Where the Ouzel Was

Went with PG to Cave Creek, elevation about 8800' in the Pecos Wilderness. There's as much water as I've ever seen in the Pecos River, in Panchuela Creek, in Cave Creek. It was a nearly perfect day. We saw Abert's squirrels, various butterflies, lots of juncos and an Audubon's warbler, a ouzel; and heard but not saw an owl.There was leftover snow by the caves, and a haze of pussywillow catkins, and so much water in the creek that it was not all plunging underground into the caves, as it does in normal seasons; overflow was bypassing the cave openings, and continuing on down the usually dry stretch of creek bed. Not many wildflowers yet. The iris are just coming up out of the ground and won't bloom for weeks. We saw strawberries blooming, alyssum, violets in both white and violet, a groundsel, very small red-and-yellow columbines, something tiny and white.Above, PG demonstrates the aging-librarian technique for crossing creeks in spate: the bend-over-and-clutch-whatever's-handy method. Below, she suddenly wanders off the trail and uphill into an aspen grove, looking for the owl.Panchuela Creek showing off. This is where the ouzel was.Links: the same hike in a different season of a different year. Topozone map with location of caves at center of image.

Halfway Between the Rim and the River

On the cusp of spring, went hiking yesterday with a neighbor and a friend. We went on the Vista Verde Trail, which follows a bench formed by a landslide block inside the Rio Grande Gorge,
about halfway between the mesa top and the river. Canyon wrens were singing.

The real purpose was to get out, out, out of town, and that we did.

The trail just ends, spang in the middle of the canyon, and there you are with the sound of the river far below, and the level line of the Taos Plateau above. We sat at the end of the trail, and passed the binoculars back and forth, and enjoyed the sun of a perfect blue-sky day. There were ducks down there on the river, little specks bobbing around and diving; white underneath, white patch on their heads? Maybe? Too far away to identify. Maybe buffleheads, but buffleheads are so little: how could we see them from so far away???