My feet were still a little blistery and I was still a bit sunburned from yesterday's excursion to Bandelier, so I decided I'd spend today driving around some of the dirt roads in the mountains around Los Alamos.

Just west of Bandelier and south of the Cerro Grande is a section of the Santa Fe National Forest with numerous trails and dirt roads going through it. One area of particular interest is St. Peter's Dome, or simply 'The Dome.' Taking Forest Road 289 south from state highway 4, I drove along the "improved" gravel road to its intersection with Forest Road 142. An improved gravel road is flat, wide enough for two vehicles to pass each other, and is generally well-maintained.

142, unlike 289, is unimproved. And it seems like the farther along it you travel, the less improved it gets. The road consists of two tire ruts with grass growing inbetween. The ruts are often at different heights and there are frequently large rocks sticking out into the road which really give the bronco's suspension a workout. Low-hanging tree branches frequently scrape along the edge of the truck, and until i wisened up, would stick themselves right in through my open window and poke me in the head.

Some portions of the road were very very steep and featured deep drop-offs along one side. But the view is tremendous and well-worth the skipping CD player. I wouldn't say the road was a rough as the Black Canyon lookout tower road down in the Guadalupe Mountains, but it was close.

About half-way to the St. Peter's Dome lookout tower, I entered the burn region. In 1996, there was a terrible forest fire that burned everything for miles around. And it burned it completely to the ground. All that is left now is black tree trunks and some new low undergrowth. It's less bleak than the 2000 Cerro Grande fire area near Los Alamos, because it's had 5 years to regrow. But it's still odd. The wind rushes through the dead trees and makes a lot of odd sounds, particularly when two dead branches rub against each other.

At the dome trailhead, the road is blocked and progress to the lookout tower has to be made on foot for the remaining half-mile. I didn't bring any hiking gear with me, so I just stopped here and had a look around. The Capulin Trail 116 is closed due to the fire, which is unfortunate since I was hoping to use it to get to Painted Cave later this summer. Alternate routes require a lot more vertical hiking.