I rented my "car" today to get to the airport tomorrow. They gave me a pickup truck.

There's just something humorous about driving a pickup truck. I don't know what it is, but I feel silly doing it. Anyway, I took my new wheels for a spin up into the Jemez mountains. I drove up the ski hill road to check on a trailhead that I want to hike this summer. The trail runs along the ridge separating the Rio Grande valley from the Valle Caldera, and one end of the trail is at the ski hill parking lot.

The road up the mountain was somewhat sad; it passes right through the most heavily burned portions of the Jemez. In places it looks like a war zone. Everything is char and nothing living can be seen in any direction. But then you'll round a corner and everything is green ponderosa pines again. It's odd how the line between total destruction and undamaged is so fine.

I love driving through the mountains by myself. Aside from being a great drive with beautiful scenery, I just enjoy solitude a whole lot.

The ski hill road didn't satiate me, and the sun was still up for a couple more hours, so I drove off to highway 4, which cuts right through the highest parts of the Jemez. I drove past the caldera, which has now been purchased by the government. In two years, it'll be open to the public! They're going to put some hiking trails and backcountry camping in there. I'm very excited about this. It was such a waste of beautiful land for a cattle ranch.

I got out of the car by the East Fork river and walked along it for awhile. The higher parts of the mountains still had snow in the shadows, and it was melting fast. The river was fat with fresh melt and was well over its banks. I guess it's sorta cliche but there is something invigorating about fresh mountain streams. Walking along through a sparse ponderosa forest with no underbrush, just matted pine needles and that weird smell that the trees give off.

I think tomorrow I'll get up at sunrise and drive to Albuquerque the scenic slow way, down through the Jemez. Down highway 4. I really love New Mexico. It is just one hidden gem after another.