Strolling The Canyon, 2013 - Entering the Canyon

Remember the commercial for margarine where the woman says, "It is not nice to fool Mother Nature?"  Then she would snap her fingers and something dramatic would happen.  I would suggest that Mother Nature has done that to our Canyon.

(I hope we all keep in perspective what has happened in the area.  Everyone's cabins were spared from the fire, due to an amazing job by hotshots and our own firefighters; no lives were lost; these are our vacation homes, not our primary residences; we have insurance.  In the scheme of things, we were very lucky, and I hope we all support and cooperate with the Forest Service as they try to get on top of our area and the Gallinas area, which I understand was damaged far worse than ours.  That being said, let me tell you about what we found.)

Wasn't the fire bad enough?  It took out many acres, closed the Canyon for the summer, and caused floods when it rained.  I didn't realize that hot fires caused the dirt to become impenetrable so water would just run off it.  And it did.  With every rain, more flooding occurred.  

Despite the continued damage created during the monsoon season, the Forest Service was managing to keep up.  The road would become mudded in, but within a day or two, they were able to get on top of it.

And then the big flood came.  Seven+ inches in four days.  That is a lot of water for anyone, but especially dry New Mexico.  And really especially in a burn-scarred area.  

I knew Mother Nature could pack a powerful punch, but I had no idea how bad.

Our first clue came just after we entered the Holy Ghost.  The road just around the corner from the silver truss bridge was covered in about 9 inches of mud.  On a wet day, it would have been impossible to traverse.  Thank goodness it had not rained since the seven inch monsoon.

Then just beyond the gate, where the meadow is on the left, the culvert obviously could not handle the water that came down the path.  The path used to lead to Brush Ranch before it became impassable due to downed timber. Our family used to walk it at night.  Now I doubt we will ever walk it again.  Look at the ravine and the pile of mud the water created. (The mud stretches over the road, making for a fun ride!)

Just before the Horton's cabin, we got our first glimpse of what could happen in the ravines where it had burned.  We thought it looked bad . . . and it is.  But this is minor compared to some others up the way.  

Standing at the Horton cabin, looking down the road.  The dips and holes in the muddy road are not very obvious . . . until you drive on them.  To the right notice the rock slide (hard to see).  It is the first of many.

Our little road had minimal damage.  The creek, instead of going onto our road, spread over into the meadow toward the chip-seal road, and hence, we could access our cabin in decent shape.  We were glad we had our Jeep, however, as a car could not have gotten past these few spots.  We had no idea what we would find up the Canyon.  I am glad I didn't know.