visitors: city stuff (plus)

Since G and T were new to the greater SLC area, we thought we should do a little civilization touring along with all the woods and mountains.  After an exceedingly pleasant breakfast on the deck at the Silver Fork Lodge, we drove up and over Guardsman Pass - although T was not a huge fan of how that road drops off to the outside - to the Park City side.

Taking advantage of the continuing gorgeous (if blustery) weather, we did a short walk in the Round Valley foothills to stretch our legs before heading to Park City's Main Street,  Since we usually find ourselves in Park City on weekends and/or during big sporting events, it was quite refreshing to find uncrowded streets, not to mention available parking in the free garage.  We strolled up and down Main Street, window-shopping and going into art galleries, before stopping in at the No Name Saloon for refreshments.  Again, it was nice to be in there when it wasn't bursting at the seams.  There is definitely something to be said for the shoulder season.

The next day I had to go back to work, but H, G and T ventured north to Antelope Island State Park.  It has been several years since we've been up there but the biggest change, frankly, was the damage done to the big barn at the Fielding Garr Ranch: recent high winds peeled off the roof, while leaving the ranch houses and giant trees unscathed.  H reported that you could also see the burn scars on the mountains from this past summer's massive wildfire.

 Lone wolf bison

After Antelope Island, H thought it would be a good idea to introduce G and T to Crown Burger, which apparently went over quite well.  Next on the list: Temple Square.  They found a friendly missionary who took them into the Convention Center, the Visitors' Center and the Tabernacle, answering all their questions.  They made it back home not long before I did and it was fun to hear their impressions of the day.

visitors: alta

The next day was another gorgeous one and we all wanted to stretch our legs a little bit.  We drove up to Alta, where the Summer Road is still open, and parked in the lot near the Catherine's Pass trailhead.  There were several other cars there but while we did encounter other hikers, it was refreshing to not be battling the crowds that had flocked there all summer.

Mellow moose

The trail up to Cecret Lake was a little muddy in spots, a little icy in others, but generally in good shape.  We spotted two moose (presumably a mother and her calf) when we were about halfway up to the lake; they were lying on the snow, in the shade, and cared not a whit for anyone else in the vicinity.

Pensive

Cecret Lake itself was down a bit and ice-free, amazingly.  After some time appreciating the surroundings - and getting some photos without other people in them - we headed back down the way we came.  Some hikers on their way up said there were two different moose just off-trail closer to the parking lot, but we never spotted them, try as we might.

 

H and G on the shores of Cecret Lake

Despite the wind picking up, we paused for a post-walk beer back at the truck.  And it's a good thing we did: we had thought to stop by Snowbird on the way out but it was the final weekend of their Octoberfest and with the gorgeous weather, the place was packed.  We were all incredulous at the number of vehicles heading up the canyon - literal droves of cars, as if it were a powder day instead of a mid-October Sunday.

So we opted to take a pass on Snowbird and instead camped out on our patio with cocktails when we got home.  And if we hadn't done that, we never would have been able to witness a hawk chasing down and nabbing a dove right in our driveway.  Nature can be cruel but it sure is fascinating.

 

Someone's getting dove for dinner

visitors: sundance

We've had house-guests in town: G, H's friend since kindergarten, and T, his awesome wife.  They came in late Friday night and despite our keeping them up even later, got up and were ready to go explore northern Utah.  Since they live practically at sea level, they did ask us to take it easy on them with the hiking; it's been so beautiful out that we were happy to oblige, just glad to get a few more days in the sunshine before the weather turns its thoughts to winter.

On Saturday, we took them over Traverse Ridge and up American Fork Canyon, driving the Alpine Loop through its gorgeous groves of golden aspen.  We landed at Sundance which was super-busy: it was the last weekend of summer activities, so there were lots of MTBers and sightseers riding the chairlift.  In addition, since we were last at Sundance they have put in an amazing zip line park - with the third longest span in the country - and there were tons of people doing that too.

We opted to simply ride the chair up and take a short mid-mountain hike, chatting with the zip line operators and watching the zippers fly around overhead.  While it did look like fun, some of those spans were REALLY high above the ground.  Sundance's zip lines put both Snowbird's and PCMR's to shame.

