Valle Grande Passport II

This was my final Passport II hike of the 16 hikes in the booklet. It was a chilly, windy day. There were teeny snowflakes nestled on wild strawberry leaves but no real snow on the trail. The real snow, a spring snowfall, came the next day, May 19, in Los Alamos. The trees along the Valle Grande Trail look like a forest waiting to fall and many, some giants, have accepted the invitation already. The trees burned in the 2011 Las Conchas fire. On my way downhill, I was amazed to meet two tree fellers coming up. I had heard their chainsaws. They cleared deadfall off the trail all the way to the bottom. I thanked them. At the meadow, there was still one small tree across the trail which could easily be gotten around.

As always, if you gaze across the Valle Grande of the Valles Caldera National Preserve, you will see Redondo in repose. Seen here through a curtain of burnt timber, framed by the colors of earth and sky.