Tesuque Creek
It’s yet another Saturday morning we spend up on the mountain. This time we take a short hike to Tesuque Creek with Pam and Joe.
We have an early start again and drive up towards the Ski Basin after Pam and Joe arrive at our place. Initially we had planned to take the same hike as we did with Missy the other day (see here), but then we decided to do something easier, which turned out to be a good idea…
The “Tesuque Creek hike” starts about half way up to the Ski Basin. There is a little parking lot on the left hand side and we see about 8 other cars parked there when we arrive. According to our guide it’s an about 4 miles loop, a little hilly, but not too steep.
The first few minutes we are joined by an older lady with her dog. She claims to do the hike almost every week, because it’s the perfect exercise for her and the dog. I’m actually glad we she takes the “left” path, where we turned “right”, because she did talk a lot.
This time Joe did not forget his camera, but at the first attempt to take a picture the mirror in his SLR locks up and he is not able to take any more pictures that day. Too bad.
It’s really hard to take pictures in the bright environment. The sun forms hard and dark shadows on there is way too much contrast in most of the pictures. There are really only “two windows of opportunity” during the day: early in the morning and at dusk.
After walking for about 1.5 hrs we have a break and eat the stuff we bought earlier at the DeVargas Albertsons. It’s really nice at our picnic place and we enjoy to sit in the shadow of Aspen trees.
I can’t wait for the turning of the colors in the fall this year. People tell us that it is the most perfect time of the year when the whole moutain turns from green to yellow over to red.
After lunch we hike a bit off the trail and continue further up the mountain. We are looking for an opening to allow for a view into Santa Fe. Unfortunately there are all those trees around which block the view - oh well 
Little Tesuque creek is nice and refreshing. Frisco likes to wet his feet in there and it seems that he is not as afraid of the water as he used to be. We stop for a few minutes and take some pictures of the water. I really like the picture on the right, where f20 at 1/30sec shows multiple reflections in the stream, which looks like somebody used a white marker to paint on the picture.
The hike turns out to be longer than expected and I think we did a total of 5 miles in those few hours we were up there. The last stretch leads through some open spaces where we can feel the early afternoon sun burning down on us.
I do get the impression that at least one person looks tired in the picture on the left …
Thanks again for another great walk, via your great photographer, through some very beautiful scenery. I especially liked the composition of the flowers (I think they are daisies) in the foreground with Joe and Candice in the background. It was also nice to see the picture of “the three of you” — you, your beautiful wife, and handsome dog. Oh, yes, Tobias, and you are cute too. Please take no offense, just kidding. And, the creek reflection scene was super. Your comments about the f stop and number of sec., etc. brought back memories of many, many years ago, over 50, when I was much younger and dumber, and thought I would take up photography as a hobby. But when I found out how expensive it could be, I decided it would take too much money from my clothes budget which at that time was of all importance to me. I still have the camera I bought back then; probably an antique by now. It is a Kodak Tourister. The last time I used it, a few years ago, if worked fine, and suprizingly with no pinholes in the bellow after all these years. Well, I have babbled on long enough. Look forward to seeing more of your super, great photography.
Joe’s Mom (Betty)