Motley crew

We were in need of sustenance at that point and scored a corner table in the Owl Bar.  Some beers and an amazing order of nachos later (seriously: those nachos were superb), we headed home for the rest of the afternoon and evening which we spent catching up.  Both G and T said they could feel the effects of the altitude so we wanted to ease them into it - we had plans to take them up to 10,000 feet the next day!

your patience is appreciated

We have house guests!  And, as such, are too busy entertaining to post.  But there will be posts ... please stand by.

seven years

Another October 3rd, another move-iversary.  Seven years (as a reminder: our "year" goes from October through September, corresponding with our arrival in Salt Lake City) here and once again, this past year has just flown by.  Sometimes it doesn't seem to be going quickly at all - like when I'm doing my morning commute, which has gotten slower as the valley traffic increases - and then we look at the calendar and realize that we are only weeks away from ski season, when it only just seems like the lifts stopped turning.  To recap, here's what we did this past year:

October 2015 - trip to Bryce National Park, Cedar Breaks, Moab and surrounds; MTBing

November 2015 - annual Sol-Bright hike; final MTB of the season; ski season opens; Cold Turkey run Thanksgiving morning

December 2015 - skiing, with H's switch to telemark skiing nearly full-time

January 2016 - skiing; boozy milkshakes for A's birthday

February 2016 - skiing                              March 2016 - skiing, including H's run down Main Chute

April 2016 - last month of skiing

May 2016 - Moab trip, including camping at Needles District; home turf MTBing; rain

June 2016 - first gin and tonic of the season; A's personal best at the Crack of Dawn race; weather got hot; MTBing; Wasatch Front hiking begins

July 2016 - hiking on almost all new-to-us trails; MTBing; wildflowers

August 2016 - MTBing, including 54+ mile rail trail ride; wildflowers; Tour of Utah; visit from H's folks; Salt Lake Bees game; hiking, including 16+ mile Alta Dry Fork/Mineral Basin loop

September 2016 - hiking, MTBing, New Mexico trip

And another October means another year ahead of us.  What will this one bring?  Check back here and find out!

new mexico: santa fe to abq

On our last full day in New Mexico, we got up, repacked everything and then walked back towards the Plaza for breakfast at Tia Sophia's, a Santa Fe institution since 1975.  Breakfasts were huge - A had a blue corn enchilada with scrambled eggs, green chile and a tortilla; H had huevos rancheros - and a little heavily laden with cheese, but it all tasted very good.  We strolled back to the car and headed out of town.  I would like to go back to Santa Fe sometime: we spent hardly any time in the city so I don't think we got a good feel for it, but there was so much ground we wanted to cover, we had to settle for a survey course this time.

Bundled up on the Crest Trail

Again taking the longer/scenic route, we drove through Madrid - a crazy, funky, tiny, arty little town, blink and you'll miss it, except for how brightly it was painted - and Golden en route to Sandia Peak.  Sandia is the mountain that looms over ABQ and there are two ways to get up it: from the tram on the city side or driving up the Sandia Peak National Scenic Byway, past the Sandia Ski Area base.

View of ABQ from Sandia Peak

We drove up and parked in the national forest lot, utilizing our annual parks pass yet again.  There is a cafe and gift shop at the top there, along with a view area that lays ABQ out before you.  It was very windy and pretty chilly so we put some long sleeves on before venturing out on the Crest Trail that would take us to the top of the tram.  There are actually quite a few different trails up there, some hiking only, some mixed use, and all well-signed.  It was 1.5 miles to the tram on a very nice, mostly dirt trail and the closer we got to the tram-end, the more people we met - folks who had ridden up.

Riding these chairs would be like riding back in time

The tram is in use year-round and is a way for ABQ-based skiers to get to Sandia Ski Area without having to drive all the way around the mountains.  Three 1960s-vintage chairlifts - all doubles - bring skiers to the top from the base area.  There is a peak lodge and restaurant in addition to the tram building, all perched on the ridgeline with 360-degree views.  It had a very retro feel to it and looked like it would be a hoot to ski.  That tram, though, was smaller than Snowbird's and frankly looked terrifying; it was opened in 1966 and when the cars pass each other at the midpoint, they are 1,000 feet above the ground because of the way the terrain falls away.

