SUMMERTIME BLUES

As we travel through Northern New Mexico and see new sites, one still can’t help but feel the Summer Time Blues.  That has happen to me….

As much as I’m enjoying seeing new sites, there are days that I feel that I can’t help but feel blah.  I think it’s been because of not knowing what’s up ahead.  There for a spell we didn’t know if state & national parks were going to shut down due to extreme drought and fears of forest fires. 

Each time we moved to a new spot we always had to make sure that we could be packed up at a moments notice if a fire should break out.  I think that hasn’t helped the situation of how I have been feeling.

So now Monsoonal rains came early and the mountainous areas has received lots of moisture-the burn ban has been lifted.  Good news is the rain-the bad news-too much rain keeping us limited on what we can do.  Can’t hike for fear of getting caught in a thunderstorm and you’re stuck indoors.

After we left Storrie Lake we headed back into the mountains and towards Hyde Memorial Park.  We found a secluded spot that would accommodate our rig.  The problem was once again we were sitting on top of a Day-Use picnic shelter that seemed to be rented constantly. 

Right behind us is a huge Picnic Day-Use Shelter.

Nice site but once again right behind us is another huge Picnic Day-Use Shelter.

It seems that New Mexico State Parks allows P.A. systems to be used in their picnic areas and the Latinos that seem to rent these shelters take advantage and use them.  It wouldn’t be so bad if they could play something half way decent-but it seems to be more annoying than anything else. 

Now a days I guess it’s okay to allow your children to scream and carry on or just let that baby cry and cry and not to comfort it in the least.  So with all the ruckus that one is not use to can get annoying after a spell.

Since  becoming full time RV’ers we have always worked summer months and been fortunate to have a little space between us and the campers-therefore spoiling us a bit with our own little peace of quietness.  Now that we ARE the campers among other campers; well let’s just say that’s hard to get use to.  But it is an adjustment that I must get use to.

We do enjoy watching the little ones scamper around playing, and meeting folks from all over the United States that are traveling through, such as we are.  But as I sort of stated earlier; There are well behaved kids and then there are those that needs a good ole fashion spanking on the behind (yeah, I know in today’s world that is considered child abuse).  Then you have those that come in at 10-11pm and want to party all night long-not giving a hoot about their sleeping neighbor.

Brian and I seem to have different views of what sites we seem to like.  It seems what I think would work for us and for Leah, he don’t like and visa versa.  But we finally have set down some ground rules that we will stick by when ever we are now looking for that “perfect” camping spot.

1-There is no such thing as a “perfect” spot.  Not unless you are out boondocking in the middle of nowhere.

2-No more parking anywhere near a day-use picnic shelter.  We scout out where they are located and steer as far away from them as we can!

3-We both like it dark at night-so watch where there are lights.  Not too many parks use street lights anymore, but those bathroom lights can shine in just as bright.

4-No parking close to bathrooms! Specially ones with lights.

5-No parking in the inner circles-you seem to always have campers all the way around you.

6-Sun has to be #1 priority in order to have the solar units to work, then a big enough area for Leah to romp around.  And maybe a little bit of privacy for ourselves.

7-Last but surely not least; will the site accommodate the motorhome without having to do a balancing act on boards and allow us to use our awning as well.

We must now have to take all the above in consideration whenever looking for a site.  One thing about New Mexico State Parks that we absolutely despise is the fact that they allow as many rigs, tents and people on a site-so long as each one pays their camping fees!  We don’t agree with this and never been anywhere where they allow this.  Then they wonder why they have so many problems….

One thing that both Brian and I do agree on is that we  prefer  disperse camping.  You can be out more with nature, you don’t have to worry about your neighbors and the only noise you will get is from nature itself.  But sometimes it’s hard to find a disperse area that will get the motorhome into safely without getting stuck or doing damage.  The roads are usually rough with deep ruts.

So the rest of our trip around Northern New Mexico is being spent now in the National Forest, and yes we actually found a disperse camping area that the motorhome can travel down and will allow us to maybe enjoy some peace and quiet and to watch Nature at work.  We will go into two more state parks-maybe….

SANTA BARBARA CAMPGROUND

Santa Barbara Campground is in the Carson National Forest and in the heart of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains (meaning “Christ of Blood”).  You are surround by beautiful mountains with varies types of trees and pines.

