Ezra Kozimor gets his first ‘stamp’ in his Passport to the Pajarito Plateau on the Quemezon Nature Trail. Courtesy photoBy BRANDEN WILLIAM-KOZIMOR
Los Alamos
Have you heard about the Passport to the Pajarito Plateau program that PEEC started on Earth Day?
It is a fun way to explore some amazing trails this summer and get prizes for doing so! Here’s how it works… Go to the Los Alamos Nature Center and pick up your “Passport”. It comes in a handy pouch with two crayons that are shaped like pebbles. Inside the passport are 16 trails located in Los Alamos, Bandelier, and the Valles Caldera. For each trail there is a unique image printed in the passport that hikers should look for on a post along the trails. The image on the trail is raised so hikers may place their passport page over it and use their pebble crayon to rub and “stamp” their passport.
There are prizes for hikers who finish various numbers of hikes. The first prize, a super cool survival tool, is earned after just two hikes! Other prizes include a magnifying loop, a bandana printed with the trails of Los Alamos County, a nice headlamp, and a special PEEC patch created especially for folks who complete all 16 hikes.
The problem is there is someone in the community who is trying to spoil the fun for the rest of us. This weekend, just one day after being installed, posts with the unique “stamp” along the Acid Canyon and Bridges Loop Trails were stolen. If you have any information about who might be vandalizing the posts, or if you come across a post that has been stolen, please call PEEC (662.0460) and let them know.
I’d like to conclude with a huge thank you to PEEC for coming up with a creative and exciting incentive to get our community onto our trails this summer. I encourage people of all ages to pick up a Passport, get out on the trails, and enjoy this amazing place we live all summer long whether the posts have been stolen or not.