Way scarier than the Snowbird tram

We made our way back along the Crest Trail, had a quick beer (I was so chilled in the wind that my goosebumps had goosebumps) and then continued on our way.  At first we had thought to do an elongated loop, heading a little east and way south before coming back up to ABQ.  But then we noticed Petroglyph National Monument right there inside city limits and aimed for that instead.

Love all the retro signs

The best thing to do is stop in at the Petroglyph National Monument visitors' center and talk to a ranger who will ask how much walking you want to do and explain how to drive to the various sites along the 17-mile long escarpment.  We went to two:  Boca Negra and Piedras Marcadas.  Unlike most of the petroglyphs we've seen in Utah, these are not etched into cliff walls but instead are found decorating tumbled boulders along the walls of shallow desert canyons.

And the weather begins to change...

Boca Negra had three short paved walking paths from which to view the petroglyphs, including one that climbed steeply up the canyon side.  Unfortunately, vandals have added their own graffiti to some of the rocks, which is impossible to remove without damaging the petroglyphs; I suppose that given how close to the city and how unprotected the sites are, it's a wonder the damage isn't worse.

The "macaw" of Boca Negra

Piedras Marcadas was a longer walk on sand.  The wind was really whipping at that point and we could feel it getting in our ears and teeth.  But with the high volume of petroglyphs in this area, it was well worth the weather.  Most of the images were created 400 to 700 years ago and no one really knows what they mean or what the people who created them were trying to express.  Anyone's guess is really as good as anyone else's.

Literally parked behind a gas station

The trails here were not well-marked at all and so we don't think we ended up walking the whole thing.  But when it began to rain in addition to the wind, we figured we'd seen a good representation of the canyon's images.  On the walk back to the car, there was some discussion on whether to go to the hotel and clean up before going out for a beer or whether to stop on the way.  When in doubt, stop along the way.

This one was unique in that it wrapped around

instead of being on a flat face

Windblown and sandy, we found the ABQ location of Kaktus Brewing and had ourselves a couple of their wonderful IPAs.  There were a few other patrons in the joint, some of whom seemed to be on some sort of dine-around program as the cute hipster bartender was explaining all the samples she was bringing out to them.  H and I didn't need to taste other beers: that Kaktus IPA was the best New Mexico micro we'd found all week and we toasted to being able to start and end our week with such a tasty brew.

This one seemed cheerful to me

The rest of the trip - checking in, getting dinner at a neighboring hotel bar, driving through just a portion of ABQ in order to gas the car before returning it - was sort of a slow weaning from vacation.  If we felt like we didn't get much of a feel for Santa Fe, we really didn't get a feel for Albuquerque - except that it is pretty big.  (Next time: we should do a Breaking Bad tour!).

Kaktus Brewing, Nob Hill

It was a fantastic road-trip vacation, an overview of northern New Mexico with a little bit of everything: native ancestral ruins, national parks and monuments, mountain and desert hikes, old towns, ski areas, beers and green chile.  We didn't have enough time in any one place to really immerse ourselves but instead got just a taste, and enough of that to know what we'd like to return to and explore further.  Until we do, however, I have GOT to figure out how to get more green chile into our regular meal rotation.

new mexico: around santa fe

Harry's is a great spot

After leaving the inn at 7:45 a.m., we had another terrific breakfast at Harry's Roadhouse, a breakfast-lunch-and-dinner place that seemed to be serving an equal number of locals and tourists.  H had a well-stuffed breakfast burrito with green chile while I went with chilaquiles verde with over-medium fried eggs. Mmmmmmm!

Base elevation of 10,350 feet

Hiking was on the agenda for the day so we headed into the mountains, driving up to Ski Santa Fe through the Hyde Memorial State Park.  A lot of the resort had been roped off for "filming" so we couldn't walk around much.  Instead, we got our hiking stuff on and headed off into the Pecos Wilderness Area with a goal of Nambe Lake off the Winsor Trail.  It was cool (51 F at 9:45 a.m., per my notes) and overcast but the rain held off until just after our 6.87 mile roundtrip hike, which was fortunate.

