Kimberly McGrath….. Passionate hiker

WHATS IN THIS BLOG:
• Kimberly is a school teacher and my stepdaughter.
• We hiked to a ruin where the Ancients lived 700 years ago.
• We saw a deer with her fawn.
• A thunderstorm hit us on another hike.

This blog falls in the category of Health and Hiking. My other two blog categories are Science and Energy, and Inspiration and Hope.

KIMBERLY IS MY STEP-DAUGHTER who lives in Independence, Kansas. She teaches an active first grade class of six-year olds, and is very conscientious. I taught one of her classes a couple years ago – about Australia. It was a challenge to speak down to their level, but I got their attention by blowing a didgeridoo and getting them to sing and dance in a brief Christmas play. I can only imagine the challenges and stress of handling and teaching these kids all day long, five days a week. Kudos to you, Kim.

KIM CAME OUT TO VISIT LAST SUMMER, AND WE HIKED ON 4 DAYS. We started at the Nogales Cliffhouse, outside of Cuba, northwest of Albuquerque, but were hopelessly lost until we ran into a rancher who gave us directions. The Ancients lived here roughly 700 years ago, until driven out by prolonged drought and possibly war with neighboring peoples. It was a very steep hike up to the cliffhouse from the canyon below, but the natives had to do this often, perhaps every couple of days, to collect water and to plant and reap their beans and squash.

As we drove out of the canyon, we saw a deer about 50 yards away (the pic shows the mother deer only). Strangely, she didn’t run away even as Kim got out of the car. We found out why…..she had a fawn. As Kim got closer, the baby disappeared and the mother bounded up the hillside. We figured she had hidden the baby. Kim creeped closer, and suddenly bambi jumped up and ran toward her mother. She didn’t get a pic as bambi was well-hidden until she ran away, and we weren’t smart enough to video this. But still a unique experience!

THE BEST ONE OF FOUR BEAUTIFUL HIKES WAS EL PORVENIR. I wrote a previous blog when I hiked this trail with a WOWE meetup group, and you can read about it HERE. The trailhead is a little beyond Las Vegas (i.e. New Mexico’s Las Vegas, not the big one in Nevada). The photos below tell the story. To enlarge any photo, click on it then hit the back-arrow to return to the blog article).

As can happen in July in northern New Mexico, a thunderstorm came up suddenly while we hiked back to the car. But the ponchos and my large hat saved us.

If you are ever in the area, this hike is a treasure especially in summer or fall. It’s 3 miles in and 3 miles out, but pretty level. At the end of 3 miles is a beautiful waterfall. We didn’t quite make it due to the rain.

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The Gray Nomad ….. hiking toward heaven.
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Many plans are in a man’s mind, but it is the Lord’s purpose for him that will stand. [Book of Proverbs, chapter 19].