The Good

As we took our Stroll Up the Canyon, we were astounded by what we perceived as being the negative effects of the fire and the flood.  Fortunately, we also found some positives.

When we were in the Canyon in July, I took this picture of the river, right at our propane tank.

Believe it or not, below is the same hole, post flood.  The mud and silt is gone, leaving gorgeous rocks and a beautiful, bubbling stream.

This hole, just below the Schneider's bridge, shows the same effect.

Isn't it pretty?  I never would have believed it, but with the silt and moss scrubbed clean, our little stream looks like it is brand new.

Above our cabin, the fire burned very intensely.  Very few trees survived and none of the ground cover was left.  Yet aspens are already sprouting and the seeding that was done by the Forest Service has taken hold.

It is not pretty yet; but it will be.

The burn scar behind our cabin was pretty obvious.  We had growth, and then it stopped.  Now, the area where the burn scar was is very green - much greener than what was not burned.

Although in the shade, the burn scar's green is different from what was not burned.

Many of the native plants are already coming back - holly, aster, primrose are all growing in the burn scar.

In many places, the fire is not evident and the canyon looks just as you would expect it to look.

So despair not.  Even the road can be fixed, and when it is, we will be able to get back into our little Canyon.  We will learn to live with the changes, and we will once again enjoy our little stream, the coolness of the air, and the camaraderie of our friends.

Strolling from #15 to the End

As we walked past the Anderson's cabin, Don and I commented that it could not be much worse.  How much more damage could be done?  After all, we had already seen the two bridges that were taken down at the Holt's and the Talbot's.  That's pretty bad.  And walking past Kelly's, the Horn's, the Conn's, and Ronnie Horn's the damage was about what we expected.

And then we saw the first issue.  The mess around the Reid's.  Early on, they had had a bad rockslide that had provided plenty of water in their cabin.  Chris had built a berm and a swale, however, that would divert the water, and it appeared to have worked.

But the bridge where the culverts are is gone.  The culverts are still there . . . just nothing on top of them.  It is a little tough to drive over this mess.

As we surveyed this area, Don noticed that the river above the culvert is now about four feet higher than it was.  It appears as if the culverts slowed the water enough to leave some of the rocks above them.  It would be good if some of the rocks washed away, as the way the river is now, it could flood the road pretty easily.  It will be interesting to see what happens.

We are standing just off the culvert, looking up the river.  Notice how the river is now about even with the road.

The Percy, Johnson, Lowe, and Rumsey cabins all had water rushing around them.  I understand Chris has notified everyone if they had any damage.  But the most stunning of the effects of the fire and rain (cue James Taylor) was to come.

Back in the late 1960's, a little spring would occasionally run between the Lowe and Rumsey cabins.  My brother and I actually tried to climb to the top to find it, but the ravine was so covered up even back then, we could not get to it.  Over the years, the spring has run on occasion, and when I was doing my research for my book, I actually found a letter discussing the water rights of the spring.  But it did not appear to be a reliable source of water.

Fast forward to the seven-inch rain.  The ravine where the spring is located became a rushing torrent, as evidenced by this channel the water dug through the road.

Yes, this is a gully through the road.

Don is standing in the gully, looking up the road.  He is six feet tall . . . 

The Rumsey's pump house . . . well, the poor thing.  It has been hit by two trees in the past few years, and now this.

Yes, that is dirt and rock piled inside.

The rest of the walk up the canyon was more of the same.  The road was no worse for wear, but the stream was certainly different.

The bridge at the Birdsong's gate.

Between the bridge and the Weaver's . . . note the erosion on the bank.  This is looking down the Canyon.

We have other pictures but they are not dramatically different.  The effects of the water, combined with the defoliation of the hillside, have changed the Canyon permanently.  For us oldsters, it will take some getting used to.  For all of us, it is the new normal.

But there are reasons to hope.  And we have the pictures to prove it!

Strolling from Cabin #7 to #15

So far, the major damage in the Canyon was to the stream and the west side of the road.  But that was about to change.  Just up from the Yarborough's cabin, it is obvious that the water has flooded the road.

Looking closely, it is apparent that where the stream curves from the Anderson's to the Davis's it decided to jump the streambed and go straight down the road.  Its independent spirit probably saved the Davis's bridge, but it did not do much for the road.

Slabs of the road could be found on the sides, rocks and roots protruded through the chip seal, and pot holes had been created.

The Davis cabin is on the left; Yarborough's behind to the right.

Finally, just around the corner, we saw the devastation water can do.  The river skipped the stream bed at the bottom of the Anderson's, and left this in its path:

Wow!  The poor road did not have a chance.  The debris pile at the Anderson's was impressive, and unfortunately, their footbridge was torn off the stream.  A large rock slide on the other side of the river came down to the water, but it did not seem to hurt the cabin at all.  

Part of the debris pile

The river behind the Anderson's.  Quite a bit of new rock has appeared!

