Danny Lyon on Fishing, Smoke & Fire

What a tease for me. I miss New Mexico. The descriptions reminded me of how space, time and distance gets redefined there.

Also the sometimes violent weather. There is an expression they say, "If you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes."

On one December day I remember experiencing four seasons in a day. The morning was winter like, but by noon I was sunbathing. The afternoon was like a long fall, and by dusk winter had returned.

When I ordered some Patagonia knickers that were on sale I spoke with a person in Reno. She complained that the air quality was bad due to the fires in California.

Cal
 
Count me as another who misses my trips to New Mexico.

My wife (then girlfriend) and I went there together first in 1984 and we fell in love with it. We then made visits twice a year for a number of years. I'm not a fisherman but the article brought back memories of hiking and camping in the mountains and high desert as well as visiting the small towns and villages and the galleries in Santa Fe and Taos. Photography there is almost too easy given the scenery and light. I have to work hard to find something that doesn't look like another calendar photo.

Guess I'm overdue for another trip.

Cal, I recall one early November day on the Plaza in Santa Fe when I was freezing on the shady side and sweating on the sunny side. Two seasonal extremes within a few yards.
 
Dogman,

I lived in the Santa Fe National Forest in a two bedroom log cabin in La Cueva which is basically 80 mailboxes northwest of Los Alamos where I worked.

The Jemez River passed by and I lived in the Jemez Mountains. The area ws so remote that I got no TV reception.

I remember my first experience of "Thunder Snow."

Also about two miles from my cabin was this hot spring pool near Jemez Springs. Pretty much a place to be nude in the woods and meet people.

On my drive home in my Jeep I would pass the Via Grande, this huge caldera (exploded volcano). On one side of the road Aspen, Pines, and mountain; and on the other side grasslands.

This type of beauty, isolation, and independence is not for everybody. My city slicker girl would go nuts not having all the distractions here in NYC.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
Dogman,

I lived in the Santa Fe National Forest in a two bedroom log cabin in La Cueva which is basically 80 mailboxes northwest of Los Alamos where I worked.

The Jemez River passed by and I lived in the Jemez Mountains. The area ws so remote that I got no TV reception.

I remember my first experience of "Thunder Snow."

Also about two miles from my cabin was this hot spring pool near Jemez Springs. Pretty much a place to be nude in the woods and meet people.

On my drive home in my Jeep I would pass the Via Grande, this huge caldera (exploded volcano). On one side of the road Aspen, Pines, and mountain; and on the other side grasslands.

This type of beauty, isolation, and independence is not for everybody. My city slicker girl would go nuts not having all the distractions here in NYC.

Cal
Click to expand...

Oh, yeah. Very familiar with the area around Los Alamos, Jemez Springs and Valle Grande. Back then the area was mostly wilderness and Santa Fe "The City Different" had a population of around 40,000--it's more than double that now.

We used to hike and camp in Bandelier Nat'l Monument. Last time we were there you had to take a shuttle from White City to enter the park unless you were camping, which we weren't. I though it odd that you had board a shuttle that far from the park entrance until I realized how developed the boarding spot was. It was like an amusement park had popped up in the middle of the forest with fast food spots everywhere.

Ain't it amazing how people take something they love and immediately figure out how to screw it up by changing it? As they say, "Nothing stays the same." But there's still a lot of gems in the area if you look for them.
 
Dogman said:
Oh, yeah. Very familiar with the area around Los Alamos, Jemez Springs and Valle Grande. Back then the area was mostly wilderness and Santa Fe "The City Different" had a population of around 40,000--it's more than double that now.

We used to hike and camp in Bandelier Nat'l Monument. Last time we were there you had to take a shuttle from White City to enter the park unless you were camping, which we weren't. I though it odd that you had board a shuttle that far from the park entrance until I realized how developed the boarding spot was. It was like an amusement park had popped up in the middle of the forest with fast food spots everywhere.

Ain't it amazing how people take something they love and immediately figure out how to screw it up by changing it? As they say, "Nothing stays the same." But there's still a lot of gems in the area if you look for them.
Click to expand...

D-M,

I'm a smart guy, but I do mighty dumb things. I went to Bandelier National Monument for the first time by myself. I went for a hike following a creek. The afternoon went by, and being recessed in a deep canyon I found myself in a situation where I had a long-long hike ahead as I realized is was getting dusky.

Pretty much I was in trouble. LOL. When I got back to my Jeep it was dark. It was as if I left myself for dead.

I also did a lot of stuff you are not suppose to do like wander around by myself in a Jeep in four wheel drive low rock crawling without any back-up.

When I was there many had migrated from California, and there were many who came to Santa Fe to die of AIDS.

I really love Christmas in Santa Fe. Too bad New Mexico is too peaceful for my city slicker gal. She is not the outdoor type. I'm a mountain biker, fisherman, adventurer, farmer type. I like artistic solitude.

Never knew anyone who had a complicated life that was happy. I wonder if my gal could find peace by being alone or not being cronically stressed out and overwhelmed. Realize that she is a fashion blogger and always busy.

About 2 million people in the whole state. Probably still has only one area code for the entire state 505. I use to say that the area code was SOS because it seemed like a mystical place where everyone was searching for their identity or looking for something.

Cal
 
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