El Canon del Muerte!

Cochiti Canyon, originally uploaded by craptastica.

A few weeks ago I went hiking. Made some lunch the night before and looked at the Santa Fe National Forest map a few times to decide where to go. I zeroed in on Cochiti Canyon - an area on the SE portion of the District that doesn't receive too much attention.

I got there pretty early while the shadows were still long, ditched my car near the beginning of a trail and shouldered my pack. Into the woods. Again.

I walked along the trail for only a little bit when I came to a small side road forking to my right off towards the rising sun. Since I never really have any agenda on my walkabouts I decided to explore the side road. I walked a few hundred yards and was standing in the parking lot of the antiquated and abandoned Canada de los Ojitos Ranger Station.

From what I hear, the Forest Service used to have ranger stations all over these forests. The roads were bad and unreliable, and local communities depended on their public land managers. But things have changed, budgets have shrank, and the world has become smaller.

The Canada de los Ojitos is a casuality of change in this case. The slowly eroding adobe structure doesn't look too bad for oh say, 40 to 50 years of abandonment. Hopefully others will feel this way as well, because I found out the Forest Service wants to sell this place.

But I wasn't in the market, so I continued on my way; naively, taking my time as I wandered into El Canon del Muerte!

The Canon del Muerte is an unmarked, unnamed canyon not too far from a reclaimed pumice mine. I was wandering off-trail, rather aimlessly, when I decided I was goinng to walk all the way up this canyon to the top of the mesa.

I began my walk by taking lunch and a break. Then it was down to business. I began walking up the boulder-filled tree-choked canyon and within minutes was bush-whacking through every canyon-penetrating step I took. This canyon had no trail. It showed no footprints, No fire pits. No human sign nor animal sign at all. It then dawned on me that this canyon was El Canon del Muerte.

I continued my upward journey wiggling through strewn boulders and screen like vegetation like a salmon against a flowing river. After several hours I got within site of the rim, which was the very top pf the canyon. Problem was there were only vertical blocks of welded Bandelier tuft in front of me - no way I could see to get to the top!

So I walked along the edge and sonn began noticing faded etchings in the stone. There were petroglyphs! Roadrunners, men holding snakes, lizards, and men and women together holding hands. Time passes, but life really doesn't change too much.

Eventually I found my way to the top, walked on the mesa for about 1/2 a mile and then came to a road. A road! Yep I had hiked my ass through weed-choke canyon for 4 freakin' hours to happen upon a much more convenient form of transportation.

I soon got over this as I reminded myself that my destination is the journey itself. I walked upon this road for another few miles until I hit the Dome Wilderness boundary and then realized I had to go back down through the canyon because the road I was on wouldn't lead me back to my car.

I was very short on water. Soon the vultures were circling above and El Canon del Muerte seemed threatening and dangerous. It took me four hours and 2 quarts of water to climb up it. I now had maybe as many hours of daylight, but only a quarter Nalgene-full of water.

So I headed back into el canon. I followed my footsteps right back through the canyon. Pushing on through the aspen, ponderosa pine, gooseberry, single leaf ash, and gambel oak I was soon covered by sweat, twigs, leaves, and dirt. A bullsnake passed near my hand on a boulder and I crossed several scattered cow bones. Those poor bastards.

In less than an hour I was back down in the pumice mine, wading my way through the light airy stone to the trail.