I was looking at a map of the Los Conchas fire and it seems as though most of Banderlier has been burned over. Is this the case? Does anyone know how badly things have burned there?

Why does the east side of the Jemez continue to burn so badly?

They haven't had any rain, Bubba. I was near there two weeks ago expecting to hike to the top of Sandia. However, all of the trails to the summit were closed--Only the Foothills Trails was open. So, I drove to the top and hiked around the roads and paved trails a little. Spoke with the rangers and they told me they'd had something like only two inches of rain this year. I pointed out to him that even Death Valley gets four inches per year.

--mark d.

About half of the park has burned. The most intense areas were in upper Frijoles canyon, Alamo canyon, and the backcountry areas all the way down to Cochiti. The backcountry ranger cabin was burned, Ponderosa campground burned, but the main ruins and visitor center were saved.

This winter saw dreadfully low snowfall in New Mexico, followed by hot, dry, and excessively windy weather in spring and early summer. Contrast this with record snowfall a hundred miles north in Colorado.

That saddens me deeply. The Jemez are one of my favorite parts of New Mexico and it is sad that it has burned over so many times. The east side of those mountains have had 4-5 bad fires in the last 20 years or so, if I recall correctly.

It seems like the entire west got record snowfall except for New Mexico and Arizona. Odd how things like that work out.