Column by Hal Walter
Travel – June 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
IT’S IMPORTANT this time of year when leaving for a holiday from the Wet Mountains to take note of certain things.
For instance, before leaving for a mini-vacation to Taos, New Mexico, in early May, I noted that despite six feet of snow in March, the stock pond on the adjacent property was bone dry. The huge salamanders that had appeared in a nearby seasonal stream after the snow melted had disappeared, possibly into the bellies of mallards. Blades of green grass had just begun to sprout. The wind had been blowing a gale for days and despite the oldtimers’ mantra that this time of year it would blow and blow until it snows, the only storm cloud looming on the horizon was the haze of topsoil roiling over the Sangres from the San Luis Valley.
