the Alcove House and look out into the valley of Frijoles Canyon. The first day, I did the interpretive ruins walk that is a must-see when you visit; then I hiked down the snowy Falls Trail along the Frijoles River, which ends at the large Rio Grand River. The white snow was so beautiful against the contrast of the red rock and green cactii and agave, and the Falls Trail had the most memoriable scent of strong juniper and sagebrush - that was probably my favorite part of the whole trail was that smell. I also checked out some separate, unexcavacted ruins (which means, harder to see and coveredin plants at this point) to the northeast of the main park, and the overlook at the town of White Rock gives a great view of the mesas, canyons, and Rio Grand. It was a short, cold day of hiking and I "only" did about 9 miles of relatively easy hiking in the snow.

As soon as Tim got back from work, he exclaimed, "Let's go to the hot springs!" Ends up there are some undeveloped hot springs nearby in Jemez Springs that he used to visit when he worked for Bandelier a few years ago. It had started snowing pretty heavily that afternoon and town was just chaos - apparently New Mexicans have no idea how to deal with snow, and it seemed like there are only 2 plow trucks - but we were determined to drive the twisted road through the mountains and avoid bad drivers to enjoy the hot springs. Tim mentioned that he didn't exactly remember where it was, since the parking lot and trail are essentially unlabeled, and as the sunset early we started to wonder if we passed the lot. Finally after a few "it's gotta be right over this hill and around that corner", we reach this unmarked parking lot. The sign says it is closed after dark and "nudity prohibited", but who's gonna be out in this crazy snow storm anyway? ;)  It was getting dark when we decended and then ascended the newly rehabilitated trail to Spence Hot Springs, a short 1/4 mile down to the river then up the mountain. And there on the side of the mountain were two hot pools - undeveloped save for some man-made rock ledges and mild improvements to make it more comfortable - the upper of which was warmer at the very source (which was just behind some large boulders) and probably 98-99 degrees (we would have liked it a little warmer, but then again, it was probably 18 degrees outside and snowy!), which then cascaded down into a smaller and little cooler pool. It was crystal clear and did NOT smell like sulfur like most of them do, the bottom was smooth with sand and pebbles and it was just AWESOME! The moon was bright and the sky cleared as we enjoyed the hot springs in the dark for about an hour or so.

It was freaking COLD when we got out and immediately Tim's beard and my hair froze. The road was just a snowy mess but we blew by everybody in his 4x4 and went into town for dinner at the Blue Window Bistro, which was a little pricey but excellent. As we sat and ate, we watched the snow just pile up outside. Town was pretty quiet, probably since people don't know how to drive. ;)  I'd say we got at least 8" of snow just that night.

In the morning, we woke up and the sky was bright blue and it was beautiful! There was quite a bit of snow but we both have 4x4 so we drove out to Bandelier by 9 am... onlyto find that they were closed while one guy plowed the whole park. I was planning on going on a long hike so I needed to hit the trail early if I wanted to be done before they closed the gates at sunset... but they let us in and I was on the trail by 9:45. I planned on about a 13-14 mile hike up to Frijolito, another ruins site up on top of the mesa, then hiking along the mesa to the start of Frijoles Canyon, decending down into the canyon and following the river back to the trailhead at the visitor center. It was cold but I was dressed well and the sun was bright and warm; I trudged up the switchbacks and along the trail in 4-6" of snow, the only other tracks along the trail from the elk, deer, rabbit, and some unknown animal (seemed like a wildcat to me). Really wasn't much to see of the ruins up here because they too were unexcavated and covered in vegetation, but it was a great view on the excavated site down in the valley. I did finally see the four elk that I had been "tracking" as I hiked, which were the only living things I shared the trail with the whole day.

I was warm and ambitious for the first 5-6 miles... then I started getting tired of the uphill/downhill rambling before I reached the point where the trail decends into the canyon. The snow made it harder than I thought it would! But finally I dropped down from the relatively open sunny mesa-top down into the cooler, shaded canyon bottom. I was still pretty warm until probably mile 8-10, when the lack of sunshine, the dense trees and the dropping temperatures made my jeans freeze. Still though I was doing pretty well, just getting tired... and it seemed like I would never get out of that canyon! The trail crossed over the river at LEAST 15 times, and there were never any real bridges - either a log or maybe a couple stepping stones, sometimes just a leap of faith - which was even more challenging because the snow hid the shape of the rocks, which were sometimes too pointy and slick to stand on, or it hid the river bank so I wasn't sure how far I had to jump, or it just made the logs really slick... How I avoided falling in at all is beyond me!

The canyon was very dense with some pretty big ponderosa and douglas-fir, and at points the canyon walls were relatively close together bare rock cliffs. It was a good trail that I probably would appreciate more in warmer weather. ;)  Finally I reached the Alcove House which was perched up the canyon sides far above and knew thata warm shower wasn't far away. At about 3:15 I reached the trailhead, a mere 5 1/2 hours to do almost 14 miles in the snow and cold. It was a beautiful day and the solitude and quite was great... but well I don't know if I'd do it again, ha ha!

That night we went over to see Tim's friend Wendy, who had worked with him at Pinnacle National Monument in California and was now a ranger at Pinnacles. In the morning we hit the road and took highway 285 up from Santa Fe through Alamosa and ate lunch in Salida. I think that will be my new preferred route going south, since it takes you right along the mountains and is much prettier than staying on I-25.

Then just on Sunday I got a text message from my friend Matt in DC (I visited him in Keystone a few weeks ago) saying he was in Breckenridge! So I watched some really bad footballs games with the boys in the morning and drove the 2-2 1/2 hours out to Breck that evening. Matt and his friend Alex - both of which I went to college with - had a room at the Great Divide Lodge right on Mountain 9. We immediately whipped out the rum and coke then took the free taxi into town to hit up the bar to watch football and play lots of erotic Photo Hunt util we got a high score. Then we went back to the hotel and tried desperately to find a way into the hot tub after hours... which was literally impossible. Trust me. We tried everything. Instead, we went back to the room and filled up the bath tub and took turns pretending it was a hot tub. A poor substitution!

It was a late night so we got a late start and got room service breakfast before gearing up to hit the slopes. It was a beautiful sunny day and on a Monday, it was pretty uncrowded. We all went our separate ways on the mountain but I did much better on the steeper stuff than I usually do so it was a good day. I was tired and sore and hit the road by 2, and was back up in Estes at Bruce and Kerri's to watch the Eagles win (finally!) by 6:00.

View of mountains around Breckenridge. 

Alex and Matt on the ski lift

So now, I am enjoying a lazy, sunny day and will probably be at the Rock Inn by 5 pm tonight. ;)

Ryan will be in Vail on Thursday so I'll probably go out there for a night or two this weekend... Tim goes to Pennsylvania on the 15th... Friends come out the 17th... I'll probably be spending X-mas relatively alone except with my puppy... And I will hopefully get a call to do some tree work somewhere in between.

Colorado is so much better than Michigan. ;) Life is rough, I'm telling ya!

Oh and my boss called to tell me he is posting the GS-6 term Hazard Tree crewleader position soon. It's no guarantee at all that I will get it, and if any veterans put in for it I'm totally screwed... But at the very least I have rehire status for the GS-5. Wish me luck that I get that term position (with benefits!) because I freaking would love that job and I love the park!

Logan is getting big - about 12 pounds!