Inscriptions and a Cinder Cone

Today we set out to travel south on NM 53 to visit and hike at the El Calderon area of El Malpais and the El Morro National Monument. We knew it would be rather cold, but the wind would be less of a problem than it was yesterday.

We stopped at the NPS Information Center and picked up some brochures and then went on to El Morro National Monument (El Morro is Spanish for "the promontory"). People also refer to it as Inscription Rock, because of the petroglyphs and inscriptions left by Ancestral Puebloans, Spanish explorers, and Anglo settlers on their way to California.

This place has attracted both people and animals for millennia, partly because the pool at the base provides a reliable water source, very important in this desert landscape.

We took the half mile trail around the base of Inscription Rock, with a laminated flip chart showing only a few of the nearly 2,000 inscriptions. Many are faded or otherwise difficult to see, and it was easier when we had some clue what we were looking for.

We intended to walk the two-mile trail on top of the bluff, but the icy wind froze our fingers, and we knew we would be even more exposed to the wind if we climbed up on the rock. We decided to leave and go to the Ancient Way Cafe for lunch. The young woman we had met on the Narrows Rim Trail a couple of days ago recommended it. We wanted to get something warm and stay inside long enough to thaw our fingers, so we saved our packed lunch to have for supper later.

Highway 53 is known as the Ancient Way, which explains the name of the cafe.

The Ancient Way Cafe is a unique place to enjoy a slow cooked breakfast or lunch made and served with love. On Friday and Saturday evenings gourmet dinners are limited to one special dish planned and prepared by our chefs with a different theme each week.

We had some delicious hot coffee while we perused the menu and waited for our food to arrive. We had the soup of the day, homemade tomato basil, and split a wonderful sandwich that featured turkey, avocado, bacon and sauce on homemade bread. All yummy and a great place to slow down and warm up.

Next we went to the El Calderon area. We found some handwarmers in the truck and broke them out. We visited Junction Cave, a cave formed by a lava tube. We had picked up a free cave permit earlier. We didn't plan to go in very far. This was definitely our first descent into a wild cave, involving boulder scrambling and watching out for loose rocks and dark dropoffs. We didn't get very far from the entrance, but it was enough to get some sense of what actual spelunking would be like.

My puny little flashlight didn't reach very far, and I soon became aware that a headlamp would be a definite asset. I needed both hands to scramble over the rocks.

We went on to complete the three-mile hike out to El Calderon cinder cone and back. The sun was out part of the time, and we were mostly somewhat protected from the wind, but our hand warmers were still nice to have in our pockets.

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Happy Mother's Day

I heard from all my sweet kids today--thanks! Terri sent me a virtual orchid from the Gardens by the Bay's Cloud Forest. Molly took her there today. Chris posted a pic of me from 1966, when he was just a little thing, and Julie posted a pic of me with Cate and Sam, also from years ago (though not as many!) and a pic of the Shaffer kids (Chris, Terri, and Ed) with me.

Sadly, my mom is no longer with us. I miss her so. She passed away just before Mother's Day in 2007.



 


We decided to take a day off from hiking and sightseeing. The weather forecast just didn't look good for outdoor activities. The wind is really kicking up the sand and dust. Instead we did our laundry and grocery shopping, so now we have clean clothes and food in the fridge.

The weather icons actually show a slight chance of snow around here the next two days. Brrr! We'll have to bundle up to go out tomorrow.


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Heading South and Out on the Lava

We headed south on Hwy 117 again today. We stopped at the BLM primitive campground called Joe Skeen Campground. The road in has a large steep dip that would certainly prevent us from taking the Majestic in--we'd bottom out for sure. There are ten sites with picnic tables under shelters, fire rings, and great views. Some of them would actually be okay for a longer rig. The BLM is looking for volunteer hosts for this campground.

We left Hwy 117 to turn south on Cibola County Road #41. Some friends of ours have a place about seventeen miles down this dirt road. They aren't in residence right now but invited us to check out their little corner of remote paradise. Boy is it remote! Most of the road is washboarded, so it made for a rather slow and uncomfortable ride. However, once we got to their place, the views were wonderful. Looking south, you can see the Sawtooth Mountains.

