Catching Up on Blogging and Picking Up Where I Left Off with the Sierra de las Uvas Mountains and an Exploration near Soledad Canyon

I haven’t blogged in awhile and though I have a desire to catch up, I took a break precisely because my desire to catch up was beginning to feel like a task, a job to get done, and not something very enjoyable. I’ve thought about this a bit and basically, taking time out of the present to blog about things I did 3 months ago was pulling me out of real life as it was happening. Instead of enjoying and really living the amazing life I have now, I felt compelled to blog. And so I stopped for a bit. A few weeks away from thinking about selecting photos, writing blog posts, and adding metadata made me realize how much happier I am when I’m not doing those things. But I don’t want to stop blogging forever. So – at least for awhile – I’ll be catching up mostly by way of posting photos, no captions or long stories. I think I might regain my enjoyment of blogging if I were more current, but for now, I’ll just pick up from where I left off in late February.

But since I last reported on hiking then, I have been truly relishing my life, content in a way that feels complete, enjoying my continued ventures in hiking and building with Habitat for Humanity. But more so than the “events” or “activities,” I’ve been just enjoying a life that also includes spending time with Tom and our dog, Abby. I’ve been enjoying the opportunities that allow daily cooking and frequent baking – both things I love. And especially in the past few weeks as I’ve reallocated some time, I’ve been cherishing the hours I’ve invested in reading.

My friend and former yoga teacher texted me last week to ask if I was okay since I had ceased blogging and I related a little bit about how I was just enjoying being involved in life and actively living – and how I was just content. She said this place of contentment is called Santosha. According to Wikipedia (which was, of course, the first result returned from my query) I read that santosha can be translated as “completely content with, or satisfied with, accepting and comfortable.” That sounds exactly right. I am happy and satisfied and comfortable with everything that way it is, but I’m open to change and to developing new understanding, knowledge, and skills. And so, that’s where I find myself as I write this: content with how things are and eager for whatever developments and opportunities for growth come my way.

So, picking up where I left off is our short exploration of the Sierra de las Uvas Mountains, an arid grassland range incorporated in the Organ Mountains Desert-Peaks National Monument. We spent most of our day here getting lost and trying to get off of roads that our vehicle had no business being on, but it was definitely a pretty place:

Our last hike in the Las Cruces area before we finished Habitat was north of the Soledad Canyon Trail we had hiked a few weeks previously. We began on the trail but quickly veered off to climb some of the ridges and get some views to the north. Bushwacking all the way, we ended up hiking more than a few miles out of the way in order to return to the car, down through a canyon and over quite a few of the foothills.