The People You Meet

One of the cool things about staying at a place like Kelly Place is the interesting people you meet. Yesterday at breakfast we had two women from Germany, a woman from Switzerland just coming off a vision quest (the same one I did), a couple from Albuquerque, another from near Denver, a man from L.A. and a woman from Florida. The latter two are out here looking at property to build a spiritual center. Needless to say, breakfast conversation is interesting and varied.

We had another day of hiking yesterday, though it was a little frustrating. We had hoped to hike over Cannonball Mesa into Yellowjacket Canyon, which is supposed to be rich with Ancient Puebloan ruins. In fact, we were told that it's known as “Anasazi Alley” by the archaeologists. That may be true, but after 5 bone-jarring miles over dirt and rock “roads” and opening two cattle-guarded gates (one barbed wire) we found ourselves at Cannonball Pueblo, a fairly interesting ruin, but around 500 feet of sheer cliff above Yellowjacket. Turns out there’s no easy way into the canyon; the “easiest” involves driving onto the floor and hiking around 10 miles one way. Oh well!

So instead, we decided to explore the pueblo and hike the top of Cannonball Mesa. We had to get in as much hiking as possible because the weather will be turning on us today. It’ll be mid-70’s again but 60 mph wind gusts are predicted (75 mph in the mountains). It gets even more interesting on Thursday when it won’t get out of the 40’s with rain and snow showers (and more wind). Welcome to the high desert in April! We rounded out our day sitting around a fire on the patio of our cottage. Nice full moon and crackling logs.