Terminated

That was the word they used. Terminated. After fifteen weeks of performing “the most important function of a citizen” our service was terminated. Unpaid and un-thanked.

In five attempts I was chosen for not a single jury. Most were not selected. But one lucky citizen managed to serve on four trials. Several others managed three. If you got selected once, you were likely to be selected again. No wonder people tried so hard to avoid selection.

Most were civil cases. In the next-to-last session a woman who hit the car in front of her was suing the cop behind her. Her attorney asked “Who would believe more in a policeman's testimony?” and a few unenthusiastic hands were waved. Then “Who would disbelieve a policeman's testimony?” and well over half the group shot their hands in the air, waving violently, spitting out angry emotional stories and expressing unflattering opinions towards police in general. Apparently implementation of the Broken Window Theory has had unintended consequences.

In the last case a young man whose cancer had returned after treatment by two different hospitals was finally in full remission after a month long experimental stem cell treatment by a third hospital. During that treatment his forearm was unexpectedly scarred. He was suing the hospital because of the scar.

This last selection was our final week of service and the second week in a row we had to appear. And the trial was to start 3 weeks after our service was scheduled to end. This news was not well received by the group of prospective jurors. The judge had a near riot on his hands.  The Jury Services Specialists II had screwed up the schedule and they were bureaucratically unapologetic. I finished my haiku:

Low-paid Functionary
stacks forms,
checks boxes
'till sun sets
ten thousand times.

Long ago I was drafted by the army and two years later was discharged. I spent that time counting pages in unused obsolete code books before the books were shredded and burned. That service was much more rewarding than this farce of jury duty.

White Rock Canyon: Closer and Closer

Bandelier National Monument
Frijoles Canyon
As seen from La Caja del Rio, Santa Fe National Forest

White Rock Canyon cliff face from top to bottom.
Jemez Mountains in the distance seen across Bandelier.

The topo map was helpful. I got pretty close this time, across the Rio Grande from Bandelier with a nice view of Frijoles Canyon. Years ago I hiked down that canyon from the park headquarters and it was beautiful but the view of the cliff face is much better from this side.

There was a bonus. When I got near to the end of the trail I found an archaeological site, a mound that was once a pueblo with a beautiful view. I found a pot shard and tool cores made from what appeared to me to be glassy rhyolite. They helped me identify the mound as a site, but the main reason I knew it was a ruin was the Forest Service sign saying "Please do not deface this archaeological site." The site seemed untouched but the sign was defaced.

This was a very enjoyable hike but I am sure I can do better. Surely I can find the abrupt edge I imagine and I can peer over the 1,000 foot drop and see the Rio Grande at the bottom of the banded tuff cliffs.

I'd show you where I hiked but that would give away the location of the protected archaeology site
and since it's not marked on any maps, I'll not mark it here.
You'll have to find it yourself.
It should be easy to find yourself a site: there are a lot of them.
Just look for a mound covered with cholla.

White Rock Canyon walls with Los Alamos and LANL once again in the background.

La Cieneguilla Petroglyphs

A few miles southwest of Santa Fe is the La Cieneguilla Petroglyph site. Above a long abandoned pueblo Indians pecked several hundred images into the basalt cliffs of La Bajada. An archeologist we found examing a spiral hidden under tumbleweeds told us the Indians were active in the area from the 12th thru the 17th century. As we walked along a steep bolder strewn "trail" just under the cliff top, we saw images of birds, coyotes, deer, kokopellis and horses. We did about half the route before heat overtook us. It will be cooler in October and we'll have to return to see the rest of the trail.

German Double Eagle ??

Falling Man and Thunderstorm ??

A randy Kokopelli
Musicians will always be musicians

A fish?
Almost all petroglyphs are pecked on flat surfaces
This is on the corner of a rock. 3-D.
Makes me think this could be a modern forgery.

Wild Horse in La Caja del Rio

There are about 50 wild horse in the 100,000 acres of La Caja del Rio. That is about one horse every 3 square miles. They don't like people and are good at hiding. So I felt pretty lucky to see a few today.