Upon getting to this park, you must travel on Hwy 75 (from the town of Mora) to the town of Penasco, then veer left onto Hwy 73.  Now according to the internet instruction, you turn onto FR 116 (which we never found the sign)-but it’s actually a county road now (C-021).  After missing the road and getting into ranch country, we knew something just wasn’t right.  Upon asking a few locals, we soon discovered that we were on a “back” rough road into Santa Barbara and not RV friendly.  So having to unhitch the car and get turned around we headed back in the opposite direction.  Again we could not find this “forest road-116”, asking another local we soon discovered that FR-116 was actually C-021!

Travel about 5+ miles and the road dead-ends into the park.  The only downfall is the road turns narrow once you get onto national Forest Rd.  Here are some pictures of what the gravel roadway looks like:

 View as if leaving the park.

View of the road heading towards the park.

We hoped that we didn’t meet another RV coming out-for it would have been a tight squeeze for two large RV’s or even a horse trailer to pass each other.  We got lucky…

After biting our nails on this stretch of the roadway, we entered into Santa Barbara Campground and we thought we found heaven!  The campground was just beautiful, spacious and oh, so peaceful (well, for the most part). 

In this park you are at about 8800 feet in elevation and if you are not use to this kind of height-you need to take a few days to acclimate yourself.  So we took the first two days just kicking back and enjoying our campsite and the awesome view surrounding us.

There were plenty of sites that provided lots of shade-but we preferred this particular site with lots of sunshine for our solar panel to work.

We had a great view of the surrounding mountains.

We came across this particular campground by the word of mouth from an elderly lady at Coyote Creek State Park.  She told us if we enjoyed hiking to come and check this out-well of course that got my interest in a heartbeat and that is why we came here.

True to her words-we had our choices of hikes and never getting bored with the hikes.  She told us about two different lakes (No Fish Lake & Truchas Lake) and even a waterfall that would be along the trails.  What she failed to tell us was how far it was to those lakes and the waterfall!  In order to reach Truchas Lake or to the water fall-you would need to spend one night out on the trail!  Even by horse you could not do it in just one day.  The water fall was 15 miles-one way Truchas Lake was also about as far for it was at the Santa Barbara Divide (The Continental Divide).

We did adventure on some trails and enjoyed them greatly.  The first one we did was called the Centennial Trail.  We went from 8800 feet to 10, 545 feet in elevation.  Although we only hiked a total of about 7 miles-it was very strenuous climb up and then back down.  Here are some pics of the view from this trail:

 

     

The next trail we did was the West Fork Trail leading to Truchas Lake.  That day we did about 12 miles around trip.  It wasn’t nearly as strenuous as the first hike.  It was spectacular and I think I could have kept going.  But we go by how much water we carry and what is left.  Rule of thumb; when we drink 1/2 of our water source-it’s time to head back.  Here are some spectacular pics of this trail:

   

 

And last but surely not the least, we took the trail just outside of the campground.  This one was to be a leisurely hike and we decided that once it climbed-we would not keep going up and head back down.  Well, I didn’t take our hiking GPS on this, so not sure what elevation we did climb.  All I know is it kept going up and up and up.  We later learned that it does a loop circle and connects to the East Fork and somewhere along this trail a plane went down many years ago but evidence was still there along with a grave marker.  The trail would have eventually taken us along a rock cliff where rams roam the area.  We didn’t get to see any-but enjoyed the hike non the less.  Here are a few pics of this trail:

      

We only got to spend a week here and would have loved to stay longer.   But not sure what might happen with the upcoming 4th of July-we headed to a state park that we knew would stay open during the busy holiday.  Last year many National Parks and State Parks in the mountainous areas shut down due to extreme fire danger.  No one knew for sure if they would be able to stay open or if they would shut down again, especially with the season starting out in a drought….so better be safe than sorry.  So we will see what happens…until next time…..

CHILLIN OVER THE 4TH

Last year at this time many State Parks and National Forest campgrounds in the mountainous areas of New Mexico shut down for a period of time due to extreme drought and fire risk. 

They decided to shut these parks down within days of the 4th of July; leaving many folks scrambling to find a place to camp during this summertime holiday.  We were told by an elderly couple that we met that they were camped at Eagle’s Nest State Park when Cimarron Canyon was shut down.  Rangers came by and asked campers if they could double up on sites-they would appreciate it greatly.  Well this elderly couple was approached by a younger couple and upon introducing each other and thinking this would be a good thing-they allowed this couple to double up with them.  The younger couple went and got their unit from Cimarron Canyon-along with 5 of their children!!!  Can you imagine the look on the elderly couples face-specially when they have not been around children?

Well anyways, rumor has been flying around now for weeks both by campers, volunteers and even park rangers that once again with the drought in place they may shut down these same parks down once again this year.

