“Are we out of the woods yet?
Are we out of the woods?
Are we in the clear yet?
Taylor Swift
Are we in the clear yet?”
I had the best night’s sleep last night. Not really sure why since it was in a tent. Maybe it was the whiskey? Or just the night. I did wake up once, early, and channeled Molly with “I’m cozy, I’m comfy, I’m having a great night sleep, now let’s get back to it.” And I did. When I did wake up, the morning started as perfectly as the night had ended. The stream still babbling, the air still cool.
Zoe was my tent buddy and we were up half an hour or so before the others. We did our best to do a few camp chores, but after awhile my desire for a cup of coffee got the best of me and I peeked into their tent to see if they were up. Molly looked up at me, and although I’m pretty sure I had just woken her, I took that as enough of a sign that it was OK to light the camp stove to boil the water. I’m sure Molly will have her own take on coffee, but we’ve gone to great lengths to make sure she gets some in the morning. The method we settled on for backpacking is boiled water with Starbucks Via and Bailey’s (gotta have something in it). Sipping that concoction on a comfortable rock in a beautiful canyon was a near perfect way to start the day. I think this may have been one of the rare days that I enjoyed it more than Molly.
The hike out of the canyon today was six miles that defied my expectations once again for what New Mexico was. The slogan here is “Land of Enchantment” and over the past four days I’ve come to understand why. I distinctly remember as a child thinking of NM as “the big state next to Arizona, not much there”. I can’t believe how wrong I was. I think it may have even surpassed my love for Wisconsin and Colorado this trip.
The canyon was lush. So different from what we’re used to in Utah. There were grasses, reeds, flowers, bushes, trees. More plant diversity than I think we’ve seen anywhere. I can’t wait to return to Bandelier for more of the backcountry.
This afternoon was spent on road trip tasks. Showers, laundry, cold drinks, etc. We’ve had a slight change of plan for the upcoming week. Rather than returning to COHO we’re going to head toward Leadville to attempt summiting a pair of 14ers – Elbert and Massive. The past four days of hiking have been great and we need more of that. First though we’re going to treat ourselves to a rest day in Santa Fe tomorrow to celebrate our anniversary.