I'd again been looking for a decent view of the White Rock Canyon and after wandering for a couple of hours, I decided to head home. I'd been seeing some horse poop and when I neared the truck and saw a small meadow, I thought “Good place for horses”. Presto. A horse appeared. And another and another. They were about a quarter mile away. I took a couple pictures and watched a bit.

The cover was ample and the breeze favorable, so I tried to get closer. Careful not to yell “ouch” when I stepped on a cactus, I walked this way, that way and next thing I knew I was about 50 yards away. They finally saw me, got a bit nervous and huddled up, the mother between me and her colt and the male facing me down. He snorted. I snorted back. He got excited, jumped a bit, stepped forward a bit and snorted several more times.

I decided my horse impression must have been pretty good but that now was not a good time to work on perfecting it. And the camera's battery had died. So I just watched a bit more and the horses got annoyed and ran off.

And I headed home satisfied. I didn't get to that perfect viewpoint but this was better.

White Rock Canyon is over there where you see the light colored rocks.
Nice view, but not close enough. I must get closer.
I will have to try again.
What a wretched life I live.

Out here I've seen dried mummified horse poop only once before.
Today I saw quite a few examples.

And then I saw this fresher poop.
I decided to be alert.

My first glimpse of the horses.

I got a little closer.
The juniper berries are very plump this year.
And the junipers provide good cover as I stalk.

I'm getting closer.
They still haven't noticed me.

Mother and child.
Oh wait, I already showed you this one.
Well, hell. It's a nice photo.
That is the Los Alamos National Lab in the background.

Finally the horses ran off.
Just in time, I need to get out here before the rain hits.

My obligatory selfie.
PG version.

Salinas Pueblos

Abo Mission

The Spanish had a problem. The Church wanted them for their souls. Landowners wanted them for their labor. The Military sided with the landowners, because the taxes on the landowner's proceeds paid for the military.

Things came to a head one Sunday when the military captain stormed into Mass, ranting and denouncing the priest. The priest called for the Inquisition. The Inquisition won. The captain was sent to Mexico City in chains, and from there to Spain for further inquiry by the Grand Inquisition.

To establish trade routes from Mexico City to Santa Fe, in 1598 the Spanish had followed ancient Indian trading routes up central New Mexico and within Salinas Valley had found about 20,000 generally peaceful agriculturists surrounding three successful pueblos that had existed for several hundred years. The Spanish converted the Indians, used them to build churches, gave land charters to settlers and used the labors of the Indians to make themselves rich. Luckily for the priests, the conversions were quick and easy because the Indians just as quickly died or quietly left. Within 8 decades the once thriving pueblos were abandoned and a few years later, the Spanish abandoned their built and re-built churches.

Salinas Valley lay largely de-populated for three hundred years, with the area controlled by Apaches for much of the 19th century. With the end of the Indian wars, the land was again an opportunity and around 1900 capitalists looking for improved trade routes westward built a railroad through the area and established the town of Moutainair. The town quickly grew to 5,000 and the surrounding area again fell under the plow, growing the pinto beans that fed troops in WWII. After the war, the Army's demand for pinto beans dropped to nothing and when the area was hit by an extended drought, the area again was depopulated. Today, after two decades of recovery, the population remains under 1,000.

Moutain Air. Sounds nice, doesn't it? But there is no mountain. This site was chosen because it was good for railroads, not for goats. But “Moutainair” would attract more settlers than “Flat Dry Wasteland”, so the wise capitalists chose the name well. Retirement homes seem to be continually expanding in Mountainair but the occupancy rate seems to be declining. The best paying jobs in the area are taken by convicts. Residents of town seem to loose about a tooth a year. Each year the town's teen manages to get pregnant. Much of the town is declining to ruins but it is neither as ruined as the pueblos nor as magical.

Visit the pueblos. Drive through the town. Loathe those who exploit others for their own gain.

Quarai Mission
The sandstone is lovely against the blue sky.

Gran Quivira Mission
Limestone was the available building material here.

Typical view of the general area.
The productive land is largely range land.
The rest is the Cibola National Forest, also largely range land.

