kahunaburger

Now here’s a nice way how to spend a Saturday morning: Get up early, pack the wife and the dog, meet a friend, hike for a few miles and then rest the lazy bones in the afternoon.

It’s Saturday morning and I’m supposed to print the pictures for my photography portfolio, but Candice says it would be better for me to join them on a hike this morning. Now, I’m known to be a lazy bum and it takes some convincing, but once I am actually convinced I get excited.

This morning we are going to meet our friend Missy to go hiking somewhere. “It’s going to be easy”, she said, because I’m around. Last time Candice and her went out on a hike, they ended up on the top of some Taos mountain with snow, cold weather and rosy cheeks.

Not this time - this time we have Frisco with us and we can’t go too fast and too far, because the dog can’t handle it (now, how’s that for an excuse?).

Anyway, we meet Missy early in the morning and drive up to the Santa Fe Ski Basin. No skiing this time of the year. When we arrive at the top of the mountain the parking lot is moderately filled and one can tell that the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper just recently ran a story about this hike. It’s still early and Missy (who has been up here a million times) confirms that it won’t be crowded.

We leave the parking lot and climb the first ascent for a short period. At the saddle the path forks three ways and we continue straight on through a beautiful Aspen forest on a slight down slope.
The dog just loves it. He is off the leash and greets every single hiker we see on the path. Some of them don’t like the dirty paws on clean hiking outfit, but that’s a different story. Lots of other people took their dogs and Frisco has enough opportunity for socialization. Along the way we take a short break to get rid of some of the food in our backpacks.

The nice downward slope has to end and we take a right to make it up to Lake Nambe. After quite a steep ascent we reach a beatiful meadow.

On the meadow

It’s peaceful, quiet and smells like laundry coming out of the dryer. We have a quick break and I try to take pictures in the area, while Candice plays air-guitar …

Candice playing air-guitar with the dog

… Frisco poses …

Frisco at the meadow

… and the clouds just provide their face as a reflection in a nearby stream:

Reflection

All good things have to end and all good paths have to turn steep. So, a minute after leaving the meadow-camp, we climb up again along a stream. I’m huffing and puffing, looking at the scenery around me while the girls are ahead. I try to locate the marmots in the distance. What sounds like an eagle in the beginning, turns out to be a monstrous rodent.

Candice and Missy are ahead of me and reach the lake before I do. It’s beautiful and there are only a few people at the same location.

Nambe Lake break

The surface is as flat as a mirror, at least until this guy with his two dogs arrives. One of them is seriously addicted to water and uses his paws to splash water while he tries to catch the water with his mouth. This lasts for more than 10 minutes and we are getting concerned that the dog will drown himself. But, he seems to enjoy it. Frisco on the other hand, is standing at the shore barking. He can’t believe that the other dog can have such a good time in the water.

Swimmer

We stay a few more minutes and finish our lunch, before we head back to the parking lot. I take one more picture on the way back from the lake:

Leaves against tree trunk

Of course it has to start raining once we are a few hundred feet from the lake. It’s rain on and off all the way back to the car. Too hot to wear the rain-coat, too cold to go without it - sigh.

7 miles later we are back at the car. Everybody is a bit exhausted and we’re looking forward to an afternoon nap. The dog’s nap starts about a minute after we leave the parking lot of the Ski Basin. What a life!