So not knowing if we would have a camping spot in the mountain areas of Northern New Mexico over the 4th of July, we decide to just chill out this summertime holiday.  We knew by researching that we would be “safe” at Storrie Lake State Park just outside of Las Vegas, NM. 

We arrived here at Storrie Lake, leaving Santa Barbara Campground in the Carson National Forest and the mountains the last week of June.  We hated to go for the weather was perfect with plenty of hiking and lots of area to explore.

We felt like since arriving here we went from beautiful trees to blah dead prairie grass.  Before arriving, Brian called the park ranger to make sure that they would not shut down at anytime.  His response was-they have never shut down-ever….we now see why…

     The dead grass and what our site looks like…we sure need the rain!

We had plan on making the best of it here-even with the heat.  We thought, lake-swimming.  After getting here we didn’t know if we should laugh or what, because the “lake” is smaller than most ponds we have seen!  Between the muck and all the goose poop, it was not wise to get in this icky water!

  This is what’s left of the lake and where the green grass is-should be more of the lake.  We are told  that the lake is down to 20% or less…..

We got here on a Sunday, as we were driving along on Hwy 518 from Eagle’s Nest, we came across flashing red lights.  Upon slowing down we soon discovered we would be traveling the last 5 miles with those involved in a triathlon!  For most some bikers were courteous and traveled along the recently cleaned shoulder, while others would not share the roadway with us travelers.  Therefore we had to be extra cautious of oncoming traffic, those jerks that were impatient and wanted to pass both us AND the bikers-in a no pass zone, mind you. 

We were so thankful when we finally arrived here at the park-not realizing that the start AND the finish line was here in the park!  What a mess we had gotten into!!!  There was not a campsite available and was told to just park anywhere until something opened.  We were not even allowed to walk or drive around until the event was about over.

After all was said and done, we manage to find a nice primitive site.  What we didn’t realize was how hot it really was down in this lower elevation.  The temps were reaching into the 90’s.  Just thankful the humidity levels were very, very low; this made it more tolerable.

Our first night was disrupted with a loud party down along the water; where they allow anyone to park and camp.  Apparently the so call party was shut down sometime after 2am.

The next day while walking Leah, we had an altercation with these same people about their dog being off leash and coming after us.  Long story short-I got threaten to be “popped” by a gun; therefore involving park rangers and state trooper.  No one was hurt-the guy was fined for having a gun on state property and escorted out of the park.

Then the winds kicked up something fierce-blowing lots of dust and dirt our way.  We had one gust so strong that poor Leah actually jumped the wall and onto the other side!  poor girl!

our primitive spot-and where Leah jumped over the wall

Our second night there, we had to put up with the camp host dog barking nonstop and no one doing anything about it.  We decided that we have parked in a very noisy area!  At the other end of the park there is a small circle with  only 4 spots and one being another camp host, it would be probably much quieter.  Only thing is the sites are electric.  So for $4.00 a day-yeah it would be worth our sanity to have.

There is a small community just behind the hill from us.  They seem to allow their dogs to bark through the night-but it’s tolerable; until the Coyotes join in.  We seem to have a pretty good size pack of coyotes that is residing not too far away from us.  We laugh for the young pups we hear them trying their best to sound like their momma in howling and they just can’t get the pitch just yet.

Monsoon season has come early this year-so that’s good news.  The much needed rain is falling in the mountains.  We hope it’s enough to keep the parks open.  We know they probably won’t lift campfires and we are completely fine with that-so long as they don’t shut down the parks. 

The night skies-as it tries to rain here…

With Wal-Mart and the town just a few miles down the road-we have made a few more trips in.  We were also told about some hot springs that once belonged to a resort.  The resort is no longer there, but the hot springs are.  They are now owned by the college.  Well we thought that we would go a few times and do some soaking.  After getting there, we were turned off by all the algae floating around as well as the smell.

  

It’s been nice to just chill out in AC and watch a little TV, but both of us are ready to head back to the mountain for some peace and tranquility.  We should know soon if they will keep these parks and trails open. 

Upon talking with rangers from both Hyde Memorial and the National park their theory was if enough rain has fallen they will keep the parks in the mountains open-unless a fire broke out. If not-more than likely they will close them come the 10th of July.

The moisture is out there-but it’s still not enough.  The good news is the fires are way down compared to last year.  In New Mexico so far there has only  been 3  fires-one is 100% contained and the other two are close to being contained-after causing devastating destruction to the areas.  The big concern now is the flash flooding in these scar burned areas.