The Blog
Travels with Cats now available in paperback
By Anne Leonard |
Hiking in ABQ and rain at last
The closure of the Cibola National Forest (and just about every other forest in New Mexico) has forced me down into Albuquerque to find open trails. Another incentive is I have two good friends from Colorado visiting me with a German Shepherd that requires lots of exercise. It has been rewarding, especially since high temperatures…
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Waiting for the monsoons
Virtually all of the hiking trails in New Mexico are closed due to extreme fire risk. This explains the elbow-to-elbow crowds my houseguests and I encountered at Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks between Albuquerque and Santa Fe on Tuesday. This slot canyon is maintained by the BLM and there is little vegetation to ignite, so it is one…
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Hiking in a mountain garden
Went on one of my favorite hikes in the Vail Valley yesterday, East Lake Creek. It’s been a few years since I’ve been on this trek through an aspen forest. I also don’t recall being on it when the wild raspberries were in bloom. I know they are raspberries because I’ve eaten many when hiking…
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Telluride Flashbacks
“Have you been here before?” asked the unknown woman I was following back to camp in the dark my first night in Telluride. “No,” I lied. Actually, it was so long ago I was at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival (1979? 1980?) I don’t think it really counts. It’s a much bigger deal today. Back then…
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Changeable weather in Mesa Verde
It wasn’t raining when I pulled into Mesa Verde Saturday evening, but I’d already wimped out and booked a room at the Far View Lodge. And I should have known that once I settled into my room with a view, I wasn’t about to abandon it for a tent. It rained hard Saturday night and…
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Much-needed rain
Woke up to rain this morning. Not one of those monsoon gully washers (we’re still a few weeks away from those), but a nice soft rain. To say it is needed is an vast understatement. In a farewell-for-the-time-being move (since they were closing the forest and I’m heading to Colorado for a week), I went…
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Cibola National Forest is closing
It is dry, dry, dry in New Mexico. The state didn’t get any snow to speak of this winter and the monsoons are still a couple weeks away. I heard that the Santa Fe and Jemez national forests were closed due to extreme fire risk as I was driving in two weeks ago. While hiking…
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Settling into my summer home
I’m not going to check and see if I used the same blog title for my first posting in Tijeras last year. Sauks, Andy and I crossed the New Mexico state line on Friday. When I stopped in Santa Rosa for gas, I noticed it was appreciably cooler than the Texas Panhandle. The cats are…
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My last day in Texas
I am sheltering from 100-degree heat in a tiny cabin in the Texas Panhandle. So much for hiking the fern cave loop. It was doable first thing this morning, but that wasn’t in the cards. I slept in, drank coffee and enjoyed a cool morning breeze. Yes, it is hot here but I have now…
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