Trails

I've found it a little difficult to find the sort of trails that suit an arthritic 60+ year old (I can still use that designation for a few more months).  Either the difficulty or the distance is more than my knees care for.  The best leads came from an outdoor equipment store and a local photographer who knew not only photography but the land he was photographing, as well.

The first was the Rift Trail which is a little south of Taos and along the east rim of the Rio Grande Gorge.  I tackled that one twice.  First, mistakenly thinking the loop was a lot shorter than it is, until I finally thought to check the trail map on Google (thank you, Steve Jobs).  That was not a bad hike for scenery.  It was just longer than I had wished for and didn't take me to the destination I had in mind.  So, a few days later, when I had stopped getting protests and 'What were you thinking?' from my right knee, and after consulting the map again, I started from the other end of the loop and in about 2 miles found myself at the east rim of Rio Grande Gorge.  Check the photo on Facebook as I still have not mastered uploading my photos to the blog.

The next one was the West Rim Trail right next to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.  It was the fact that it was on the far side of the Bridge that gave me pause.  The bridge, you see, is said to be 650' over the river.  I use the term "said to be" because it is said to be several heights, depending on who is speaking.  The least I have heard is 550' feet, so this is something of a distinction without a difference, to use an old law school term.  And don't be picturing the Verrazano Bridge or the George Washington Bridge.  This is a two lane road with railings slightly more than waist high.  The supports are all beneath you.   All you see is open air and flat plains stretching beyond the bridge and on to the next mountains.  Gorgeous, beautiful and visually almost no indication of support.  Also, tourists, who have walked out on the bridge to take a picture, have an extremely bad habit of stepping back into the traffic lanes to be sure they get a great picture of their friends and the 650' deep panorama.  If there is really anything to the survival of the fittest, there would be a decrease in tourists on the Gorge Bridge.

It took me a few days to talk myself out of all the "let's scare the out-of-towners" talk.  When I finally did it, it was, of course, not scary at all -- except for those tourists taking pictures.  They really do that.
It led me to the West Rim Trail, which would have been a piece of cake if I had remembered my walking stick.  I gave it a couple of miles with several photos (again, please see Facebook) and time spent on some handy large rocks just absorbing the views.  When the storm clouds over the Sangre de Christo mountains started to get close enough to smell rain, I headed back and, wonder of wonders, got to my car just before the few raindrops started down.  For New Mexico as I have experienced it, it was a decent rainfall.  I wish many more of them for this beautiful area and for the pinon pines.