Cletus gets mail

Small ponderosa

This Pinus ponderosa brachyptera seedling is behind Arizona Avenue.

Tools

I sorted out and organized our tools, removing extras and stuff where Erin and I had duplicates. I guess that means our relationship is serious now?

Climbing school

I’m taking the Los Alamos Mountaineers climbing school, which is very well run. It’s a blast, despite the fact that it often makes me feel like an out-of-shape blob who is terrified of heights.

I’ve been wondering if climbing would be a fun family activity, with Erin and then the kiddos once they’re old enough (the YMCA has climbing classes for kids as young as 4). I look forward to exploring this more after things calm down a bit post-birth.

Here we are setting up for the 4th outdoor class session, at The Gallows in White Rock Canyon. It turns out most of these routes were first ascended by my friend Walt Wehner and his friends in the 90’s.

A colleague of mine spotted 13 different kinds of wildflowers in White Rock Canyon the weekend before. I think I got to 8 or 9.

Cerro Colorado hike

On March 31, my dad and I and some LAMC folks hiked up Cerro Colorado, near Ojo Caliente.

Above is the summit. The area had been remarkably hard hit by the piñon die-off a few years ago, as you can see above. However, a decent number of tiny to small piñons seemed to be doing just fine. My hope is that they’ll stage a comeback in a way that is more resistant to the beetle plague.

Sandia Mountains hike

A few weeks back I went on a hike in the Sandias with some folks from LAMC, as part of a “Class 3 Scrambling” course.

Near our high point, looking northwest? The Jemez are just peeking over on the right horizon, while Cabezon is visible on the left horizon.

The tramway people are pretty serious about people not climbing the towers.

A snowy April 2 in Los Alamos

This is the scene in our back yard as of an hour or so ago. That is, snowing heavily with 4-5" of accumulation in some places. I think it’s great. I believe I’ve mentioned before that the only acceptable weather conditions are blizzard and brilliantly sunny.

The branches covered in blossoms catch the snow best.

Cave of the Winds revisited

A few days ago, I got a request from PEEC asking if they could use photos from my November post on Cave of the Winds. I said sure; they also wondered if I had photos of the cave entrance and inside the cave. I said no, but I’d be happy to go up and make some, which I did this morning. It was terrifically windy.

I watched this tree fall over. I considered turning around, but decided that since there weren’t too many trees, paying more attention to the few trees I was passing was enough to keep me reasonably safe. I didn’t see any more fresh falls.

Turn-off to Cave of the Winds.

Cave of the Winds entrance, looking east (downstream). The descent from the rim is quite steep and ends in a drop-off.

Cave entrance looking west (upstream).

Inside the cave. There is one main room and a few short side passages, and as far as I can tell, no bears (I checked).