From the Tip of Tetilla

Tetilla Peak
as seen from the cleavage of Las Tetillitas Peaks

About half-way up the under-swell of Tetilla Peak I found a rattlesnake. It had already found me and was flicking its tongue and silently shaking its rattle. Just a little snake, barely a foot long and it was more upset than I was. I stepped one way, it slithered another and we went on with our lives.

Shotguns from a few miles away had been saluting me as I ascended and then a pack of coyotes began a ruckus a couple miles away, which is unusual for mid-day. I don't know what excited them (I don't think any guns had sounded from that area) but they settled down in a minute. After pulling a thorn from my foot, I continued up the rubble through the cacti and junipers.

Nearing the top.
Not a great photo but lets you see the rubble.

A retired volcano, Tetilla Peak (Little Breast) stands out in silhouette on the Caja Plateau southwest of Santa Fe. Like most of the Caja, it is known but seldom visited. From the base to the tip, it is a rise of a bit less than 1,000 feet and a one way walk of maybe a mile and a half. The walk is unmarked, fairly easy and best done on a somewhat cooler day like today. The tip is about the size of a tennis court and has nice views, but the view towards Albuquerque is a tad boring (might be better at night).

I had climbed the Tetillitas (Even Smaller Breasts) hills a few days earlier. They too are an extinct volcano. Well, all the hills in this area are volcanic. But there are a lot of them and they are fun to climb. Good exercise, safe (unless you fall off or are bitten by something). And quiet. Oh so very quiet.

View of Tetillitas from Tetilla.
Santa Fe and the Sangre de Cristos in the background
Also, there is a white pixel in the center of the photo. That is the truck.

And looking northward across La Caja del Rio.
Which you may have figured out is my current favorite place.

Getting Closer

I again went to find where the Rio Grande runs thru White Rock Canyon. I got closer.

This time I took Cyndi with as she is very good at giving directions ... ahh, orders .... no, better make that directions. Cyndi did well, getting us to the end of FR24N. The trail was ok, we just bottomed out two times crossing dry arroyos and once crossing a not-so-dry one.

I knew the trail would get us to within 1/2 mile of the river and it did. But I had not realized that last 1/2 mile was pretty much straight down. So we enjoyed the view and I plotted my next assault. Next time I'll get there or die trying.

Wait, I'd better not say that ... the wrong option is just too probable. I'll just leave it at I'll try again.

But first I'd better get a topo map.

Rio Grande at the bottom of White Rock Canyon.
As seen from the end of FR24N.
The town on the other side of the canyon is White Rock
Yes, it would be easier to see this from the view point at White Rock.
But anyone can do that, what fun would that be?

Across the river another canyon heads back towards Los Alamos and LANL.
I don't know what this canyon is called.
There are a lot of canyons, maybe too many to name.

This canyon is on my side of the river.
This appears to be created by the arroyo we crossed and recrossed to get here.
I may be able to follow the arroyo to the river.
Don't know ... hiking along an arroyo sucks.
But it would be a pretty walk.

Now if I could just get over there.
From there I could see better.
And maybe find a route down to the river.
Or maybe just fall down to the river.

Cyndi got what she came for.
A rock.
She wanted me to carry it.
Fat chance.

I found Cyndi a nice pile of rocks but she liked hers better.
This would be a very nice place to end up.

The Gregarious Hermit

Hermit's Peak as seen from the road to Mora

As you near Las Vegas (NM) a large escarpment suddenly appears in the distance, intrigues you, then disappears. Hermit's Peak.

Hermit's Peak is named after … you guessed it … a hermit. And this is a legend that is actually substantiated by contemporary documentation. But like all good legends, the details are flexible, inconsistent, improbable.

An Italian born around 1800 and educated to be a priest renounced the world and spent his life in seclusion, wandering across Spain, then South America (thru Venezuela, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Peru), Central America and into Mexico. On foot.