This is where it got steep

Here's a description of the trail:  up, down, steep up, lake, steep down, up, down.  The portion of the Winsor Trail we walked was broad and had pretty good footing, not too rocky, passing through pines, aspens and lichen-draped evergreens.  Once we turned off the main trail towards the lake, it got very steep and very rocky for the duration, following the lake's outlet as it cascaded over the rocks.

Cloud ceiling was low at this point

The lake itself is fairly small, located in a steep-walled cirque.  We heard (but did not see) pikas and marmots calling warnings at our approach; we heard (but did not see) other hikers above us on the ridge.  Although there were lots of vehicles parked at the trailhead, we really didn't encounter many other folks, just fourteen hikers and three dogs, most as we were on our way back.

H by the lake

It was just starting to sprinkle as we downed our post-hike beers.  That was encouragement enough to move on so we drove to the other side of the mountains to the Pecos National Historical Park to check out the ancestral ruins there.  Unfortunately, it was just 45 minutes until closing so we rushed through it; although the entry to the park was free, there was a charge for the self-guided tour brochure, which we were unable to get because of some chatty retirees monopolizing the park ranger's time, so we didn't really have any information about what we were looking at.  (We felt like we got the gist of it, however, having seen so many ruins already.)

Obligatory entrance sign photo

There are a couple of below-ground restored kivas that visitors are allowed to climb down into, so we could get a sense of just how dark it must have been in there.  In addition to the ancestral Puebloan buildings, there are also Spanish ruins: the foundation of the first Franciscan church, built in 1621 and then destroyed in the Pueblo Revolt; and some of the walls of the second, constructed after the Reconquest (1692).   Research at the park is ongoing as well:  there was a group of twenty-somethings clearing brush from old walls and a scientist-type walking around taking measurements with a very fancy GPS system.

There are two fully excavated kivas on the grounds

but the others are mostly filled in, like this

When the park closed, we headed back to Santa Fe.  The afternoon thunderstorms had really moved in at this point and by the time we got back to the room, it was downpouring.  We waited out the weather and when the clouds had moved on, we went out to find dinner.  My first thought was well-reviewed local favorite Tomasita's but when we got there, it was packed full with at least fifty people waiting ahead of us (you couldn't even get into the bar).

The remains of the second grand church at Pecos NHP

Undaunted, we continued into the trendy Railyard area and ended up at the Second Street Brewery.  A couple seats at the bar later, we were happily downing IPAs and English milds, a green chile stuffed burger, green chile chicken stews and street-style tacos.  It was an eclectic mix of folks in the joint, made perhaps even moreso because it was the Geeks Who Drink-sponsored trivia night.  We stayed long enough to hear the first three rounds of play, then headed home in the light rain.

Second Street Brewery, Railyard location

new mexico: taos to santa fe

After another fabulous Casa Benavides breakfast, we were on the road at 8:15 a.m., pausing only for a few stops around town for photographs, gas, beer and ice.  We decided to take the long way between towns because, as H said, "Only we could take eight hours to do [what would normally only be] a seventy mile journey."

Actually had a fair number of expert trails for such a tiny place

Our route took us through the forested hills and canyons of the Carson National Forest, where we stopped at the adorable Sipapu Ski Area:  marketed as the first NM ski mountain to open and the last to close (if you can find it, that is), both H and I were instantly enamored with it.  Then as we continued south, we consulted the gazetteer and started taking trips up little side roads that wound narrower and twistier before fading out entirely in someone's dooryard.  We were pretty much looking to see what we could find: farms, old cemeteries, adobe ruins, elk crossings.

Out where the deer and the antelope play

After spotting it on the map, we pulled in at the Fort Union National Monument, which holds the ruins of three forts (log construction, begun in 1851; an earthen fort built in 1861; and the impressive stone and adobe construct still visible, put up in 1863 and finally abandoned in 1891), built to protect travelers on the Santa Fe Trail. Over 150 years later, the ruts of the Santa Fe Trail are still there, testament to the thousands of people who traveled it.  This is a very interesting and well-presented site, with a self-guided tour winding in and around the remains of the fort.

