A day of pleasure – hiking with Houston friends
WHATS IN THIS BLOG:
• Tom and Anne Thomas roll in to hike New Mexico.
• A river runs through it – El Porvenir.
• Wild fruit – raspberries, apples and tomatoes.
• Lunchtime at second waterfall.
• Hot springs and mountain lion.

El Porvenir: the rocks, the stream, the pine trees. Click to enlarge, then back-arrow to return to blog article.
TOM AND ANNE THOMAS DROVE OUT IN THEIR CAMPER VAN FROM HOUSTON. I have known Anne for years, principally from Chapelwood United Methodist, a wonderful church. She was an insurance broker, originally from the deep south (Georgia). Tom, a mechanical engineer, worked for a service company that supported the oil industry. His last job was to oversee the building of an enormous submersible platform to be used to drill and produce oil in deep seas like the Gulf of Mexico. He retired recently.

Winder (left) with Anne and Tom at a stream crossing.
I picked them up plus their grandson, Winder, in my Subaru Forrester at 7 am and we drove to Las Vegas, about an hour north-east of Santa Fe, New Mexico. El Porvenir (meaning “The Future”) is a beautiful hike and a well-kept secret, and two of my previous blogs can be read HERE and HERE.

Anne and Tom on the granite.
A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT. After a couple of miles, the bottom of the stream becomes a pinkish granite, which is quite appealing.
VIDEO. Tom took a cute 20-sec video of a portion of our hike. Click HERE to view it. Its a pretty neat clip! Then use back-arrow to get back to blog article.

First waterfall close to the granite.
LOCAL FRUIT. We came across a (wild?) apple tree, but the apples were small and too tart to eat. We also discovered some wild tomatoes (too green to eat), and a few small raspberries, which we sampled. The native flowers included yellow sunflowers, red fairy trumpets, and a small daisy-like flower.
LUNCHTIME. This was our turnaround point – the second waterfall. Tom took a brief nap. Then Tom and I cooled our feet in the water. Winder ate most of my trail mix, because Anne hadn’t brought enough lunch.
HOT SPRINGS AND MOUNTAIN LION. On our way back, on the outskirts of Las Vegas there are hot springs next to the road. I was curious. The water was very hot. We didn’t go in… especially after seeing the sign below. I could imagine myself fleeing through the grass in my underwear with a mountain lion snapping at my heels!
We finished a lovely day with dinner in the garden at Harry’s Roadhouse in Santa Fe. Harry, the owner, knew Winder and came over to our table to greet us.
If any of you old friends from Houston want to come to the Land of Enchantment, I’d be happy to treat you to a day like this. The hike was only 5.5 total miles — but it took me 3 days to get over it.
Thanks to Tom and Anne for sharing your pics, and video, and of course your enthusiastic company.
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I loved looking at the pictures in the blog. I really miss hiking like we used to do.
I have great memories of our hikes all over the world. You really do write interesting
blogs. Keep them coming.
Thanks for the encouragement Mary Ann. Yes, you would have enjoyed this one, as it follows a gurgling stream all the way. I’ve now done this hike 3 times – once with Kim last year when we got rained on.
Lovely sharing, Ian. Thanks for providing it!
Thanks Karen. Appreciate your feedback.
Ian – wish I was there walking those trails… you are such blessed man living the dream… close to the mountains.
I do love living here. There’s a book called “60 Hikes within 60 Miles of ABQ.” I’ve hiked maybe 15-20 of them.
Great hike, wish I could have been there. Thanks for the impressive pictures and the blog post. I really enjoy reading about and reminiscing my years in Santa Fe and the surrounding area.
Don, you would have loved this hike. You need to come back here for a visit so we can do some of these wonderful hikes!
Fun! Especially enjoyed the video!!!
Linda, while on that hike I told my friends that you had hiked all the way around Hermit’s Peak…they were amazed.