After a picnic lunch, we headed back north into El Malpais again to hike the Lava Falls Trail. It's a relatively short one mile circular trail with one spur. The trail is marked by cairns, but they are often difficult to find. The sign at the head of the trail cautions hikers not to leave one cairn before sighting the next, so one of us always stayed at the last known cairn while the other scouted to find the next cairn. At one point after signpost #3 (keyed to an informative brochure about the trail) we could not find the next cairn and so had to head back to the parking lot.

We decided to try following the trail in the clockwise direction and had more success, until we came to a cairn at the base of a steep cliff that seemed to be a dead end, so we returned to the truck again. We decided to call it a day. Now we realize that the dead end was actually on the spur trail and that we missed the junction where the trail split. Part continued in the counterclockwise direction--the part we missed seeing--and another part led on a spur into a deep amphitheater.

Despite missing part of the trail, we are very glad we took this hike. As you can see, the lava fields are extremely varied. There's smooth, often ropy lava called pahoehoe (from the Hawaiian). Some lava has been weathered into loose pieces rather like the rocks in a barbecue grill. Some of the lava forms deep cavities, while other parts are uplifted.

Deep fissures mark the terrain. It's an impressive, unfamiliar landscape. It reminded us of hiking at Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island, except that the youngest lava here in the McCartys flow is around 3,000 years old. No smoke and smell of brimstone emanates from this lava, and it doesn't threaten to melt your shoes!

 Nonetheless, it can be treacherous footing. The sign at the trailhead warns, "This isn't your typical walk in the park," and suggests sturdy hiking shoes and plenty of water. It says a GPS unit would be useful, since magnetic compasses are thrown off by the iron content of much of the lava.

Typical cairn.

Lava cracked and buckled with a large sink hole.

Life will always find a way!
 

That's Ken out taking photos on the lava--or maybe he's trying to locate the next cairn?

We didn't get back home until after 7:00 p.m., tired but happy, and very hungry. The weather forecast for tomorrow is not promising, so we've decided to take the day off from sightseeing and instead do our laundry and shopping and catch up with ourselves.

We watched a PBS Arts special tonight: Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four String. It's about a ukelele virtuoso, but really delves into Jake's life, the development of his music, and the human story behind his musical career. For example, it shows Jake accompanying his (now former) manager, Kaz Flanagan, to her hometown in Japan, Sendai, which was completely destroyed by the tsunami Read more!

El Malpais

Thought for today:  
Travel ennobles the spirit and does away with our prejudices.

Oscar Wilde

This bird serenaded us through breakfast this morning. We think it's a Brown Thrasher or possibly a Curve-billed Thrasher.

We packed a lunch and headed out, first to the Grants Post Office to pick up our General Delivery mail and a gas station to fill up with diesel. Then we took Hwy 117 south into El Malpais, which is the name of the National Conservancy Area (BLM) and the National Monument (NPS).

Our first stop was at the BLM Ranger Station, where a friendly volunteer showed us a video and gave us some informative handouts. From there we went south to the Sandstone Bluffs, where we could see some spectacular views of the lava field and  cinder cones.

Then we drove on farther south to La Ventana, a large and quite impressive natural arch.

Farther south we came to the South Narrows Picnic Area. The Narrows are so called because there is only a thin strip of land between the sandstone bluffs to the east and the McCarty lava flow to the west. We ate our lunch at one of the five covered picnic tables and then started up the Narrows Rim Trail. The trail is marked by stone cairns and pretty well traveled, so it wasn't too hard to follow. As the name implies, it runs along the edge of the sandstone bluffs overlooking the Narrows.

The trail stays a safe distance in from the rim, but you can approach more closely at several vantage points. The wind picked up quite a bit while we were out on the trail, so we were cautious about going near the edge.

If you hike the entire trail, it's just over four miles out to a vantage point where you can see the Ventana Arch from above. We didn't go that far. It was late afternoon, and the footing is rough and rocky, so slow going. We went far enough to enjoy some spectacular views of the vast lava flows and the multicolored bluffs.

