Soggy

I was burnt out on blogging after the voluminously verbose series I wrote on elk exclosures. Bandelier National Monument never got back to me regarding my inquiry on their elk exclosures but that’s OK because I have moved on and theirs were in pretty good condition anyhow.

Today I went to FR 2998 to do my jogging practice. On Hal Higdon’s website there is a plan for beginning runners. You walk for 10 minutes to warm up, then for the next 15 minutes you alternate jogging 30 seconds and walking 30 seconds, and then you walk for 5 minutes to cool down. I started at the intersection of Camp May and FR2998, intersected the Nail Trail and then went into Pajarito Canyon and back up. Craig Martin’s book, Los Alamos Trails, computes that to be 2.8 miles RT. Not quite my usual daily 4 but with the trip to Caballo Mountain on Friday (yes, I haven’t been writing but I’ve definitely been wandering!) and the trip to Cerro Rubio yesterday, I feel quite sure that the exercise gods are pleased. I used to run years ago but stopped as my knees protested it. The knees don't seem to mind the 30 seconds stints. Also, the higher intensity of intervals is supposed to be so good for a body and jogging is good to keep bones strong.

FR2998 looks like it can be driven almost to the Nail Trail except for a small, 3” diameter tree across the road. There is another more robust tree down but vehicles can drive around it. Right before the Nail Trail is a place to pull off into the woods and picnic . I saw one bicyclist today who was coming up the Nail Trail and heading toward Camp May Road.

I saw tons of yellow Wooton’s Senecio. We have to take grandson for a one way, downhill, car shuttle hike this weekend. It’s only 2.7 miles per Craig. The delight of it will be he can pick a flower or two (Wooton’s aren’t endangered are they?) and even collect a stone or two and turn over rocks galore without being in violation of any laws like in Bandelier.

I was so intent on my jogging practice that when I got to Pajarito Canyon, I forgot to stop and take a look although I made a mental note of the strong sound of running water. Instead, I turned around immediately and started uphill on my last 30 seconds jogging lap.

Clouds were all around and very dark clouds indeed to the east over the Sangre de Cristos but overhead was blue sky and sunshine--pure joy!

When I got back to my car, I put on my heavy Wells Lamont gloves and proceeded to pick up a completely full bag of trash and also some junk that wouldn’t fit into the trash bag and this in a very short section of Camp May Road. I am determined to finish the last half mile of picking up trash on the first 2 miles of Camp May Road that I told Los Alamos County I would do for Clean Up Los Alamos Day. As it seems to always do when I am set on picking up trash, it rained. Those dark clouds that I thought were safely stowed on top of the Sangres drifted overhead. Fortunately, thunder and lightning were in short supply so I persisted for a bit but then as I got wetter and the trash too, I decided to bag it, pun unintended,  and go home. When I drove through town, around 5pm, I saw it was raining much harder than it had been on Camp May Road. I’m going to try again tomorrow to finish that half mile. That means rain, folks!!