Deep in the ponderosa dark, color blazes.
Morning sun crawls over the canyon wall, lights a creekside tangle of leaves red and yellow.
A child could step across Vallecito Creek, the trickle of water that powers this ecosystem.
Fall falls right in front of us, breeze gliding red Virginia creeper leaves to the ground.
The creek bed runs dry before we reach our destination: Paliza Canyon Goblin Colony, a canyon wall’s worth of hoodoos and tent rocks, thumbs and OK signs and bawdier shapes.
The goblins bake. Do they remember water? Two inches of dust and sand coat our boots.
My husband climbs steep ridges while I peer over hills and mesas through towers of tuff. A thumb-sized horned lizard enjoys shadow.
We walk a steep mesa road. The burn scar we found two years ago is mostly healed. But bark peels brittle from the trees, their sap crusty and dry. And the dust – every step stirs it.
The creekside forest, brighter now, cools us as we descend.
On our drive out of the canyon, a red-tailed hawk swoops over the road, a small snake in her mouth.
A braid of golden cottonwoods winds through the valley. At the place where the braid crosses the road, a dry wash, and a sign: Vallecito Creek.
This hardworking little stream, stretched thin as it is, nourishes the whole valley.
Hike length: 5.5+ miles
Difficulty: moderate
Trail traffic: light
Wildlife spotted/heard: Stellar’s jays, ravens, chipmunk, horned lizard, butterflies, flickers, flycatchers, red-tailed hawk, snake, Abert’s squirrel, mockingbirds, canyon towhees
Woman Seeks Elevation 