One young woman jogged past us on the trail, but we didn't see anyone else. She caught up with us again just as we were descending to the trail head. We chatted briefly. She lives in the area and hikes (or jogs) this trail about once a month.


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Heading West

We moved to Grants, NM, today. We're in Lavaland RV Park, a decent place that will make a good base to explore El Malpais National Monument and El Morro National Monument.

From the site photos below, you can see blue skies and a few white fluffy clouds. However, when we arrived and during our setup, a storm blew in and reduced the temperature by 20° and brought cold rain showers and even a bit of hail. Ouch! Fortunately the storm passed.

Lavaland is just off I-40, but far enough that we haven't noticed the traffic noise. It's a bare bones park. We got one of the few 50 amp sites, and it's just barely long enough for us.

After the weather cleared, we went for a walk and found that the Northwest New Mexico Visitor Center is practically next door. They were about to close for the day, but we did manage to pick up some brochures and maps and ideas for hikes. We asked about videos and were told that unfortunately their equipment is broken. W asked about programs and were told that the center is short staffed because of budget cuts, but they try to do some ranger led hikes in the summer.
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Busy Day in Albuquerque

This morning we went to the foothills of the Sandia Mountains to Elena Gallegos Open Space to hike. We didn't have a map, so we just set out on the Cottonwood Springs Trail. That turned out to be a very nice accessible nature trail leading to a wildlife blind and small pond.

We continued on to a trail marked #140, part of the Pino Trail, which leads to the crest. We didn't go that far, but turned off on #341 and circled back to our starting point. The views were marvelous. To the east the Sandia Mountains loomed above us. To the west the city of Albuquerque was laid out in a wide valley below.

We saw many varieties of wildflowers in bloom as well as junipers and pinons and cacti. We spotted some mountain bluebirds, but none willing to pose for the camera. We encountered folks out walking their dogs, jogging, and bicycling, but for much of the time we seemed to be alone in the vast open space.

After our hike we went to Costco to pick up some groceries before heading home for lunch and a shower. This afternoon we drove to Old Town, where we saw San Felipe de Neri Church, one of the oldest buildings in the city. The current church was built in 1793, but the parish was established in 1706 and has been continuously in operation since.

We walked around Old Town, taking note of all the shops. We had planned to eat at the Back Street Grill, but it is apparently closed for renovations, so we walked to Cocina Azul. We were eating early, so we'd be ready for dancing at 7:00 p.m. That meant we were among the few diners. We checked in on Yelp and got free chips and salsa.

After dinner we walked back to the truck and did some grocery shopping on the way to our dancing date. Caller Kris Jensen has a C-2 square at her house. The group is called the Half Crazies. It is not officially part of the Wilde Bunch, but all the dancers who participate on a regular basis are actually members of the Wilde Bunch club.

When we arrived, Kris introduced us to her wife, Turtle Bear. Soon other dancers arrived. Unfortunately, none of us wore name tag. Of course the rest of the group knew each other. I can recall some of the names, but not which faces they go with. Everyone was very gracious about welcoming us into their square, and very patient with our inexperience.

We studied our call definitions to prepare for this experience. It's been two months since we danced, and we have just barely learned C-2. We definitely had some blank moments here and there. Kris's choreography was quite novel to us, since our total experience of C-2 dancing has been with Darryl and Randy. It was also creative and interesting.

It was all wonderful fun, both the dancing and the socializing with the group, a really great bunch of folks.

Tomorrow we'll move on to Grants, NM.

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Abiquiu to Albuquerque via Santa Fe

We had an eventful day today. We moved from the Riana Campground at Abiquiu Lake to the Sandia Resort & Casino in Albuquerque. Halfway between those two places lies Santa Fe. We visited the plaza on our last trip in 2010 and saw the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi and the Palace of the Governors and the New Mexico History Museum. This time we wanted to see the New Mexico State Capitol.

