Meagan took us back in time as we hiked along the Volcanoes on Albuquerque's West Mesa. The three largest volcanoes are known as the "Three Sisters". Individually they are known as (from South to North) "JA", "Black" and "Vulcan". There are two more volcanoes that make up the five largest ones on the West Mesa, and they are known as "Bond" and "Butte". On this hike we made the round trip to "Bond", where we had lunch--and seeing as how we couldn't convince the newbies to hike out to "Butte", we didn't go there...mostly because us long-time Hoofers have been there and done that so many times we weren't planning on taking them out there...and they had no gumption to go by themselves. Ah, they don't make Hoofers like they use to...(We had our excuse don't know what theirs was.) I highly recommend looking at the blog posting for the previous hike to the Volcanoes on 4/7/2017 when we all went to visit "Butte" and Meagan and I replaced the peace symbol that had been on that volcano for years. Also there are some incredible shots of the west mesa in full bloom of wildflowers, something that is rarely seen.
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| The Hoofers: Marilyn, Judy A., Sally, Annette, Charlotte, Ginny, Barb, Meagan (our leader)and her sister & guest Finan, Mary M. |
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| And behind the camera taking an excellent selfie...Rose |
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| Heading towards the first volcano known simply as "JA" |
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| Beautiful day just a bit windy |
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| Passing by "JA" as we are no longer allowed to climb it |
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| Headings towards "Black" |
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| Turning around to catch the other Hoofers I capture a better shot of "JA" |
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| Taking a "selfie" with the new sign |
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| We get to climb this one |
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| Racing ahead of the other Hoofers for this shot of them climbing "Black" |
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| Views from the top of "Black" |
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| Looking towards our next volcano the mighty "Vulcan" |
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| Looking back at "JA", far more impressive looking from this angle |
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| Exploring the top of "Black" |
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| Lots of black rocks |
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| (Hence its name?) |
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| Heading towards "Vulcan" |
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| Another closed trail which prevents us to climb "Vulcan" from the south like we used to do |
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| So we have to take the long way around |
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| As we head more directly toward "Vulcan" we can see the remnants of the large "J" that is painted on the volcano from St Joseph's School in years past |
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| A view of the fissures where the volcanoes erupted from |
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| Closeup of the remaining white paint of the "J" |
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| What almost looks like a crater |
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| As we pass by "Vulcan" I take some shots of the scenery |
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| Heading towards the fourth volcano, "Bond" |
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| In the distance we see smoke--at lunch, Sally used her binoculars and said it looked like a duplex on fire |
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| On the left "Bond" in the distant right "Butte" |
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| The fire department soon had the fire under control |
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| The hike to "Bond" takes a roundabout way through the mesa |
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| Finally the trail turns and leads us up to the top |
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| "Bond" has several caves at the top where we stop for lunch |
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| Meagan and Finan find some comfortable rocks |
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| As does Charlotte |
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| Mary poses with me for a selfie |
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| Antoinette, Barb, and Marilyn |
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| Sally (with her binoculars checking on the fire) and Judy A. |
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| Deciding not to hike over to the fifth Volcano "Butte" we head back to the cars |
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| Taking a pause at the top of the climb by "Vulcan" |
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| Waiting for all the Hoofers to catch up |
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| From here I take a picture of "Bond" and "Butte" |
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| From this viewpoint, "Vulcan" doesn't look all that big |
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| Heading back along the Volcanic field to the cars--always a great time hiking the trails! |
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