Camping Penderies near Rociada, NM. We were there to do a craft show on July 4th, hence the lights and decorations around the campsite. (Normally we don’t decorate, especially since I’m a Canadian.)(My wife is a US citizen but is pretty disgruntled with the current state of affairs.) The bear was a youngster who was hanging around the area drinking from birdbaths and eating seed from feeders. He’s getting a little too habituated to people so the residents are hoping he’ll leave on his own so fish and wildlife won’t need to put him down. The little leather charm tags on our hiking boots were made by a friend.
That last video is of a usually dry stream bed that piles up with pine needles when there’s a torrential rain. This is probably 4-5 ft deep in places and I’d guess there is at least half a ton of needles. It’s been there (and been added to) for at least 4 years; I think since the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon fire in April of 2022 took out a lot of the trees and underbrush, leaving not much to slow down the runoff.
