Goat City

Yoshi and L.B. are pack goats with the Enchanted Pack Goat hiking company. Yoshi is a small brown oberhasli and L.B. (lucky boy) a sable saanen. Today these noble goats, along with their capable guides Susan and Patti, led us on a hike up the Cerrillos hills just south of Santa Fe. The hills were the sites of turquoise, gold and silver mines. Only two active claims remain in the area but most of it is now protected public land.

The guides led us on a two mile hike covering an elevation of 700 ft that gave us an amazing view of both Albuquerque and Santa Fe as well as the surrounding deserts. Our elevation at the very top of the hill we ascended was 6,900 ft. We could really feel the high elevation as we struggled with deep breaths to climb the hill. But the goats carried plenty of water for us and even snacks and lunch – awesome goat cheeses, salsas, and sandwiches. The goats were so good! As we climbed the hill Jason kept turning around for photographs of the beautiful landscape that stretched out around us. The higher we climbed, the more incredible the view became. Narrowing the photos for today's post was very difficult.

The goats turned out to be amazing pack animals and hiking companions. We had thought they would be a lot more stubborn, but the biggest trouble they gave us was stopping to snack now and then on the plants we were passing by; this actually provided convenient and needed breaks in the hike. Their footing was sure and they would respond to basic commands, recognizing their names and stopping when you gave a firm “whoa.” As you can see in the photos, we were both delighted by the goats during the entire hike.  As we moved along Patti and Susan gave us details and stories about the hills. Patti had just bought a small adobe house at the base of the trail and knew a lot about the area while Susan, the owner of the goats, had done an extensive amount of hiking with them and knew all of their ways. They were a great team.

When we reached the top we stopped to eat our picnic lunch. The goats snacked in a large juniper bush and then took a nap as we also rested before returning down the hill. It was so silent at the top and very beautiful. Every direction we looked gave a breath-taking view of the land below dotted with juniper bushes, pines, and cactus stretching out to mountains on the horizon. The view made me think back to our trip to the Georgia O'Keeffe museum and how she was converted upon seeing this rugged beauty. As Patti said when we reached the top, “welcome to heaven.”

The trip down was quicker and more dangerous than the climb. The rocks gave way beneath our feet now and then and Yoshi's saddle broke, leaving the humans to carry the panniers (We're not sure if Yoshi orchestrated this!). We were lucky to see some local fauna on our descent. A blue western scrub-jay flitted from bush to bush (the same bird Kate had spotted outside our studio a few mornings earlier). A western collared lizard froze on a rock as we drew close. As we stopped to check out the lizard a tarantula crawled by next to Jason's foot; it startled Jason but Susan was un-phased and tried to pick it up. The spider would have no such thing so we continued on before the goats got too interested in our new hairy friend.

The hike was a success. We had made new friends in both our guides and the goats. We had seen views that we will never see east of the Mississippi. It was truly a delightful morning. We headed back to the studio, rested a bit and then headed downtown for a little bit of shopping in the city's plaza and downtown area and eventually found dinner. We watched the sunset from the balcony of Rooftop Pizzeria and then headed home for bed exhausted.