When plans change, make new plans!

Our goal was to go to the Taos Pueblo and find Carpio. However, the Pueblo was closed due to COVID, so we made a new plan … right on the spot, when we saw a sign pointing down a dirt road to Taos Mesa. Looked like miles and miles of flat sagebrush desert, but hey! Let’s check it out!

Sagebrush desert with thunderstorms pounding distant peaks

Roads branched off in every direction. Which one to take?

Looked on my map app, found a road that would take us across a bridge on the Rio Grande, and then back to Taos from the north.

What the app didn’t say was that the basically one-lane dirt road would steeply drop down a cliff with no guardrails.

Carefully observing the sketchy route, my copilot filed an alternate fight plan, and we returned the way we came.

Ponderosa State Park, McCall, ID

Views of Payette Lake

Views of Payette Lake

Views of Payette Lake

Arrowleaf Balsamroot

Waxlip Orchid, so tiny in such a harsh environment

Close-up of Waxlip Orchid

Trillium Meadow

Looks pretty barren, but Wild Garlic grows here!

Nothing but smiles in McCall