We went down to the river to play in the mud. I walked out to the island, and the wind blew ashes from the fires all around me. The water was blown into peaks and waves, and I felt like the wind was calling my name. Surreal. I bent down to listen to the water, and looked up at the sky, with the ashes swirling around. Eerie and beautiful all at once.

This summer truly offered some great opportunities to get out and explore the beauty surrounding us. (Not that I advocate bottomless rock climbing per se, but hey, I'm not going to judge if you want to try if for yourself.)

I was lucky enough to be able to accompany my friend on her initial hike into the Manzanos to do research for one of her upcoming refugee wilderness program hikes. It was a beautiful drive a little more than an hour outside of Albuquerque, with mist laying in the low spots between trees and the sun shining a beautiful cerise halo through the smokey clouds as it showed its face to us for the first time that day.

The hike itself was lovely - up into the mountains through heavily wooded trails, with plenty of new plants to identify along the way. It was the first time that I'd seen so many maple trees in New Mexico, and look forward to re-visiting in the fall time when the trees will be brilliant shades of vermilion.

Read more about the refugee wilderness hikes here:
http://nmpoliticalreport.com/332967/into-the-wilderness-summer-camp-connects-refugee-children-with-nms-wild-places/
and here:
http://www.upworthy.com/theres-a-wilderness-summer-camp-for-refugees-that-lets-them-just-be-kids?c=ufb1