-Dr. Suess

January 31, 2009


Our original plan was to stay in Santa Fe for two nights but we didn't really like the town or the hostel so we decided to push on. We had a few errands to run such as getting more Orange Juice (at this point I am full blown sick and Dave is starting to feel better), Mucinex and gas. It takes us about half an hour to run these errands and then we are on our way to Jemez Springs. Although we did lose a little more time because our GPS got confused and wanted us to go south first to head north. We ended up turning around five minutes later and figuring out how to get there on our own, the old-fashioned way, with a map!



We had read that Jemez Springs was beautiful and that they also had free natural hot springs. Dave drove the whole way so I could get some rest and hopefully feel better for the climb. They were only a short distance away but it took much longer because you have to drive up steep mountain roads to get to the canyon where the town is located. We arrived around 1pm and stopped to get some lunch. They had two restaurants in the canyon and we decided to grab some sandwiches at the Country Cafe. It was a good thing we did because every time I woke up in the van I started feeling worse an worse and lunch really helped me get some of my energy back. It was also helpful because the waitress gave us great directions to the hot springs. They aren't clearly marked and we needed to know the landmarks to look out for.



The place to park our van for the hike was about 7 miles from the restaurant. We arrived a little after 2pm and changed into our "hiking clothes." Really it was just the clothes we didn't mind getting dirty. After about five minutes on the trail it started to get muddy and icy. I was glad we changed because the pants we wore were covered by the end of our hike. I also didn't realize how steep the mountain was going to be and how natural and untouched it still is. We literally had to climb up a 90 degree angle in some places. We started to make a friendly bet about who was going to fall first. In this type of situation I also bet myself. I'm clumsy to begin with but put me outdoors on a steep mud and ice filled mountain and I'm going to fall every time. At one point we came across a complete sheet of ice. We tried to avoid this as much as possible and find the snow filled parts of the trail. Here again I thought I was in New Mexico and this type of thing didn't exist.



We finally arrived at the hot springs an hour later. The pool was much smaller than we expected and it was filled with people. Naked people. Needless to say we were very uncomfortable and decided to walk up some more to possibly find a less crowded and more clothed spring. Our waitress had told us that there were three or four more dotted throughout the trail. We walked up another half mile with no luck. I stopped to rest on a rock and Dave ventured up a bit more to see if he could even hear water. The prospects of another spring on this trail were slim to none.



We decided that we would climb back down to the first hot spring and see if it was less crowded. It was even more filled than when we first passed by so we just decided to hike back down the mountain and head on to Albuquerque for the night. We didn't really want to wait around because we didn't want to climb down the mountain or even drive down the mountain when the sun was going down. We were a bit disappointed but we did get some fresh mountain air and a bit of exercise so overall, we felt good about the day.

Albuquerque wasn't too far away from the springs so we made it there around dinner time. We found a cheap motel with some of the coupons we had picked up at the New Mexico welcome center and then cleaned up for dinner. I had an old gift card to Olive Garden with $10 still left on it so we thought this night would be as good as any to get our fill of breadsticks and salad. Again we didn't take into account that it was a Saturday night and it seemed that an Albuquerque High School was having their semi-formal. The place was crawling with teenagers in sparkly dresses and over sized suits. We enjoyed watching them and reminisced about our own high school dance experiences. We only had to wait about half an hour for a table and then the feasting began. We didn't realize how hungry we had gotten from our exertion on the mountain. The food was as good as I remembered and all in all we enjoyed our evening out in the only big city of New Mexico.

Emily