The low spot where I'm standing is where the

Santa Fe Trail is, perpendicular to those paths

While the rules of this national monument explicitly prohibits any reconstructions of the buildings, it allows for repairs and there were many workers out there, propping up leaning walls and slathering period-specific adobe, mud and plaster on the stonework.  Critters in the immediate area included pronghorns, turkey vultures and a tiny baby rattlesnake, curled up on a stone wall near where the guys were working.  Other than that, we mostly had the whole place to ourselves.

Jail house - built to last

From there we continued to Santa Fe, skirting enormous, lightning-filled thunderstorms: our weather had definitely changed from the clear blue skies at the start of our week.  We checked into the Guadalupe Inn, got cleaned up and headed to the historic Plaza, armed with a street map on which the inn's clerk had helpfully circled points of interest.

Mechanics corral

We walked around the Plaza, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi and the surrounding neighborhoods, crossing over the dry-as-a-bone Santa Fe River several times.  For dinner, we ended up at the Blue Corn Cafe & Brewery: IPAs and ambers, a burrito for H and tamales with "Christmas" (both red and green) chile for me.  This was a newish place, close to the Plaza and so with a slightly touristy feel, although there were definitely some locals at the bar with us.  The food and beers were decent - but we noted that we had yet to find a brew that matched the Kaktus Brewery's IPA from our first day in New Mexico.

Not as fancy as the Chacoans, even made with better tools

It was full dark and raining as we headed back to the inn.  This was not keeping folks from going out, however, and we noted a couple of busy, fun-looking bars and restaurants as we passed, just keeping our options open for the next night out.

Our room at Guadalupe Inn: cool and very quiet

new mexico: around taos

Let me tell you about the amazing breakfasts at Casa Benavides: coffee, juice, homemade muffins, the most incredible chewy homemade granola with peaches and yogurt, and your choice of pancakes, waffles or a baked egg dish served with red or green chile and homemade tortillas.  All included with your room.  Wow.  Absolutely delicious.  (They also have afternoon tea with a variety of homemade cookies and dessert bars.)

Taos looked SO steep (I mean, not right here)

After calorie-loading, we drove up to Taos Ski Valley.  The canyon up there looked a lot like Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons at home so the drive felt familiar.  The resort's base area is a mix of old chalet-style and new buildings; there was a huge construction project going on so we didn't get to walk around there much, plus it's shoulder season and everything was closed except for an espresso stand.

Bold jays

We followed the signs to the Williams Lake/Wheeler Peak trail head up a crazy-steep dirt road, which is apparently open in the winter although we don't see how you could possibly get up there with any snow on the road if you weren't in a snowcat.  Wheeler Peak is the tallest mountain in New Mexico at 13,161 feet of elevation but we were just going up to the lake at 11,022 feet.  Perhaps next time we'll tackle Wheeler.

And pikas that let us get within ten feet of them

The path was rocky where it followed an old road but smoothed out further on, wide and obviously well-traveled.  There were a fair number of small critters: Canada jays, marmots, chipmunks, chickadees, ground squirrels and the bravest pikas we've ever seen.  There were some other hikers out there and we spotted some up above us, heading for Wheeler.  It ended up being a 4.7 mile out-and-back, taking 2.5 hours including standing around looking at stuff.

Williams Lake

After our hike, we kept an eye on the cloudy skies and decided to go around the Enchanted Circle, a scenic drive that loops around all the Taos area ski resorts.  First stop was Red River Ski Area, a wonderful throwback where the whole town is the resort, with lifts right off the main street.  It looked tiny and very old fashioned.  It looked great.

Established 1959

We continued around the Enchanted Circle, over a very high mountain pass and then through a beautiful wide open valley to Eagle Nest.  At that point we weren't far from Cimarron, which is where the Philmont Scout Ranch is located.  Established in 1939, it is truly an impressive operation, encompassing 137,000 acres.  H had been a camper there many years ago so we drove out there.  It wasn't in session but you could tell that it probably hadn't changed much from when he was there, once upon a time.

