Los Alamos Hike

Sunday, the traditional Memorial Day Weekend hike was on the schedule. Weren't really feeling up to anything too ambitious, and certainly not up for a lot of driving. A Los Alamos co-worker had passed along some directions to trails in the town; seemed easy to get to, plus, as we all know, I can't quite get enough of Los Alamos.

The directions were a little vague, but as it turns out, it wasn't like you could make a wrong turn. Behind the high school down a fire road, around there a bit, and we were on the trails. Starts off through some lightly forested area, then on the bridge over a gorge. Don't look down.



We skirted along an edge of the cliffs there, and then followed a trail that led down into the gorge.





Usually, on a hike, I like to avoid all signs of civilization, framing photographs accordingly, ignoring manmade sounds from around. Out there, though, we kept running into all sorts of pipelines, cables, pipes and such. Ordinarily, I'd be trying to pretend they weren't there, but it being Los Alamos, the combination of natural and industrial seemed to fit.

 

We took a break for some snacks at the bottom and then set back out.



The trails are kind of marked, but it wasn't clear how they all connected, or if they were loops. Thinking that it might meet up with what brought us down, we set out on a different trail. It was along another gorge that kind of ran perpendicular to our original route — and the change in orientation must've brought a change in the microclimate there, because it turned into something more like a New England sort of forest.



We turned around shortly, assuming that it wasn't going to loop us back to the beginning. Playing it safe, we backtracked all the way out.

Turns out, we were justified. Now that we know what to expect from the Los Alamos County Trail Network, we'll be a little better prepared next time. Though it might mean sacrificing some pleasant surprises.

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Saturday night, we did some things we haven't done in years: saw a movie in a movie theater (there have been some at smaller venues like The Screen and CCA, but none at a big commercial venture since Bond in 06); and bought a new CD (there have been a couple used and the odd iTunes purchase here and there).

Iron Man was a decent amount of fun, the best Marvel's done yet (which may not be saying much). Dealt with the whole problem of showing an origin and then having another adventure briskly. Successful because it focused on Tony Stark, and Tony Stark was Robert Downey, Jr. No major plot holes, but a bunch of stuff kind of falls apart on further examination.

Last Night, the latest from Moby, is kind of a concept album. Aiming to condense 25 years of clubbing into one night, and condensing one night into an album. It finds him back at his techno roots; there's nothing really new here, but it does make for some good listening, even if that one night seems to involve a little too much cooling down to music that just fades into the background.

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Also, there's been some goings-on over at Chamisa, including a couple from Sunday.