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Come enjoy some outdoor time on black friday/aka: opt-outside day for us hikers and work off all the turkey!
We will hike Burnt Mesa Trail in Bandelier, with a side spur to visit the eagle traps. It will be a 5.5-6 mile out and back, with ~650 ft elevation gain. Appropriate sun protection and water are needed for the trip.
There is not a lot of parking at the trailhead, so for those coming from Los Alamos, we will meet at Sullivan field at 9:10 am in order to carpool. We will meet at the trailhead at 9:30 am.
We have many times travelled to Bluff, Utah for a taste of the canyon country. Bluff is less than six hours from Los Alamos and, situated along the San Juan River, at a low altitude best suited for trips late or early in the season. Even in early December the average daily high is around 50 F. There are numerous places to hike and explore from Bluff, including the ruins and big views of Comb Ridge, the canyons accessible from Cedar Mesa, the canyon rim just north of Bluff itself, and farther afield to places like White Canyon.
The trip leader anticipates that all participants have winter backcountry travel experience and some knowledge of traveling safe in avalanche terrain.
This year we will start out with a planning session for the field exercise at Mesa Public Library on Wednesday Dec. 10th at 17:30. The field session (snow permitting) will occur the following weekend on Sunday the 14th. In the field we will exercise our transceiver, probing and strategic shoveling skills.
For a completely different outing, I propose a river trip in early spring 2026 to the Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande in the Big Bend area, with an outfitter, Far Flung Expeditions, that comes well-recommended by a friend. We will leave Los Alamos and environs on Friday, March 27, driving to Marathon, Texas, about an 8-hour drive. We will meet the outfitter and go onto the river the next day, Saturday, and emerge from the canyons on Saturday, April 4. After overnighting, we will drive back home April 5. We will carpool as much as possible, to minimize driving costs and parking needs.