Sunday, April 8, 2012

Exploring the Jemez Mountains

About two hours outside of Albuquerque you'll find the Jemez mountains.  Maybe it's been too long since I've been out in the mountains (no thanks to this long winter), but they were seriously some of the most gorgeous mountains I've ever seen.  They range from redish-orange sandy plateaus to green and lush rocky faces.  Our first stop-- Los Alamos to check out the town.  We discovered there's not much there and it's highly unlikely we'll ever want to move there and transfer to Los Alamos National Lab.  Next, we hit up the Los Conchas climbing areas.  This area was hit heavily by fire last year and it's evident by the many blacked out areas and dead trees, but still beautiful nonetheless.
Graham's first time trying on the harness.  It didn't last long before he wanted free of these constrains, but he thoroughly enjoyed playing with the many buckles (carabiners).
No major climbing was done this trip, but we did poke around and play in the dirt.
Then, as we began driving home we discovered this fun hike up to some hot springs.
The hike was perfect!  It followed the creek almost the entire way (which was Heaven for Miles-- because he occasionally liked to dip his fingers into the rushing water) and once up at the springs we hung out for a bit and felt the warm spring water with our hands.
It was an unplanned hike, but we will be back in the near future.  Not far from this hike we discovered some old ruins and monastery that we'd like to return to and check out.  This was one of the funnest Saturdays we've had in a long time.

4 comments:

Danae said...

Very cool! Looks like a lot of fun... and seriously... how cute are your boys! :)

Sara T. said...

The Jamez are amazing! there is an awesome fry bread place on the way to them too. The Jamez was where my mom had asked us to spread her ashes so it will always be a special place for me. I can't wait to go back and explore it some more.

Phil said...
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