February + Snowing feet out East = Let's go paddling!

Trying to look tough at the end of a successful day!

With forecasts in the mid-60s and water levels pretty decent, Garrett and I decided to explore the mighty Rio Grande. You might be saying, "I didn't realize the Normal Man kayaked!" Well, it depends on how you define what it takes to be kayaker. If most of your paddling haven taken place in a pool, several extremely mellow floats down small streams in Ohio, and having not been in the boat in about 6 years still constitutes being a kayaker, then that's me!

In this case, maybe smaller is better

In the days prior, anyone to whom we mentioned our upcoming plans generally looked at us in confusion, asking if we realized how cold the water would be. We would be putting in shortly below Taos and the river would be fed by snowmelt in the mountain. But we figured, how bad could it be... Garrett did all the research on the area and I kept myself blissfully ignorant. My biggest concern was that I would severely slow him down on the flat water since my boat is considerably shorter than his (see the picture!). Well, as we soon learned, the little man was the better equipped on the day.  By "soon" I mean the first rapid (see the pictures). 

Garrett cruising the first rapids...then "decides" to take a drink

By the end of the day, we had each taken a swim at least once; swimming through rather large standing waves is pretty exciting. We both learned class III/IV is certainly enough rapids for us! There were many times going into the the white water I thought I would definitely be taking a drink, but somehow found my way through it; I definitely credit it all to luck -- there was no skill to be found. But most importantly, we had a fun, exciting day on a beautiful river -- and we had it all to ourselves.

Beautiful day on the Rio Grande

Relieved to be on solid ground after a somewhat hairy section

A search for a good (non-radioactive) dirt road

Ever since getting out to NM I have been on a quest for a good dirt road. Sure, this sounds lame, but it wasn't until after I left State College that I realized how anomalous it is for the seemingly endless miles of quality crushed gravel roads for running and cross-riding. So, aboard my trusty, Wilier stead I have been scouting all the promising routes based on satellite images. Before today, I have had moderate success and multiple failures. But, that was before today.

It has been a long time since I have had a ride where a smile was plastered to my face. We commonly make fun of my mom...let me re-phrase, one of the times when we make fun of my mom is when she sees impressive landscapes, she typically continually repeats, "Oh my god!" Well today, I admit, I was continually repeating, "Holy sh*t!" and "This is #$@#$ing amazing!" I have finally found exactly what I was looking for, as as you would know it, it is right next to my current residence; well, 500 ft below to be more exact.

The road/trail begins in a somewhat narrow canyon, lined with big rock walls (climbing potential?!?), follows a stream with hoodoos and boulders (bouldering potential?!?). As I continue on, it eventually opens up to a big valley, WITH TREES!!! The trail/road is in amazing condition, and while having a gradual, constant slope to it, it is still quite enjoyable in both directions.

Well, not much more needs to be said, just that I am a happy man, my Wilier is a happy bike, and I even scouted at semi-flat stretches to do 200 and 400m repeats (don't ask, I will just sounds lame)! Enjoy the pictures. Be warned, anybody that comes to visit me, we are definitely going for a ride along my new favorite route!!!!!

Bayo Canyon Road (formerly TA-10, very rich and radioactive history!!)

Update: One of the roads I traveled along (Bayo Canyon Road) had one odd section. It appeared to have been paved at one point and includes 4 large asphalt pads. There was also a very old and faded sign reading: "Temporary Use Road Only By Order of US Dept of Energy." I found all of this very odd, but had no clue. Well, I found out the history. This use to be one of the sites for the lab. I found a report on the area and described it as a facility used to support the development of nuclear weapons. For nearly 20 years (ending in the early 60's) it was used as a firing site to test high explosives, included uranium. In the early 60's it was decontaminated and decommissioned. It is still under the DOE (US Dept of Energy). Here is an excerpt from one report (linked from this site):

The Los Alamos National Laboratory [...] conducted 254 radioactive lanthanum implosion experiments from September 1944 through March 1962. The purpose of these experiments was to test implosion designs for nuclear weapons. Conventional high explosives surrounding common metals (used as surrogates for plutonium) and a radioactive source, as small as one-eighth inch in diameter and containing up to several thousand curies of radioactive lanthanum, were involved in each experiment detonated. (Dummer, Tascher, Courtright 1996)

An expert on the area describes the area as:

...Bayo Canyon, New Mexico is simply unmissable for any hardcore nuclear tourist. there’s the historical dimension:  the radiolanthanum experiments that commenced here in 1944 provided crucial insight into the implosion weapon design validated in 1945 by the Trinity test (and embodied later by “Fat Man” and virtually all successive bombs). But what makes Bayo so special is that the history here is tangible, collectable, and detectable provided you come with a Geiger counter.

YIKES! Just in case you ever forget the history of this place. The best part, if you look at the posting from the expert (http://carlwillis.wordpress.com/tag/los-alamos/), he talks about how it is such a great place to go with a geiger counter to search for radioactive relics from the explosions!!!! But, don't worry, a 2008 report found the radiation levels below New Mexico limits and is safe for recreation, although I guess it is technically closed until year 2142. I am DEFINITELY not in Ohio anymore! It is a beautiful area, see the picture of Bayo Canyon Road above.

He's Back!

Looking down on Los Alamos. Santa Fe Mountains in the background.

Wow, last post: January 2012. I have clearly fallen off the horse, but now I will try to get back on! A lot has happened since my last post. The quick highlights:

1. I finished my PhD work at Penn State (hence why I disappeared from the blog-o-sphere for several years) and,
2. I have moved to Los Alamos, NM to do a post-doc (coincidently, several of my last posts are from when I was last in this neck of the woods: Greatest Day Of My Life and Lubbock I Kind Of Hate You.

There are a couple blanks left in that recap, but I imagine the essentials will fall into place as time goes on. Right now, I feel like a proud Ohioan trying to learn to like the Southwest; so far, I miss humidity, green, and corn/soy fields (and family, of course).

One philosophical change I will make to posts is to shift from rambling, nonsensical stories to concise recaps that just provides enough context for the pictures. While I know I am hilarious, I am not arrogant enough to really think you read what I write instead of skimming and looking at the pictures. Granted if something hilarious happens, like I am chased by a mountain lion, I will likely include more rambling (partly because it might be hard to get a good picture from that adventure), otherwise, less text.

Onward!