We also wanted to shop at Trader Joe's and the Whole Foods Market. They are just across the street from each other and about a mile and a half from the capitol. We found a place to park along the Metro Rail track just west of the Whole Foods. We shopped at Whole Foods and put the food away before lunch. After lunch we walked to the capitol. We knew there wouldn't be any place to park our home near the capitol, and we enjoyed seeing part of Santa Fe on foot.

We had read reviews on Tripadvisor that lauded the extensive collection of New Mexico art on display, which interested us. Nothing could really prepare us for the impact of the art collections on the second, third, and fourth floors.

Walking back to our truck, we spotted this bus stop. After shopping at Trader Joe's, I put the food away while Ken returned the shopping cart to the store.

Then we headed south. We're staying in the casino parking lot (just parking, no hookups). We've got a great view of the mountains.

We bought some Monk's Ale at Whole Foods. It's brewed by the monks at the Monastery of Christ in the Desert, and the labels say "brewed with care and prayer."

After we ate dinner, we walked over to the casino, which also features some New Mexican art (some of which is for sale in the gift shop).

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Security

Another quiet day close to home. We spent some time today updating and changing passwords for our many accounts, and especially the ones that LastPass told us were impacted by the Heartbleed bug. This sounds like a straightforward operation, but when you consider that many of these sites are ones that we access not only on our laptops, but also on our phones and tablets, the job takes longer than expected. That's probably why we've been putting it off. Unfortunately, we have a lot yet to do. One day maybe people will be freed from this complex task by using biometric logins. Can't wait.

On our walks today we reviewed some of our C-2 square dance call definitions. Tomorrow on our walks and drive we'll go over more of them. We're hoping that we'll be able to dance reasonably well in Albuquerque on Wednesday evening.

We watched another episode of Cosmos tonight--another spectacular episode. We learned a lot and were amazed by the complex unfolding history of our planet Earth.

Tomorrow we'll be leaving Abiquiu Lake and moving south. We're promising ourselves that we'll be returning to this beautiful spot. Read more!

Quiet Sunday

We stayed around home today, going out only to take our walks around the campground and checking to see which rigs are leaving and which arriving.

We spent some time again on travel planning. We needed to make some phone calls, but our cell service is so unreliable and drops calls regularly that we made a list of calls to make tomorrow--when we drive to a nearby location with actual Verizon service.

We watched the newest episode of Call the Midwife. Somehow we've really gotten hooked on it. Read more!

Rio Chama Canyon and Christ in the Desert Monastery

 Today is May 3, Rebecca's birthday. Ken called and talked with her this afternoon as she and Catt were walking out onto the pier at Newport Beach. Happy birthday, Rebecca!

We missed visiting the Christ in the Desert Monastery on our last visit to Abiquiu, so that was our destination as we set out today. It's a few miles north of Lake Abiquiu, off US 84, on Forest Route 151 in the Santa Fe National Forest.

It's a 13 mile drive on a very curvy one lane dirt road to get to the monastery, with stunning scenery around every curve. For most of the way the road follows the curving route of the Rio Chama, though often enough it's at a dizzying height above the river (at least it's dizzying if you are sitting on the side of the vehicle nearest the dropoff, going around a blind curve on a one lane track!).

Along the way we saw several turnoffs with labels like "Big Eddy," "Whirlpool," and "Rio Chama Campground" as well as others that were unmarked. All were inviting, but we saved exploration of all of them until after our visit to the monastery.

After an hour's drive, we arrived at the monastery around 12:15 p.m. We wanted to be there in time to hear the monks sing Sext, one of the hours of the Divine Office, at 1:00 p.m. Meanwhile we browsed through the gift shop and the photograph gallery.

The chapel, designed by George Nakashima, is both peaceful and awe-inspiring. The high windows give on a view of the majestic cliffs beyond. Listening to the chanting of the psalms brought back memories of visits to Assumption Abbey in Ava, MO, many years ago.

When we left the monastery, we embarked on an exploration of most of the byways leading off 151. We drove into some and walked into others. One developed campground has 9 sites with picnic tables and fire rings. The remaining camping is "dispersed camping" with no officially designated sites, but plenty of beautiful views along the Rio Chama.

