hiking

The Best Life

Rio Pueblo gorge

Something of Indiana Jones here that I can’t quite put my finger on

Ssuddenly the sun came out—this is New Mexico—and the last few raindrops glistened and were gone. Massive rain shafts still swept the ground on three sides. One was just behind, the others distant. All bore watching but there wasn’t any lightning yet. To the west, the sky was open, and the warmth streamed down. We’d [...]

Kowabunga

Rio Pueblo gorge

iPhone 6s Plus shot, tweaked in Photoshop

Maybe I can do this after all. It only took me eighteen years of living in Taos, most of them spent less than ten miles from this spot, but I did find it. It’s a stupefying place. The scale and closeness of the cliffs are shocking. The open space between them is too much to [...]

Taos mountains

Photo from May 3rd this year

This is where we walk. Taos Valley Overlook is 2,581 acres (about four square miles) of sagebrush, piñon, junipers, rocks, arroyos, mesas, and cliffs. Today we walked almost three miles and only encountered a couple of cyclists. It takes about ten minutes to get here from where we live. One could do worse!

Sky Fix with Dogs

Taos, New Mexico

I bitch a lot but this is just ten minutes from the house

My heart rate was pushing one hundred thirty-two beats per minute near the top of the hill. I thought that was a bit much, but nothing burst. She flew on ahead the way she always does, sometimes with her arms stretched out like wings. (I can beat her on a bike, but that’s it.) There [...]

Too Much

dead tarantula

Dead tarantula with flattened body. Probably run over by a bike.

The subject here is art fear, and I just remembered something else. Among my youthful talents was that I sometimes wrote things. There was this nature magazine, not one of the well-known ones, that I’d come by in my adventures. I had a subscription. One month there was an advertisement for a national essay contest. [...]

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