no big hike this weekend

Sunday we went out for about an hour on the Atalaya Mountain trail out behind St. John's. The first part takes you down to Arroyo Chamiso, then follows a side tributatry/creek bed upstream. This part was rocky and hilly, as the creek twisted and the trail cut across the it, up and over the rises between. Along this part, I saw something, might have been a small coyote or a big fox. Didn't get a real good look.



Or maybe it was just Bram. At about our halfway point up, the trail crossed a road, and then continued up thru more piney woods. This was steeper, but not as rocky. What rocks there were were pinkey-red granite with green lichen.



I was surprised at how many healthy (looking) piñon trees there were. The bark beetles have killed most of the piñon in the lowlands. I guess it's either too cold at higher elevations for the beetles, or the trees get enough water up there so that they're strong enough to fight the bugs off.

We turned around at the ridge where the powerlines crossed the trail. Nice view of the city. Would have been another two miles to the top, but by then, the sun was getting low, it was cooling off and getting chillier in the shade. Saw lots of other people, walking, hiking, jogging (the difference is really just a matter of amount of gear and speed, I guess), mountain biking, walking dogs. Felt good to get outside.