June 2011 Liturgical Hike

Baby Robins 

Greetings All,

My apologies for the late posting.  I've just spent the last two days (Saturday & Sunday) taking a class in wildlife tracking and am now a level 2 certified wildlife tracker.  I should have posted this announcement before the class.  More about the class and wildlife tracking in general during our June hike which is this coming Sunday - June 5!

We will meet in the St. Bede's parking lot at 9:00am and leave from there at 9:15am.

As always, please come prepared to hike with proper footwear, clothing for the expected weather, water and a hearty snack.  Please follow this link 

( http://www.americanhiking.org/Resources/How-Tos/ ) for the How-Tos of hiking from the American Hiking Society for important information, including the 10 Essentials of Hiking.

Blessings & I'll see you on the trail,

Jon+

Valles Caldera National Preserve Hike

Friday morning, July 3rd, was quite stormy in Santa Fe as our small group met at a local Starbucks before driving the one and a half hours up to the Valles Caldera National Preserve from Santa Fe. The forecast was for more stormy weather with heavy rain possible throughout the day and there was a real question about whether or not we should undertake a seven mile hike in the middle of an 89,000 acre preserve under such conditions, even if the Preserve staff would let us. But each of us was well prepared with rain gear, etc. and so we decided to give it a shot.

By the time we got there the weather was better. It was a wonderful day with light rain occasionally - the kind that quits as soon as everyone puts on his/her rain gear. The Colorado Blue Columbine pictured above is representative of the beauty we saw that day. I'm sorry to say that I didn't take any photos of the wild strawberry plants that were growing all along the way but I can tell you that, even though they were only the size of peas, they were the most flavorful strawberries we'd had - maybe ever.

I'm hoping to do more Valles Caldera hikes soon and will keep you all posted.

Blessings,

Jon+

November's Liturgical Hike: Reflections

What a glorious day it was for our November liturgical hike! The Aspen leaves may have been gone but that only served to highlight the deep blue New Mexico sky against the bare Aspen branches. The temperature was cool, there was just the hint of a breeze now and then and the views of the valley below were marvelous.

We had our largest gathering yet, eighteen happy and hearty souls – not counting the three canines who came along. We even had a spur of the moment visitor from Tulsa, OK who just happened to arrive at the trailhead when we did and decided to join us for the day.

As has become our liturgical custom the hike was “offered” within the context of the passing of the peace and we had a great time hiking along and getting to know each other a little better. It was a great opportunity to live into the second of Jesus’ two great commandments – to love your neighbor as yourself. And to top things off we had two or three Gray Jays join us at communion, they knew it was “real” bread.

We will continue to hike throughout the winter so air out your winter gear and keep in touch with this page so that you’ll know where and when.

Blessings,

Jon+