May 1 A Walk by the River

May 1!  I can hardly believe we are already in May.  This past week has definitely felt more spring-like.
The nighttime temperatures have been warmer, in the 30's, and last night, was 43!! Incredible.  These
warmer days encouraged me to go ahead and plant my tomatoes and peppers under the hoop houses in the garden.  I have been monitoring the soil temps in there, and they have been above 50, so I figured it was mostly safe. Of course, predictions now are for a cold snap later this week, with a big storm raging through the central Rockies.  We might even see a few snowflakes here.
Just to be safe, I still have about half of my tomatoes and peppers in my little greenhouse.

Today, I decided to take a walk along maybe the prettiest 2 miles of trail around here.. The Las Conchas trailhead follows the East Fork of the Jemez through a narrow canyon, until it reaches the top of East Fork Box canyon, where the walls get really narrow, and the river drops over a series of falls.
The river still shows the results of the flooding following the Las Conchas fire two years ago.  In this top photo, you can still see the deposits of ash and mud which washed downstream.

Let's see where the river takes us...

See where the water level used to be, cut into the rocks there...probably eons ago.  Doesnt that make you wonder what the river must have been like then?  Instead of a gentle stream, it must have been a raging torrent.

 This very large boulder (bigger than car-sized) must've made some noise when it fell, landing point side down in the river bed.

It fell off from somewhere up there....

 To me, there is nothing more soul refreshing than the sound of gentle water, sunshine, and bird song.
Plunk me down by a stream any day, and I will be happy.  

 Those Gambrel Oaks still have not dropped last year's leaves, and no sign of buds yet either.

Several fine bridges were built by a mountain biking club from Albuquerque.  Makes walking this path as easy as pie. We used to have to ford the river at several junctures.

Getting near to the end of the river path.  The trail does continue up and out of the canyon,  but for today, I wanted to just walk the river section.

The end of the trail along this part of the river.  Just around the corner, where the green bank on the right, and the rock face on the left are seen a bit above the middle of this picture, the river takes a sharp bend left, and enters East Fork Box canyon.

I have stepped past the fence, and waded through the water to show you now where the river
has turned.  Once it enters East Fork Box, the canyon narrows to only allow passage for the river itself,
and the water falls over several  cascades to make passage on foot mostly impossible.

I turned around and headed back to the truck.  A beautiful, refreshing hike!

Psalms 23: 1-4

The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for His name's sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil, for You are with me.

P