Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Santa Fe National Forest: Big Tesuque & Bear Wallow Loop

After packing up the tent, Noelle and I ate some breakfast and then I headed out on the trail for a little solo hiking. Noelle and I had planned that we would meet back at the trailhead just north of Hyde Memorial State Park in an hour.

The hike started out very pleasant. The air was cool, the sky was blue and the vegetation was green. There was lots of aspen along the sides of the trail as I hiked through a small meadow.
Aspens
Soon I entered into the woods.
Big Tesuque Trail
I found an odd trail marker along the side of the trail. It was marked "P1 1939".
Strange Trail Marker
Is it some kind of old grazing allotment marker?  I realized I was running a bit late and so I really hustled to meet Noelle and Parker at the trailhead at our allotted time. Unfortunately, I ended up getting there 15 minutes behind schedule.

While I was able to hike much faster by myself, it was nice to have my hiking partners back.
Hiking Bear Wallow Trail
We headed down the trail and were treated to lots of beautiful wildflowers in bloom.
Columbime
White Flower Head
Wild Strawberry
Yellow Flower Cluster
It was a really pleasant hike and there were lots of other hikers out enjoying the beautiful day. We didn't see a whole lot of wildlife, probably due to so many people out and about. We did see a few butterflies though!
Butterfly

After crossing Tesuque Creek twice,
Crossing Big Tesuque Creek
we ascended back to the trailhead. After lunch in Santa Fe, we hit the road. It was a hot drive back to Carlsbad.          
Temperature!?!, Too hot!
Check the temperature!

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