Sunday, October 23, 2011

Up in Flames

or Fourth of July Canyon


A day of contrasts.  The color wheel spun between fiery orange and cool blue, pine green and luminous gold.  In a shining cloud of dust on Forest Road 55, the skeletons of old trees, burned by a previous summer's fire, stood guard; at their feet, young growth played with flames of sunshine.  In the open the sun was warm by mid-morning, but in the dappled shade on the trail, seasons came and went from one step to the next.


I generally think of blue and gold as the west's autumn colors—the deep, unclouded blue of mountain skies, the gold of a sun like hot honey, and the joyful, answering glow of aspen and cottonwoods, Maximillian sunflowers and rabbitbrush.  But tucked away in the Cibola National Forest, in the Manzano Mountains about 55 miles southeast of Albuquerque, is a canyon alive with bigtooth maples (Acer grandidentatum) that turn into embers and sparks, reds and oranges that smolder against the ponderosa pines.


For a while over the summer, all of Cibola Forest's 1.6 million acres were closed to recreational use, because the fire danger was so extreme.  Just idling a car for a bare instant too long over fallen pine needles in a road, or letting live cigarette ashes drift on the wind, could start a fire that would send whole mountainsides up in flames.  How lovely, then, to see the wilderness harmlessly catching its own seasonal fire, in a canyon named for a day of fireworks, of sparking, thundering, crackling celebration.


The Fourth of July trail climbs to a spring and continues on to the mountain crest.  I only walked a short spur of it called the Crimson Maple Trail, and even so spent much of the time sitting on the occasional bench.  (One especially lovely clearing had so many benches I wondered if they'd pupped.)  These photos, then, are only of the tiniest part of the canyon, and we may never know what hidden wonders we missed.

Even that fraction of a trail did not run short of wonders, though.  On one stretch of the path you'd walk amid the clean, resiny scent of junipers, or catch the faintest trace of vanilla from a stand of ponderosas.  Around the next curve you'd encounter the sweetness of deciduous forest; each step would release the must of fallen leaves from beneath your feet.  The wind sent white noise rushing through the pine trees' crowns.  It pattered among the maples' dying leaves; branches rubbed together high overhead, creaking.  A gust might fling a host of leaves into flight all at once and then let them settle in a whirl of color and light.  The forest floor, sheltered from the currents in the treetops, let only a light breeze pass, just enough to have hands seeking the warmth of pockets, and to prove the jacket to have been a wise choice after all.  In some places the season was just taking hold, in others the flames already dying out.


And everywhere the light was diffused, deflected, magnified by storms of translucent leaves, by the almost-invisible haze of dust shimmering in the air.


Amid the kaleidoscope of light and shadow, a bench offered a moment of quiet among the trees, a time to listen to the silence behind the wind, behind the hiss of leaves touching down, or the call of a mountain chickadee, the hoarse bark of an Abert's squirrel in the distance.


A day of contrasts, when cool and quiet could make your heart catch fire.

16 comments:

  1. Wow, maples are an unexpected sight in New Mexico. I have fond memories of the Manzano Mountains. It's sad to see the fire damage. The deep orange is stunning!

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  2. Holy smokes. Enjoyed your beautiful pictures and prose, as always. Is the Vermonter in you plotting a late winter return trip to tap the maples? :)

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  3. GirlSprout, I heard about this canyon from several different homesick easterners. :) This was the first time I've really been to the Manzanos rather than just driving through. The colors really were stunning!

    Kathy, thank you. Ho, ho, I love the way your mind works. It's time to invest in a sturdy, oaken bucket or two. And maybe a red buffalo-checked jacket?

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  4. Stacy what a wonderful sight in NM. The maples are even more beautiful than many here this year. I could feel myself on this trail, see the sites, feel the coolness and warmth, smell the leaves and trees as you eloquently described....

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  5. Absolutely beautiful. Loved the golds, reds, and burnt orange. The sky - that blue, blue sky - really caught my eye, too. I loved your last line.

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  6. I agree with Donna. Your colors are fiery and so vibrant against that blue sky. Both of which we are consistently lacking up North this year. Lovely photos of gorgeous scenery, makes me want to visit.

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  7. That bright orange and red foliage does seem as if it is on fire. Your photos are gorgeous!

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  8. Stunning! I truly love this time of year when flaming colors take over the forest. Our autumn colors are just beginning, so it is great to see these spectacular fall foliage shots. Thanks!

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  9. Ah, what a lovely post Stacy. I was there with you admiring the colours and taking in the fragrance. The photo of the regrowth after the fire is full of hope that nature will triumph.

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  10. Thank you for taking me on such an inspiring journey. I have never visited that area and somehow wasn't expecting that sort of scenery. Gorgeous.

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  11. Donna, it really is strange and wonderful to see so many maples here, almost like this canyon was drop-shipped in from somewhere else. I was lucky to be there right at peak color.

    Holley, thank you—October skies always seem to be bluer than the skies at any other time of year, don't they? This canyon is up at about 7,500', too, which makes the color that much deeper.

    Donna at Green Apples, it doesn't sound like La Niña has been very helpful to you all up north this year at all. I'd never been to this canyon before so don't know whether this was a typical year for the leaves, but with the drought we've had, I was a little surprised to find so much color.

    Michelle and Elaine, thank you!

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  12. Deb, one of the most enjoyable things about blogging is getting to stretch out the seasons vicariously. When our leaves are all gone, it will be wonderful to bask in yours.

    Janet, thank you. It was such a lovely place to be. The new growth is extra-impressive, I think, given how little rain we've had! As I understand it, this particular fire happened in 2008. It's good to see all those little Gambel's oaks and maples taking hold.

    Karen, thank you and welcome. This is really an unusual area in New Mexico—the mountains can be quite green (though probably not by northwestern standards...) but usually lean more to the coniferous side. The plains don't usually lean toward greenery at all!

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  13. Lovely Autumn contrasts Stacy. You have more vivid colors than ours this year. Stunning photographs!! I really love your second and next to last ones, but they are all wonderful. Thank you so for your kind words over at FHF. ;>)

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  14. Sorry a little late with this (trying against the odds to play catch up on all I've missed). Very kind of you to speak so highly of my autumnal shots when you had taken these, Stacy. Wow! And you speak highly of the light in the Forest of Dean! The clarity you have in NM is numbing - reminds me strongly of Greece. Beautiful. A+++ (as they say on Ebay).

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  15. Carol, the canyon was just breathtaking with those vivid colors, but they've been a lot more muted here in town. I'm so glad you liked the next to last photo--it was my favorite of the bunch and seemed to capture the whole mood of the day. I do hope you're enjoying some better days.

    Dave, the light is so different in your forest photos--so cool and refreshing. I forget that it can look that way. I've gone back to your post a time or two just to soak up the softness of the light in those first two photos especially. I really love the clarity here and think of it as the way light is supposed to look, but it is a bit "noisy" sometimes. Wow, I've reached Ebay standards--thanks!

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