We stopped at Skull Bridge, where we decided to check out the Ojitos Trail, which forms a portion of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. If you look closely at the post, you might be able to make out the distinctive logo of the CDT. We followed the trail for a while. It's clearly used by equestrians, as we saw large horse trailers parked at the trailhead and on Forest Road 474, and we met two riders on the trail.

After a bit we decided to turn around. I'm sure it was because we had other things to check out (and not because of the large black bull showing some curious interest in our approach--or maybe it was a steer....).

[For more info and photos, see Trip Report: Chama River Canyon Camping.]

As we explored, we saw several occupied campsites, mostly with tents, but we also saw one travel trailer. The Forest Service website suggests that some sites might accommodate a 20-ft. RV, but first you'd have to get the RV to the site. Given the state of the roads, most people wouldn't want to attempt this except in a rugged, high clearance vehicle. We were glad to be in our truck. When the weather is inclement, everyone is advised to avoid traveling on these dirt roads. Read more!

Trip to Espanola

We went into town today. Espanola is the nearest community of any size. It's 30 miles southeast of Abiquiu on US 84, about halfway to Santa Fe. We hated to leave the pristine beauty of Lake Abiquiu, especially since today was a really lovely warm sunny day, but we had to do our laundry and do some shopping.

Our first stop was at Box Pack Mail, a UPS and Fedex drop off point, where I picked up a package from Carolyn at New Horizons. She had kindly shipped back to me the GPS unit I left lying in the customer lounge. Next we stopped at CVS to pick up some prescriptions that Dr. George's office had faxed in. As it turned out, only one of the two prescriptions was there, and the pharmacist said that they had received only one. So Ken had to call the doc's office and try to get things straightened out. The problem is that this kind of mixup has happened before, and Dr. George's office again insisted that they had faxed both prescriptions. It took three phone calls to convince them to fax it again.

By now it was past our lunchtime so we stopped at Subway--after we found it. Turned out the location we had visited on our last trip here had closed, but we found our way and had a late lunch.

Next we went to the Bubble Zone, a nearby laundromat. After we got the clothes in the washers, I went out to the truck to make some phone calls. The Verizon signal at the lake is unreliable. I had three doctor's offices in Mission to phone in payments to. I succeeded on one, left a message on another, and ended up stymied on the third. Frustrating!

Then we went grocery shopping and got diesel before stopping at the CVS again to pick up the second prescription. As we were about to pay for it, we realized that it had been filled for one month instead of three, so we had to wait for that to be corrected. As we left the store, I looked at the RX label and realized that it had zero refills (it was supposed to be a 90 day prescription with three refills....). We like Dr. George, but we are really unhappy with the incompetence of his office staff.

Back out at the lake we took our evening walk, again enjoying the wildflowers and the sunshine and the bunnies and the kids on the playground and the peace of nature after the frustrations of the city. The campground is definitely filling up for the weekend. Read more!

May Day

At breakfast we watched the antics of a couple of male house finches fluttering around our roof and the truck. Their colorful reddish heads and chests attract attention.

After breakfast we hiked the Abiquiu Lake Vista Trail. The USACE map of the trail system at the lake is not very detailed. It certainly isn't topographic! We wound our way up and down many switchbacks, at times near lake level and at other times high on some hills overlooking the lake and surrounding area. The trail surface varies from flat flagstones to smooth rock to sand/gravel to soil. It's mostly well marked, especially at intersections with the two other trails that are part of the "stacked loop" trail system.

The view at times was quite expansive, except when we walked through more closely spaced junipers. We saw several varieties of spring wildflowers, which must be very resilient to survive here. One that has been catching our eye is the bladderpod, which grows in clumps all around the area. While we were out the weather went from bright warm sunshine to biting wind with ice crystals hitting us.

We diverged from the trail to explore the non-motorized boat ramp and surrounding picnic areas and pavilions, all of which are closed right now. We sat for a few minutes on a bench overlooking the lake, just taking in the spectacular scenery.
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