Mexico expelled him and he went to Cuba, then to Canada and again on foot, across this continent accompanying a wagon train bound for Santa Fe. He was about 60 years old at this time. As he neared Santa Fe, he decided to spend the rest of his life in a cave near the top of Hermit's Peak. At the cave he greeted many visitors, unhesitatingly having them share his meager meal and spending hours discussing literature and philosophy in one of the many languages he spoke. He would heal the sick. He traveled from village to village preaching, praying, amusing. After a few years, the stream of visitors to his cave became overwhelming and he moved again, this time to Las Cruces.

He again lived in a cave in the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces and appears to have again been quite the social hermit. Then one day, aged 69, he was found dead, laying face down with a knife in his back. He now lies in the Mesilla cemetery in Las Cruces.

Meanwhile the mountain continues to loom. Originally called Cerro de Tecolote, then Cumbre de Solatario and now Hermit's Peak, the mountain itself is a bit of a hermit. Granite, formed 1.5 billion years ago, lay deep in the earth until about 30 million years ago when the creation of the Rockies lifted it to it's currently lofty position. Each year a few hundred hikers and a few dozen penitents hike to the top of the peak for either the view or the hermit's blessing. Either way, it's  a worthwhile trip.

Hermit's Peak

Create Your Own Legend

In an exciting new feature, exclusively brought to you by me, you can Play Along !!

This is an interactive story and you can create your own version of this legend. Below are the various details I uncovered. Pick the ones you like or invent new ones. It's Easy ... and ...

It's Fun !!!

Name of the Hermit

• John Augustiani
• Giovanni Maria Augustini
• Father Francesco
• Juan de Agostini
• Agostini-Justiniani
• Justiniano

Born In

• 1799
• 1800
• 1801

Born To

• An Italian Nobleman
• Possibly named Mattias Agostini
• Orphan

Left Italy because

• An unrequited love
• Love consummated “in the most earthly manner”
• Love dispute
• Dispute with Church Doctrine
• Ex-communicated

Left Italy in 

• 1820
• 1827

Earned his living by

• Healing for dollars
• Baptizing and other sacraments
• Selling 
• hand made stone crosses
• hand carved santos
• trinkets

Assorted Tidbits

• always wore a black robe with a black cowl
• carried only a satchel of books with him
• left Hermit's Peak to consult a lawyer in Las Cruces about a matter
• Archbishop Lamy refused to meet with the hermit but also refused to condemn the hermit
• carried the worries of the world with him
• animals recognized his torment and refused to work when he was near
• he could find water where no water was known

At Hermit's Peak, lived

• First in a cave, then a hut built for him by locals
• First in a hut built for him by locals, then in a cave he carved himself

Was Murdered Because

• Vendetta
• Indians
• Robbery
• Jealous Lover

My Short Day in La Caja del Rio

I wanted to cross La Caja and get to the White Rock Canyon at the Rio Grande. But I took a wrong trail. I guess this means I'll have to go back and try again.

Click on the picture to actually see it.

Truck got me this far.
I think maybe the Rio Grande is on the other side of this hill,
so I try walking around the hill.

After I walk a bit, I realize the river is far off.
I decide to climb the hill to see how far off.

Part way up the hill I realize I need to get
around not only cholla and prickley pear,
but also outcroppings like this one.
Pretty outcroppings, but a lot of them.

More rocks to climb around ... or over.
And I have to get back down, too.

Well, I got past these rocks.
Lots of lichens on these rocks.
Everything here is basalt.

Nearing the top, I pause to see where I am.
There is the truck.
I'm looking eastward here, Santa Fe in the distance.

Now I go to the other side of the hill and look westward.
Los Alamos, White Rock and the Jemez are visible.

Now I'm looking southward.
The road I wanted is down there somewhere.

Oooops. Almost backed into this.
Now looking northward
with the Espanola Valley sort of visible.
Lets get a better look at Espanola.

Looking northward at Espanola Valley.
Should have brought the good camera.
It was a pretty good view.

Ah. Here is what I came for.
White Rock Canyon.
The Rio Grande is at the bottom but can't see it from here.
Can see the Los Alamos Tech Areas.
Bandalier Ntl Monument is over there too.
Next time I want to get over there.

Getting ready to head back down.
I'll follow my shadow, I think it knows the way.