Cerro Grande

Cerro Grande was reminiscent of Taylor — a mellow mountain, with broad sweeping grassy slopes and a dotting of spruce.  Still some lupines left at the top.  Hung out at the top and watched the clouds.  Got a late start due to business calls, drove through the hot desert, worried I didn’t have enough water, and no, the guard told me, there’s nowhere in Los Alamos where you can buy a bottle of water — and don’t make any lefthand turns.  Not that there was any visible security force, but you imagine they are all around watching carefully, keeping a low profile.  And driving past Tech Area 16, I wondered – what kinds of projects were they working on there?  And was it really in good taste to name a street “Bikini Atoll”?

In any case, the sky was partly overcast and at 9-10,000 feet the temperature was pleasant, so I needn’t have worried about water, I had enough.

I was looking forward to an easy climb, just 4 miles round trip and a little more than 1,000 feet in gain.  What a luxury to head out on a soft sandy trail dotted with pine needles!  By the time I was coming back, however, the trail had morphed into a washed out streambed filled with chunky rocks and grit which somehow I’d ignored on the way up.  Frustrating!  Well, they say barefoot hiking teaches patience.  I practiced stepping lightly and carefully and tried not to growl and curse too much.