It’s been rather toasty in central New Mexico lately, and the temperatures are continuing to climb — with no relief in sight. I’d whine, but my photos keep reminding me of how beautifully cool it was in southern Colorado just a few weeks ago. Please join me in taking a visual break from the heat.
I spent quite a bit of time on the Piedra River Trail, a tiny portion of which you can see near the upper left of the image above. I also went to Treasure Falls, where the light is as close to perfect near the summer solstice as it could possibly be.
There was way more water than I’ve ever seen there before. The rainbows at the bottom of the falls were spectacular, but the spray was so heavy I didn’t dare take my camera out of its case. Even if it could have survived all that water, I figured it would be but a nanosecond before the lens was covered with water droplets. So here’s a photo from another (drier) year.
The image below shows Treasure Falls in 2016, with a “normal” amount of water. From my New Mexican point of view, even this is a lot.1
The sky was solid blue the entire time I was in southern Colorado, with only a handful of clouds over the course of several days — so I skipped taking sunset photos. In the interest of a break from the heat, however, here’s one from a few years ago.
Back to New Mexico and the San Gregorio Reservoir, with another solid blue sky. Those lovely little yellow flowers dotting the edges of the lake were all dandelions! And even though the water level may seem modest compared to that in the photo above, it was higher than I’ve seen it for many, many years.2
Finally, the remains of an old resort in the Sandia foothills called Carlito Springs have been repurposed as county open space.3 The area was closed for a while and only recently reopened, so I’ve taken a few early-morning walks there recently.
The springs are still flowing into and through several small pools that were built in the resort’s heyday. The blue and green reflections in one of them were so pretty the other morning that I was compelled to take a photo.
Stay cool, y’all!
We New Mexicans tend to be extremely generous in bestowing the term “waterfall” upon even the tiniest cascades of water. Near where I often hike, there’s occasionally a bit of water that falls about six feet; it’s widely known in the area as “the waterfall.”
Such a beautiful pastoral scene with the cows grazing on the opposite side of the lake, right? As it turns out, Jemez cattle are likely some of the meanest in the world. So far I’ve managed to hold my own with them, mostly by giving them a very wide berth, but several different friends have been outright chased by them. And if looks could kill….
Such beautiful images, I love falling water, always so magical. We have no problem keeping cool here in the uk as it’s currently raining! Personally I enjoy the smells of fresh rain and how it seems to cleanse everything. 💫🙏
So refreshing & gorgeous!