Last night, Bob and I had a night downtown and then an encounter with deer. We had dinner at the Little Toad Creek Brewery and Distillery where we had been treated to dinner by our homeowners before they left on their trip. We had a great meal then and again last night, but this time, the restaurant was decked out for Halloween.
After dinner, we headed out of downtown on Hubbard, one of the main streets through downtown, but the deer were ruling the street last night.
Luckily, everyone saw each other in time to safely share the road.
This morning we headed east out of town just a bit — only about 9 miles but 3 off road, so the drive took about 30 minutes— to Fort Bayard Wildlife Refuge to hike to The Big Tree. The refuge, located near the Fort Bayard National Historic Landmark, has a number of trails for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. (Hopefully, we’ll get to the National Landmark sometime, as it’s not open on Mondays).
We were going to hike to The Big Tree, a 600 year old Alligator Juniper. It’s a popular 4 mile round trip hike out and back. We ended up doing a loop hike by combining portions of different trails and ended up hiking 7 miles instead. The terrain was rocky in parts but not a significant amount of elevation change, so it was an easier hike in that sense. Unfortunately, Bob’s right knee bothered him most of the way even with hiking poles, so it was a difficult hike in that regard.
I thought the scenery was lovely with lots of colorful flora, and the tree was cool. We had wondered what the local trees were with the interesting bark, and now we know. They are alligator junipers, likely named due to the resemblance of the bark to alligator skin.
Some photos of the hike, mostly without commentary.
It got narrower and was rutty in patches, but not too bad.