Campers' meeting area

Our last stop was Angel Fire Resort, a bigger mountain than Red River, and a world-class mountain biking facility.  Strangely, it didn't seem to have a base lodge so we weren't such how much of a locals' mountain it is - it seemed like it was more for destination skiers as opposed to daytrippers.  We returned to Taos on County Route 64, another narrow, winding canyon road that climbed and dropped quickly.

Pretty long chair at Angel Fire

There was a Mexican place I had intended for our dinner that night but as we were walking there, we spied Eske's Brewpub (which had also been on my list of possibles).  For us, when in doubt, go to a brewpub.  Eske's is a half-block from the main street through Taos and, as such, gets scarcely any tourist business.  We sat outside on the large patio, patting the local dogs as they cruised through, looking for bellyrubs.  H had a couple American pale ales and I had first an English pale ale and then a local hard cider; the beers were not quite as good as some we'd had earlier in the trip.  H's dinner was a burrito smothered in green chile and I had a fantastic bowl of green chile stew, fairly spicy and with lots of chunky vegetables.  It was definitely a weird little place, very local, but being able to sit outside with decent beers and good food made it a good choice for us.

new mexico: aztec to taos

Up and at 'em the next day as we were moving on from Aztec - but not before we stopped in at Aztec Ruins National Monument, right there in the middle of town.  The ancestral Puebloan people who constructed the settlement there were a little later than the Chacoans, building and residing in the complex from the late 1000s until the late 1200s.  The architecture and engineering was very similar to Chaco but there were some flourishes that set it apart, like a decorative band of green stones built into the walls of some of the buildings.

Basically right in the middle of town

More of those structurally-complex corner windows

We explored there for about an hour and a half, walking through lower level rooms still with their original ceilings, climbing down into the reconstructed kiva.  The site is pretty expansive, with the fully excavated West Ruin, with over 500 rooms, as well as the partially excavated, and less (or not at all) accessible to the public, tri-wall sites, mounds and East Ruin.

Original ceilings

The decorative stripes are unusual and not found at Chaco

We had studied our gazetteer closely to figure out how best and most scenic-ly to get from Aztec to Taos, our next stop.  We didn't study it quite closely enough for the first bit of road, however, which ended up being several miles of rather rough dirt and shot-to-pieces signs (County Route 585, for the record, with sightings of a jackrabbit and some desert cottontails).  After that, however, it was smooth sailing.  We were pretty close to the Colorado border so we took a detour up there, following an old narrow gauge railroad from Chama, NM, up over Cumbres Pass, and pausing to admire the views and wet our whistles a bit.

That river is way the way down there

After that scenic interlude, we headed back south, driving through the Jicarilla Apache reservation, over the impressive Rio Grande Gorge bridge and past the truly bizarre Earthship Biotecture compound (fully sustainable, off-grid, science fiction-meets-fantasy-meets green building homes just outside Taos, some available for rent).  

Excellent place to stay in Taos

We checked into our home for the next two nights, Casa Benavides - a wooden floored and ceilinged room (with a truly tiny bathroom) in a former trading post, located within easy walking distance from the Taos Plaza.  Taos was busier than we expected; it is an old town, mostly adobe with a heavy Spanish influence, with narrow streets and heavy "rush hour" traffic on the main drag, and scores of restaurants, art galleries and knickknack shops.  The current town was established in 1615 but the neighboring Taos Pueblo predates it, built between 1000 and 1450.

We walked around for a while, checking out Kit Carson's house and grave, cruising the Taos Plaza and sort of following a self-guided tour I had printed off the internet.  When our stomachs started growling, we found ourselves at the Taos Ale House and bellied right up to the bar.  We had NM micro India black ales, a burger each (green chile cheeseburger for me and a BBQ bacon cheeseburger for H) and shared an order of green chile cheese fries and succulent house-made pickles.  The green chile was milder than what I'd had in Aztec but those cheese fries were so good - we practically inhaled our food.

Pretty local place even on the main street

Good beers and food, a friendly bartender and a chatty local next to us, and when we walked back to the inn, the crowds had cleared out and we had the place to ourselves.  We had one more beer on the porch in front of our room, listening to the raucous crickets and thinking that we'd had another good day and a pleasant introduction to Taos.

Window detail, Kit Carson House