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April took us to the Rio Chama in northern New Mexico for the next group's third week. It was an odd weather week in that we were rafting and canoeing in pretty cool water. The temperature would alternate between freezing and 60 from day to day. We woke up twice to snow and went to sleep while it was snowing once, but it the snow would melt and the sun would be out by the time we were ready to get on the river. It was a beautiful landscape that reminded much of the Sedona area, there was tons of gorgeous red rock, but the red rock was also interlaced with white and yellow rock too.
We had a raft and a canoe. I was in the canoe for the majority of the trip. The first day my canoe partner was my co-worker Rachel. The next two days one of the students was my partner. There were several difficult rapids that tested my ability to guide the canoe and there were two that we scouted and I decided my skills weren't at the level required to navigate them. We had a good time cruising down the river seeing, Blue Herons,
ducks, Canadian Geese, and a whole host of other birds. We saw elk running along an amazingly steep mountain. We saw tracks of mountain lions and evidence of beaver.
Even though this week was one of my best personally and for this group we had our struggles. One night it took the group about 3 hours to make a fire, but the thing about it was that if that same group had struggled just two weeks before with the same situation they would have blown up and it would have been a major incident. However; this week they struggled and cussed at broken bows, splintered spindles, cracked fireboards, torn bow strings, and coals that went out, but they pushed through and literally laughed in the face of the adversity they were challenged by. Its moments like that which remind me why I'm out there, those moments of supreme triumph are magical. I think those moments where students work through their own problems of their own volition will stick with them more than anything I can ever say and hopefully the memory of that moment will help them in the future when they struggle against all that life throws at
them.
At one point there's a couple mile stretch that's owned by a monastery and in the river guidebook it suggest to be respectful and quiet while on the monastery's property. It was a serene half hour as we floated past first the outbuildings and houses near the monastery and then the rock colored monastery itself. It seemed that even nature and the animals respected the silence. There were no rapids in the river, just smooth placid water. Everyone was quite on our boats, whispering if we needed to communicate. The funny thing is that we didn't ask the students to whisper, they did it of their own accord.
After camping a night we headed back toward home, but we stopped off at Bandolier National Monument. It's a great set of native ruins in a narrow valley. The village ground level can still be seen. Some places in the connected village had once stood 3 stories tall. Three separate Kiva's (ceremonial pits) were in the middle of the village and climbing a small rise there were cliff dwellings all along the most shaded parts of the cliffs. The cliffs were made of Tuff, which is compressed ash, so
the natives could scrape out little rooms which they then built stone walls in front of to make dwellings. Many of the cliff dwellings were 2-3 stories tall while in use, but most had crumbled in disuse. You can see where the vigas (floor/roof supports) were carved into the tuff and left holes. They had several dwellings re-created so we could see what they might have looked like. The students didn't seem that into it, but I love being in ancient ruins. It really makes me feel connected to this land to know that ancestors of mine have lived in the AZ/New Mexico region for thousands of years.
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Rick
non-member comment
:)
Looks really cool man...that's quite the sexy beard you have!