Go West – to New Mexico – Day 9

15 July 2021

OK, I admit it, I was wrong. I falsely accused my cousin Jo of losing my hotel room key cards. I was getting ready to take out some dirty clothes when two key cards fell into my hand. Please, please forgive me cousin Jo! I’ll do penance.

After some coffee and late planing, Patrick, Jo and I decided to climb the “Knock,” an area behind Patrick and Sara’s cabin in Edgewood. We only hiked approximately 1.2 miles in total but it was pretty much straight up and straight down. In some places it was hand-over-hand climbing with sheer drop offs several places along the trail that Patrick and his kids had carved out of the mountain.

The day was glorious. It had “rained” the night before which means about 30 minutes of sprinkle – it is the desert after all. The morning broke fair and the high temperature was 77°F. Humidity was maybe 5%.

Close to the top of the Knock is a place that Patrick and Sara found that forms a natural bench. We sat there and overlooked the valley and Patrick had hauled up a bottle of sparkling apple cider so we toasted to Jo’s birthday.

Sitting on a rock “bench” overlooking the valley. Patrick giving me rabbit ears.
View from our “bench.” You can see the green roof of Patrick and Sara’s house.

To be honest, this is one of the most vertical climbs I’ve made. We reached an elevation of 7,700 feet. The path was quite rocky and in several places we had to climb hand over hand.

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Jo on her way up.

I haven’t been around Patrick at lot but he’s so easy to talk to and he falls into the insulting banter with me and Jo without missing a beat. Jo refused to carry a day pack up the mountain so she sponged off my water in my day pack. Smart woman, my cousin. However, I got back at her by tricking her to bite into a piece of turkey jerky. Dry is the operative word for that jerky.

This area is so beautiful. Everywhere you look is something special. The area is covered with Piñon pine and strangely, there are several Ponderosa pine in the area although it’s a little unusual with the elevation.

Piñon pine

Some of the shapes and weathering of the pines is quite beautiful and we found several pieces that had been downed that had the appearance of driftwood.

Dead Piñon on the Knock

At the top we found some scat. I suspect it is a puma. Patrick has a friend that owns the property next to him and he set up a night camera on his property and he got a photo of a puma. At least this time I remembered my bear spray.

Tonight Sara is cooking Jo a birthday dinner with a pineapple upside down cake for desert.