Santa Fe Day 1

 

Today was our first full day in NM. We were supposed to be picking up the rental car and knocking around Santa Fe today. I apparently speced out the whole reservation, but then somehow never actually completed it. Although no cars are available today, we'll pick one up first thing tomorrow morning.

We're staying at the Ojo Santa Fe resort just south of Santa Fe. We were originally supposed to go to Ojo Caliente on the north side of the city in May of last year to celebrate our anniversary, but - Yeah, not so much. Unfortunately, they had a fire last year and they are still closed. 

Since we're without transport today, we opted to explore the property in the morning. Breakfast was blue corn pancakes, huevos rancheros, fresh fruit, and tons of water. Adequately fueled up, we headed out the back of the property to explore their hiking trails. We figured the ~4 mile would be a good chance to see how the heat and high altitude are treating us before we get into some of the longer hikes we have planned.

Note that north is pointing to the lower left corner of the map. Always a sign of a quality navigation tool!

We walked past the salt water pool and hot tub, and then past the archery range and out into the desert scrub. As we started climbing some of the small hills, the beauty of the New Mexico desert started to reveal itself. We've heard from several people that the weather has been unseasonably warm, so I was surprised at how much was in bloom! We passed by many cactuses outrageous pink and yellow flowers.

We hiked along and through several arroyos, one of which had barbed wire strung both down the sides and across the bottom as well as suspended in mid-air at the height of the surrounding ground. I pity the poor animal that gets caught up in a flash food and swept into that barrier.

After 2 miles we came to a copse of willows and cottonwoods. The cottonwoods are all going to seed right now, so as we enter the shade where grasses and small vegetation covered the ground, the cottonwood fluff looked for all the world like snow!

It was most surreal! We picked our way through the glen, enjoying the break from both the heat and sun. The lizards scampering through the brush reminded me very much of the squirrels back home - super noisy for such small prey animals!

All too soon the trail headed back up and into the scrub and we turned for our temporary home. When we arrived back at the room, we both realized that desert hiking comes with some - odors. Kris and I separately hopped in the shower fully clothed, not expecting the clothed to be cleaned, just hoping they would be clean enough to remain in the room with us until we can laundry.

All cleaned up and well re-hydrated, we caught a Lyft into Santa Fe. Along the way we learned that there are only *8* dedicated Lyft drivers in the city right now. Making us very glad indeed that we're getting our car tomorrow! We wandered around the Santa Fe Plaza area and stopped by the Gruet tasting room for a glass of bubbles.

It was then off to dinner at La Boca, a tapas restaurant. We started with jamon and morcilla pintxos, proceeded to some of the best artichokes I've had outside of Rome, and wrapped things up with Spanish style ribs and chicharrons. All in all, a tremendous start to the trip!