Autumn forest bathing: expedition notes 2

The phenologists were probably correct. The prolonged heat and drought and lack of sudden freeze have had an impact on autumn leaf color in this region.

I did still find some beautiful vibrancy in the Santa Fe National Forest on a little camping, hiking expedition to the Jemez a few weeks ago.

My wanderings on various forest service trails brought me along some chamisa lined paths.

To cross lovely little creeks of sparkling clarity.

I even found a natural hot (well lukewarm) springs pool halfway up a mountain with spectacular command of the valley.

The seep that fills this pool makes the route somewhat treacherous to navigate.

The area was vibrant with 50 shades of green.

Mosses, lichens or slimes? I am not botanist enough to know what life form I was appreciating here.

On the forest floor, a lovely color palette was forming with this season’s leaf blanket just beginning to fall.

I filled my lungs with the moist, humus breath of the forest, so different from the almost metallic dry scent of the desert where I live, admiring roots and nursery logs.

There were some distressing signs of human vandalism on this hotsprings trail in the form of litter and graffiti.

Who even brings spray paint on a forest hike? I don’t care how talented, the national forest trail infrastructure is not your canvas. Stop it. You are a vandal not an artist. May poison ivy get you where it hurts.

Fortunately the forest in autumn, drought notwithstanding, could more than capably hold its own against these patches of urban blight.

I hadn’t really wanted to soak in that natural hotsprings pool which I found (slimey bottom and lukewarm water which screamed Naegleria fowleri - commonly called brain eating amoeba), so I booked a soak at one of the other, more developed spas in the village of Jemez Springs.

Ten years ago, when first I started exploring New Mexico’s hotsprings and scenic byways, this establishment was known as Giggling Springs and offered only one pool. It was in that singular pool where I first heard tell of the wondrous Chihauhauan desert town of hotsprings where I now tend a garden and old house.

Under new corporate ownership, the single pool has become a million, including a wonderful cedar tub, one is no longer allowed to hop into the river for a cold plunge, and of course the price has gone up while length of time which one can access the property has shrunk.

Jemez Hot Springs, as they call themselves now, is still a worthwhile experience, if only for the fascinating mineralized secretions on the pool infrastructure, reminiscent of the tubs at Mystic Hotsprings in Utah.

This is a no nudity, clothing required resort and it can get crowded. Corporate marketing will do that. It’s daytripping distance from Albuquerque and Santa Fe on a beautiful mountain and forest National Scenic Byway. There was no sulphuric smell on the day I visited, and the setting is superb.