Looking back across the Mesilla Valley, with Las Cruces in the middle distance
I certainly hope that when you read on this blog about us "going for a hike," that you are picturing my family as a group of sturdy, hiking-booted, lederhosened outdoorsy types. I kind of like that image and that's precisely why I slyly imply that we stride about for miles and miles from one mountain peak to another. If that is your image of us, please skip the next bit of confession. Just slide your eyes over the next couple of paragraphs...
These days, what we call a "hike" takes place any time we get out of the car in a place outdoors, preferably where there is walking on non-paved surfaces. As long as we are walking and looking around outside in the fresh air, I feel that we can claim to be hiking.
Oh, yes, when we were younger, we used to carry backpacks filled with all sorts of hiking necessities--tents, sleeping bags, tiny stoves, food, a change of clothes, water, matches, rope, etc. etc. We actually did walk/snowshoe/cross country ski for miles into the wilderness. It was exhilarating, exhausting, and a lot of work. I always got blisters.
There, I'm glad that's all cleared up.
A couple of weeks ago we went for a little hike in the Robledo Mountains. Here is what Trails.com has to say about the area:
Robledo Peak and nearby hills are limestone formations laid down when this area was under an inland sea. Later, when the sea had receded during the Jurassic Period, dinosaurs walked across mud flats here. Their tracks survive on the mountains’ west side at a site among the best of its kind in the world. Much later—by geologic standards but still ancient on the human time scale—Paleo-Indians, the first human inhabitants of North America, camped around the mountains.
There is a sign at the beginning of the trail that was put up by the Bureau of Land Management explaining that the area is under consideration as a possible National Historical Monument and warning that no one was to remove any of the area's plentiful petrified wood. This was exciting news and we were immediately on the lookout.
What an amazing place, rock-wise! There was petrified wood everywhere, and the views back toward Las Cruces were wonderful.
A cross-section through time--this is a vertical surface on the side of a road
It was much lovelier in person
2 comments:
Any walk that doesn't involve a sidewalk is always a hike in my book.
As I read your blog these days, the picture I get is, "do they ever stay home?"
Jepp, I like what you wrote. And you have many great pictures, especially the mountains:-)
Wish you a great week from Norway!
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