Photographs
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Setting sun looking through a solitary juniper in a meadow
in the Sandia foothills in September, 2025. The foothills
alternate between grassy meadows and juniper forest with
the occasional pinyon tree until you get to the base of the
mountains where pinyons predominate. Pinyon trees are
small pines that have tasty and nutritious nuts harvested
every year by local people, for themselves and often sold
in grocery stores. To the right of the picture in the distance
you can get a sense of how dense the juniper forest can be
in certain areas in the foothills. I love hiking in the juniper
forest where it goes in and out of arroyos with occasional
meadows, with a lot of interesting rocks -- granite, quartz,
sandstone, and chert of varied colors.
A view of Sandia Peak and Trail 365 north of the Cottonwood Springs
trailhead in the Elena Gallegos Open Space Area. Trail 365 runs all the
way from I-40 to the Sandia Tramway, a distance of what must be about
20 miles. This 2.5-mile section runs through a dense juniper forest until it
gets beyond Domingo Baca Canyon, where it goes to the tram through
what can only be described as a cholla forest. It's a rocky stretch with lots
of small granite, quartz, and chert boulders. I had no idea there were so
many different colors of granite until I hiked here. Domingo Baca Canyon is a fairly deep canyon with nice scenic viewpoints at the top on both sides.
This is a photograph of the bosque south of Alameda Road on
what my phone tells me is the Paseo del Bosque Trail through
an area that alternates between cottonwood forest and open
grass and sage land. The Bosque is less photogenic in winter
than other times of the year, but occasionally yields some nice views. I like the way the trees left of center lean and the even balance between blue sky and clouds in the upper half, as well
as how the trail looks like it leads straight into the trees.
A small meadow a few feet away from Trail # 365 north of Elena
Gallegos Open Space Area in the foothills with Sandia Peak and
the crest of the Sandia Mountains in the background. I stopped
here to sit on a rock and absorb everything around me for 15 or
20 minutes. It was just a very peaceful and pleasant place to sit for a while. I started hearing the cheep-cheep of a bird a little behind
me and to my right and turned to watch it moving along branches
of a mountain mahogany, seeming to pick things off the branches.
With blue on its crown and a white or light gray breast and darker
gray wings, I looked it up in a book later to learn it was a white-
breasted nuthatch, which hunts insects on tree branches.