Strolling from Cabin #3 to #6

Having just returned from a long trip to Alaska, we were accustomed to seeing rivers filled with rocks that had been deposited by glaciers.  Every stream we passed was filled with glacier rocks.  It was all very impressive.

Imagine what we thought, then, when we saw this just down the hill from our cabin:

This is on the west side of the road.  The waterfall is to the right,  Don is looking toward the Schneider cabin.

Although it looked like Alaska, it it is just down the path from the Brink's cabin that leads to the Schneider's bridge.  At the base of the road was a grassy meadow.  Now it is four feet deep in rocks.

To the left of the path was a ravine choked with dead trees.  It had been impossible to navigate up it, though we have tried several times.  Now the impassable ravine looks like this:

Nary a tree in sight.

Below the ravine and the rock slide used to be a waterfall.  The waterfall that was built back in the mining days, blocking the river to provide water for the hospital, no longer exists.

How many of us have pictures of our children on this rock?  We do.

Walking up the road from the bridge, the one familiar hole across from the rock that looks like a frog is dramatically changed.  The sleepy little fishing hole where many people would picnic is now a rocky one:

Many of these changes are permanent ones.  No one is going to remove the rock slide.  No one is going to replace the waterfall.  So it will take some getting used to.  But we can and will.

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.

Gaining Permission

After the fires in the Pecos, the Forest Service had talked about opening the Canyon after October 1 so that cabin owners could get in and winterize their cabins.  That was before the seven-inch rain hit the area.  The road was washed out in several areas, and they weren't sure they could or should let anyone in.  

When we called and talked to the permit administrator, he informed me we needed a permit to get in, since the area is closed.  Before allowing us access, he considered several things.  The road is impassable in many places.  Now I wasn't sure what he meant by impassable, but after seeing it, the road is definitely impassable.  We are lucky.  Our cabin is the second one in.  The part of the road we needed to travel can be maneuvered by a four-wheel drive, high clearance vehicle.  Further on up, that is not the case.  So we had two things going for us:  we have a high-clearance Jeep, and our cabin is below the worst part of the road.  

Second, the weather report for the time we requested was good - 0% chance of rain.  He knew that we could not and should not be in the Canyon if it was going to rain.  After seeing the Canyon, we really would not want to be here in a rain.

Third, he knows that Chris Long is going to be winterizing a number of the cabins.  Yet Chris is also going to be helping to get the road in shape for the winter and next spring.  Lessening the load for Chris is in the best interest of everyone.  And so we were granted permission to come in an winterize our cabin, and I promised that we would not drive our car anywhere in the Canyon except to our cabin.  I was told to pick up our permit on October 1.

Don and I were not counting on a government shutdown, however.  We did not have television on Monday night, since we drove from Clinton and stayed at the Wilderness Gateway B & B in Cowles.  Therefore, we did not know that Tuesday morning, the Forest Service (along with other agencies) temporarily shut down.  Luckily, the Forest Service personnel were still answering the phones.  And we managed to get our permit.  If we could not have gotten it, we would have had to drive back to Kansas without winterizing the cabin.  

Everything worked out, we got in and have had a chance to assess the cabin and our situation.  Then we took a Stroll Up The Canyon.  Read about our stroll over the next few days.

Saying Goodbye to Betty

The Holy Ghost/Tererro family is a relatively close one, relatively speaking.  Although we come from all walks of life, we care about each other, we keep track of each other, we help each other.  I think the feeling has been fostered by the July 4 gatherings at the Noel's cabin, along with the Homeowner's meetings and other events.  

Thus, when we (Don, Kenneth, Melinda and I) showed up at Betty Percy's funeral, we were not surprised to see Huie and Sherry Ley, Brandi and Rich, Nola and Ed, Scott Rice, Scott Johnson, and Dedi Skipper.  There are others who would have been there if they could have been, but it isn't always possible.  They were there in spirit, however.

Larry Percy spoke about his mom in familiar terms.  Although I didn't know she started Meals on Wheels in Clinton, I should have guessed.  She always put others first.  Of course, Larry mentioned the ice cream, the sitting on the porch at the cabin, and other memorable Holy Ghost events.  We each have our own stories about Betty and her selfless attitude.

On Tuesday, we were given permission to go into our cabin to winterize it.  We were grateful to the forest service for granting us permission to do so, as we had a couple of things we really needed to do before we closed up for the winter.  But there was a hole in our heart.  Earlier in the summer, we had planned to see Betty and Harry at the end of September.  Things changed quickly on May 30 with the fire, then again on September 13 with the flood.  But the biggest blow was on September 25 when Betty left us.  

We walked up the Canyon, taking time to stop at the Percy's cabin and sit on the porch.  

We took a few moments to thank God for Betty's influence on our lives and for the privilege of knowing her and her family. It will not be the same in the Canyon without Betty, but next summer, God willing and with a little help from the Forest Service, we will be able to sit on the porch with Harry, knowing Betty's spirit is on the porch, enjoying her daisies, the fresh air, and the creek.