Tarantula Season

Autumn is our favorite season is Taos, and our furry friends always add to our enjoyment:

Our goal this time was to do four hikes in four days, but because of a little rain we only managed three hikes. The first one was along the Dorothy Stewart Trail in Santa Fe. The trailhead is on the edge of a ritzy Santa Fe residential neighborhood, up past St. John's College. It's an easy 45-minute hike with spectacular views of Santa Fe and the mountains beyond:


Hike number two was up and over several dunes at Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado. It was a shock to see mountains of sand next to actual mountains, and even more shocking to attempt anything like normal hiking in this desert landscape:

Our last hike was on the Devisadero Trail in Taos. We always save this hike for the fall when it's cool enough to climb in the middle of the day. It had snowed in the mountains the previous day, leaving behind the season's first snow caps: