Nature's Fireworks

(July 3rd-4th, 2012) So, it's been a while...lots of trips keeping me busy, but I shall endeavor to get them all up here.  I hope you like looking at pictures of food, because after this post, the next several will be, shall we say, inundated with them.  But not this post.  This post is about how I spent the third and fourth of July - not enjoying fireworks, but enjoying the marvels of nature.

On the third, I found myself heading out of town again with Kim and her dog Soju to the Jemez.  The last trip to San Gregorio reservoir and Clear Creek with Mark turned out so well that I thought I should visit the area again.  Once again, even though it was a holiday, I was amazed at how few people we encountered.  After we got past the reservoir and all of the day hikers, we didn't see a single person until we returned to the reservoir trail on our way out.

Clear Creek, North of San Gregorio Reservoir.

Soju on his first camping trip, ever!

Maybe the lack of people was induced partly by the monsoon season.  Every year, New Mexico receives the majority of it's rainfall (read: 8 of the 11 inches we get a year when we're not experiencing a drought like we have been lately) over a few weeks during the summer.  Like clockwork, every afternoon the heavens open up and inundate us with a flash flood, which ends just as quickly as it started.  For some reason, the monsoon season came a month early this year. 

So, I know what you're thinking...camping in the rain doesn't sound pleasant, right?  Well, this is New Mexico...rain is to us as snow is to Floridians.  So, who cares if we get a little wet, right?  One added advantage of the monsoon is that we ended up with a private fireworks show put on by nature - all through the night, the sky was punctuated by lightning in the distance.  Just like Teddy Roosevelt's famous quote from his visit to Yellowstone ("It was like lying in a great solemn cathedral, far vaster and more beautiful than any built by the hand of man."), how could anything man-made compete with that (aside from San Diego's fireworks mishap...).

One other benefit of the monsoon season is the wildflower bonanza.  In the span of just a few days, the semi-lifeless desert explodes with flowers to become thousands of acres of painted meadows...

Know that flower name?  Leave it in the comments for Brake Newsletter points (a very valuable commodity I've been told).

Anyways, cheers!

Come on, you didn't expect me to not have any food in this post, right?  Santa Fe Java Stout in hand.