There were four pools that were cascading down the mountainside that overlooked a beautiful cliff band on the opposite canyon wall. It was silent, remote, and the ambience was complete with a constant sprinkling of frost that came off of the surrounding ice-covered trees, and one solo old naked guy also enjoying the springs (the complete hot spring experience.) Brad and I packed up my van and got the "frick" out of Utah "hecka" fast. I decided that I wanted to drive down south right away. It was going to be my first time ever being in New Mexico and Texas, so I was excited to stop and see what those states had to offer. The first day of the road trip, we drove about ten hours toward San Antonio Hot Springs, which is located near Albuquerque, New Mexico. We slept in the van on the side of the road, then woke up early so that we got to the trail head around 9 AM. We did not know much about the springs besides what we could find through some googling beforehand. We knew the road leading to the springs required four wheel drive and would most likely be closed for winter. The resulting hike to the springs was going to be five miles one way, so we concluded that it was going to be a big day. It was a chilly January day. By the time we reached the springs it was about 50 degrees-perfect hot spring weather! We were greeted by two of the friendliest dogs that adopted us for the day. There were four pools cascading down the mountainside that overlooked a beautiful cliff band on the opposite canyon wall. It was silent, remote, and the ambience was complete with a constant sprinkling of frost that came off of the surrounding ice-covered trees, and one solo old naked guy also enjoying the springs (the complete hot spring experience.) Before we left Brad wanted to snap a few photos of the springs. He hiked up the mountain to get an higher view of the cascading springs and as he was descending back down the hill, he lost his footing on some ice and fell backwards on the palm of his hand on a sharp rock. The result? A very deep, serrated slice on his hand. He yelled down to me that he got hurt and said that he thought he saw the bone. My body kicked into wilderness first responder mode and I ran over to see what I could do to help. Neither of us packed a first aid kit, but we improvised with a napkin and shoe string bandage and utilized compression and elevation while we carried on with the five mile hike out. When we got back to the car, Brad dosed up on some pain killers and I made a ziplock bag syringe so that we could pressure wash all of the dirt and gravel out of his wound. The water I had in my van was frigid and cold, so it was not a pleasant experience at all. I felt really bad, but Brad sucked it up because he did not want to go to the doctor unless he was absolutely had to. The number one concern I had was to clean the wound so as to prevent infection. All in all, the cut was not deep enough to see the bone, but we definitely saw the fatty tissue in the palm of his hand. Only press "play" on this slideshow if you don't mind gore... but here's some photos of the damage after we cleaned up the wound a little bit. After we cleaned the wound we slapped some antibiotic ointment, gauze, and tape on his wound and prayed that it would heal quickly and without infection. It was a mega bummer, but it could have been worse!
I am happy to report that the cut healed within a week with no infection! Thank goodness! |
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