Albuquerque, New Mexico

Last night after work, Robby stopped by to pick Noelle and I up for the long drive to Albuquerque. We arrived at Robby's parents' house after midnight. After a nice sleep, we awoke this morning to explore the Duke City a bit. Our first stop was the Rio Grande Nature Center.

The nature center was interesting. We walked the native plant garden amongst some tall cottonwood trees and saw lots of native wildflowers and hummingbirds.

Then we walked a short trail to the Rio Grande.

We caught a view of the river before looping back toward the visitor center. Near the visitor center is a nice bird blind. We spent some time there with our binoculars looking for birds.

There were lots of wood ducks, Canada geese, teals, and red-winged blackbirds. There were also lots of turtles swimming and basking in the sun.

After some birding we were getting hungry, and so we decided to walk the bicycle trail to Old Town Albuquerque and one of Robby's favorite restaurants: Little Anitas.


We had a delicious New Mexican lunch and then walked around Old Town a bit to burn some calories.

 

After a short walk through the touristy area we headed back to the bike trail for our walk back to the nature center. When we reached the car we drove back to Robby's parents' house for a nap. When we awoke it was time for dinner, Italian at Tomato Cafe. From dinner we headed to Isotopes Park for a good ol' fashioned baseball game: the Albuquerque Isotopes versus the Oklahoma City Red Hawks.

The 'Topes won 5-0, but besides the score we really enjoyed the ballpark atmosphere, the Simpsons character statues, and hanging out together.






          

Black Cave and Little Beauty Cave

Headed back into the Lincoln National Forest today with some friends from work to check out some caves. We parked past the Dark Canyon Lookout Tower just before the section of road that's so rough its called the "Dragon's Teeth".

From there we followed some trails to Black Cave.

Parts of Black Cave, like the name suggests, are quite black in color. Is it manganese oxide? I don't know but it was sure an interesting little cave.

Inside we saw cave crickets,

lots of formations,

and a bat skeleton encased in calcite.

We spent about an hour exploring as much of Black Cave as we could from the trail.

Then we headed out. We ate a snack outside the cave entrance and then hit the trail

to find our second cave, Little Beauty. Little Beauty is appropriately named. it is small, and there are some nice, inactive formations inside.

After a few minutes inside Little Beauty we were outside in the heat ready for our hike back to the car and the long drive back to Carlsbad.         

Highpoint of Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Noelle wanted some time to work on her thesis, and so I had another day of solo adventure. For a long time now I've wanted to hike to the highest point on the surface of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, I figured today was my opportunity. I packed my day pack and hit the road. Rather than start my hike within the national park, I decided to take the shorter route through Lincoln National Forest. And so I drove up through Queen and into the high Guadalupes.

I started my hike near the Spring Canyon Ranch at the trailhead for Forest Service trails 222, 223 and 210.

I followed trail 222 for a short while and then took trail 210. I saw lots of cattle as I hiked.

I also saw some great views as I climbed out of a small canyon.

The trail followed a ridge for a while. Up on the ridge I passed the small, crack-like entrance to a cave. I did not go inside to explore though. Tomorrow will be my cave exploration day.

After a short time on the ridge, the trail began to descend into Cottonwood Canyon.  The trail followed the canyon bottom for a short time and then started to climb out of the canyon at Aqua Dulce Tank.

It was a hot, steep climb up to the Guadalupe Ridge. I did see a few wildflowers, which helped to break up the monotony.

Bowl Flax

Once on the ridge I made a left on the old road/trail. Despite the fact that it was a ridge walk, there were lots of ups and downs.

After walking the ridge for a bit I noticed the repeater tower near Putman Cabin which is inside Carlsbad Caverns National Park. it appeared that it was not on the ridge that I was following, but on a parallel ridge just south. I retraced my steps and found an intersection that I had somehow missed. After consulting my map, I decided that this must be where I leave the trail and bushwack into the park.

The bushwack was short, but there were lots of thorny plants to thrash through. Soon I found an old boundary marker with no fence. I was a bit confused but decided to just hike a bit further up the ridge. Sure enough, I found a barbed-wire fence and followed the fence to a cairn and summit register. I signed the register and posed at the cairn for a photo.

There wasn't much shade at the highpoint, and so I moved on, thrashing my way back to the trail.

It was a hot, dry hike back to the car.

I was worried I might run out of water, but luckily, I had just enough. I saw some cactus in bloom

and more cattle.

I was relieved to find myself back at the car. I put on my sandals and cranked the AC. As I got down into the lower elevations the thermometer read 94 degrees. I stopped to take some photos of the Strawberry Cactus in bloom near Hippie Hole,

and then arrived at home.              

Photos of the Day: Prickly Pear Cactus in Bloom

Franklin Mountains State Park: Anthony's Nose

Woke up at my campsite on the BLM lands near Anthony Gap and headed across NM-404 to the trailhead for Anthony Gap Cave and, more importantly, my ascent of Anthony's Nose. I followed the route I had taken three weeks ago up to the small saddle and down into the little valley. At the valley is where I veered off the route of my previous attempt/scouting mission. Instead of hiking up the ridge to the right, I hiked up the ridge to the left.

The hike up the ridge was difficult. There was plenty of lechuguilla to dodge. As I learned during my last trip into the Franklins, one false move can mean a bloody, impaled foot. Along the way I saw some claret cup cactus in bloom.

Soon the lechuguilla got thinner, but the hiking got no easier. There were some tough climbs along the ridge and quite a bit of exposure in some sections.

After about four hours I found myself at the final approach to the summit. The final approach saw me hike along another exposed section of ridge. I descended steeply to a small saddle and the climbed back up to the final ridge.

I found an interesting cairn at the summit. Inside was a lunch box with a register inside.

