Don't go into the Woods!

Ah, what could be more fun and peaceful than a late afternoon walk in the woods?

That is what we thought and we loaded Pooka into the car and took off up into the Sandia Mountains. We went up to our favorite trail. Pooka was thrilled! A few minutes later a car with blasting rap music pulls into the parking lot. They parked next to our car and they had to have seen us because I could see them perfectly fine. These were not "woodsy" looking people, gangsta looking would be more like it, at least the two men who were probably in their early twenties. There are also two women and a baby. We continue with our walk and I could hear the women arguing with the men a bit, but I didn't pay much attention to it. Things quieted down until a few moments later when there is a gunshot. My first thought is that one of the men shot someone, maybe the woman who was arguing with him, but then I hear laughing and nobody is screaming. A few seconds later, gun shot after gun shot. I am terrified! I don't know if they are shooting at us, or threatening us and in a few moment will come up the trail and want our money and car. Mind you these people are no more than a couple hundred yards away. We can't see them through the trees, but we are not very far up the trail. We decide that we should try to leave, so we turn around and head back down the trail. Nobody tries to stop us, the women are sitting in lawn chairs, with the baby, like nothing unusual is going on. I am not sure where the men were, I didn't see them. We get in the car and I make Britton stop so I can take a picture of their license plate, we drive up the crest and report it. Hopefully these people were arrested or something. I know the police went looking for them. We were not in a hunting area, we were in a family recreation area and I haven't a clue what was going through their minds to be shooting off guns there, but I hope to never experience that again. Though I try to avoid them, I am not afraid of bears, mountain lions, rattlesnakes and other creatures that may be in the woods, but men with guns, those scare me.

If not for that unusual experience (that I would have gladly lived without) the most eventful thing of the day might have been this cool orb in the forest photo that I took. Click on it to go to flickr and view the larger size.