Santa Fe 020715

Gorgeous sunny day! 60°F, light breeze. Atalaya Mountain Trail – Santa Fe, NM. Altitude 7300′ to ~8500′  

I was very excited to be experiencing Santa Fe trails for the first time! The trailhead was a 10 minute drive from my brother’s house, which is south of downtown. I was shocked to look at a trail map of this “small” area and see it so full of options. We started off on the St. John’s Trail, which passed by St. John’s College. The trail was flat and followed the Arroyo de los Chamisos for a bit. A Chamisa or Rabbitbrush is a silver-blue, narrow-leaved, deciduous shrub, 3-5 ft. tall & wide with pungent, yellow flowers in fall. It’s a known allergen when blooming, but today it was dormant. The trail was surrounded by the plant it got its name from.

We hiked on for a bit. It was fairly flat and we crossed a residential street. I was thinking, “this hike will be a breeze”. After we crossed the street the trail pointed upwards. I’m a flatlander, so the altitude affected me and this hike ended up being a scenic workout. As we got higher in elevation, the scenery changed to Junipers, Pinon Pine, then (I think) Ponderosa Pines. I was concentrating on breathing at this point, so I didn’t have my camera out, but here’s an example of a few varieties of trees. Even though it was warm and sunny, the shaded areas still had snow.

We continued on to Atalaya Trail and followed that for a couple of miles. When we reached a high point and it was time to turn around, I thought I could take a picture and breathe at the same time. We still hadn’t made it to the summit of Atalaya, which was up there…

But the view looking down, was of Santa Fe!

No way to take a picture of it all and I couldn’t seem to figure out how to get a panoramic shot. My brother is a quick hiker and I tried not to make him wait on me with a bunch of pictures. I ran off after him!

All the views from here were gorgeous.

I kept seeing a really neat grass with a curled seed head. I don’t know what this is, but it is adorable. I’ll have to look it up.

Some of the Junipers had Juniper Mistletoe, which is a parasite. It is basically a typical Mistletoe without the leaves.

We passed cacti and yucca along the way. I love the little curls on this yucca.

Some more views of trees and snow.

It was a beautiful trail with lots of variety! I can’t wait to explore this area some more. Back in the lower area where we began, the sun was hitting the Apache Plume just right. It was my day for sun flare.

The deciduous/semi evergreen Apache Plume is a beautiful plant, but these were all past their prime. You can see the old seed head below. It starts as a simple bloom, then pink plumed seed heads swirl around into a fluffy ball!

I wonder what kind of fungi grows up here…