I signed the register and  took my photo there.

I rested a bit. It had taken over 3 1/2 hours to get to the summit. It was some of the toughest hiking I had done in a long time. I was not looking forward to the hike back down to the car.

Eventually, I summoned the motivation to get hiking again. The hiking down went even slower than on the way up. A few times I got myself "cliffed out" on some high exposed ridges. I was tired and my feet hurt from moving over jagged rocks. I did see some pretty wildflowers though. I saw some sort of cactus in bloom

and some white daisy-like flowers as well.

Plains Blackfoot

Eight hours after I had started I found myself back at my car, ready for the long drive back to Carlsbad.
        

South Franklin Peak from Smuggler's Pass

A few weeks ago I had hiked the Ron Coleman Trail up South Franklin Peak from McKelligon Canyon. I enjoyed the route so much with its exposed climbs and chains, that I decided that I would finish the trail north of South Franklin Peak.

After my hike hike of Indian Peak earlier in the day, and a nice rest break exploring some of the border areas of El Paso along the Rio Grande (or Rio Bravo as they call it in Mexico), I drove up to Smuggler's Pass to begin my hike. The hike started up Fusselman Canyon with a nice view of the Elephant.

I had hiked up to the Elephant's Trunk several years ago by following the canyon bottom. Today I discovered that the trail leads to the base of the mammoth. Anyway, I hiked with some nice distant views up to the summit of South Franklin and myriad of communication towers.

 The hike was steep, but I slowly made my way closer to the summit. I saw some more pretty flowers as I climbed.

While the trail was certainly challenging, it lacked the excitement of the other section I had previously hiked. Soon I was at the saddle between the two summits. This time I hiked to both to make sure what I assumed was the higher of the two was the true summit. It indeed is the true summit of South Franklin Peak.

I spent some time relaxing on the sidewalk between the two summits, before heading back to the car. 

 

Indian Peak, Franklin Mountains

Noelle wanted to get some work done on her thesis, so I decided to get out of her hair and back to El Paso and the Franklin Mountains. I got into town at around 10 am and immediately headed up Transmountain to the Tom Mays unit of Franklin Mountains State Park.

I parked the car and hit the trail and quickly passed by an old mine shaft.

There was a metal gate protecting it, but no lock on the gate. If I had wanted to, it would have been easy to explore inside. After passing the mine the trail started to climb up an old road. Noelle and I had hiked up this trail before when we had ascended North Franklin Peak back in 2004. Soon I had a nice view of my objective for this hike: Indian Peak.

I continued to follow the old road/trail up to a saddle. At the saddle the trail continued up to North Franklin Peak. I, however, got off the trail at this point to bushwack up to the summit of Indian Peak.

To do so I had to trespass on some land that was off limits due to the possibility of unexploded ordinance. I wasn't too concerned about stumbling onto any bombs, as thousands of people had hiked up to the summit of Indian Peak before me. This fact was evident due to the well-worn user trail leading up the mountainside.
Once I left the official trail I ascended to a ridge, then dropped down into a small canyon before climbing to the summit proper.

The summit is similar to that of Sugarloaf Peak which I climbed just a few weeks ago. Just like on Sugarloaf, there is a small metal hut on top of Indian Peak.

Inside the hut were some interesting murals someone had taken the time to paint. One was of a mountain scene at sunset,

the other of a combination pegasus/unicorn.

I admired the art for a bit before retracing my steps down to the parking lot. On the way down I saw a collared lizard climbing around on the rocks.

I also saw a few wildflowers

 and noticed that the yuccas that weer blooming during my last El Paso trip, now bore fruit.

          

Guadalupe Mountains National Park: "Mount Pratt"

Today Noelle went down to Roswell to do some maternity clothes shopping. I wanted no part of that and so I headed down to Guadalupe Mountains National Park to hike up the trail-less 8,000+ foot mountain unofficially known as Mount Pratt. I drove through some drizzle on my way there, but as I parked the car near Frijole Ranch the sun started to poke through the clouds a bit.

It was nice and cool as I started my hike. By the time I made it to Bear Canyon I was working hard and sweating.

The hike went surprisingly fast. The canyon was very green and there were lots of wildflowers in bloom.

The rain of the previous days gave the desert a wonderful perfumed smell. Soon I was on top of the ridge where I picked up the Bowl Trail.

I followed the trail to the point where it makes a nearly 180 degree turn and stopped there for a lunch of leftover bean burritos.

My time on a nice manicured trail would be over for a while. I hiked through a meadow and then started an ascent of Pratt Ridge.

The going wasn't as difficult as I had imagined. I passed a weather station and then dropped down into a small saddle. After the descent I made another ascent. Soon the summit of Mount Pratt was in view.

The last ascent up to the summit was up a gently sloping dome. The top was relatively flat. I thought there might be a cairn marking the summit, but I didn't find one. I went to a rock outcropping that appeared to be the highest point and built a small cairn of my own there.

I rested, took my photo and then started to make my way down. It drizzled a bit as I made my descent.

Eventually I got bored retracing my steps, so for some variety I decided to hike down into a grassy drainage that I suspected was part of the same drainage I crossed when I first made my way off the trail. Soon, I discovered an old cabin in some tall ponderosa pine trees.

I had to check the cabin out, of course. It looked to be part of the old McAlpine Ranch operation as there was a tank labeled with that name.

The cabin itself had a sign that read Fire Cache. The door was unlocked so I took a look inside. It smelled skunky in there, but was quite interesting.

After exploring the cabin for a bit and relaxing. I started back to the Bowl Trail where I ascended to Frijole Ridge and then headed down Bear Canyon. It was an interesting hike, thanks to the unexpected find of an interesting old cabin!