ADVENTURE NEARING AN END…..

As we traveled a mile and a half each morning to the top of the “hill” to check emails, I finally received the email that I have been waiting for for several weeks.  Amazon.com in Fernley NV has decided to take on us seasonal camperforce a ahead of normal schedule. 

We all were given start dates for both September and October.  The first being on the 2nd of Sept.  We had to email back two choices for start dates.  I chose the 2nd or the 9th of Sept-in hopes for the 2nd.  As it turned out, I got the 16th of Sept.  That’s okay now it allows us to complete our Adventure here in New Mexico-finishing with Bluewater State Park.

So now we sit back and go “wow, already”?  Where has our summer gone?  Yes, I could choose a later start date, but knowing that we will be traveling California next summer and knowing that the prices are higher there-the more money-the better for us to travel.

This will be my second year working seasonal for Amazon.com, my first with the Fernley fulfillment center.  Last year was at Coffeyville, KS.  It seemed to have rain, and the campsites at the park we were at was always flooded out.  Never seen much of the sun come the month of Dec.  It made a “depressing” area for my husband, Brian and our little Min Pin, Leah while I worked.

We know this year in Fernley, the nights can get mighty cold, and the wind may blow fierce at times.  But, the days will be warm or at least tolerable and we should see more of the sun.  That will help Brian and Leah while I’m at busy working away. 

As I write this I have to tell a quick little story told to us by a friend:  This friend had another friend that worked Amazon.com in Fernley NV last season, and she told her about how her sheets froze together!  Gee, I wonder if they ever ran heat????  Brian and I laugh at this little bit every time we think of the cold in Fernley.

Fernley has more to offer, with Reno being a very short distant away and shopping will be made easier.  By the sounds of the campground it will be paradise compared to what we had last year. 

Being at Fernley fulfillment center also keeps us centrally located here in the Western part of the U.S. as we travel each summer and explore new states out West.

So, as our adventure for this summer nears to an end-another new one will soon begin….

DAYS GONE BY….

Wow!  Here it is the middle of August and I can’t help but wonder where the days have gone?  As I received news about when I will start working at the Fernley fulfillment center for Amazon.com, we make our final plans as we head in that direction.

Where has this summer gone and what all did we get to see and do?

Well, when we started our adventure back in early April, we first landed at Navajo Dam State Park near Farmington, NM.  It was cold and we even saw a bit of snow.  We got to visit the Aztec Ruins.

 Site at Navajo Dam State Park

 Aztec Ruins

We then moved onto what we hoped would be a little warmer temps; El Vado State Park.  The days weren’t bad, but the nights were still quite chilly.  There wasn’t really much for us to do there so we moved onto Heron State Park. 

Site at El Vado State Park

I think at Heron, we both agreed this was probably one of our favorite parks here in New Mexico.  We had an excellent site with privacy, great view of the aqua marine lake and many trails to keep us busy with.  The days were warm and sunny,  our nights were still on the cool side yet.

View of Heron Lake from our site-Spectacular!!!

The foot bridge crossing over the Rio Chama.

One of the things we said is that each summer as we travel a state, we will do something “special”.  Well, this year we choose to do the Cumbre & Toltec train ride out of Chama NM.  It was the best ever and enjoyable.

Riding the Cumbre & Toltec Train

Now it was time really head to the mountains.  Our daytime temps are perfect-yet the nights still stay on the chilly side.  We towards the Taos area.  First destination was at Cimarron Canyon State Park, then onto Eagle’s Nest State Park.

Cimarron Canyon State Park

Eagle’s Nest State Park

Due to the extreme dryness, the burn ban for Northern New Mexico went into effect a lot sooner than many of us thought.  So piles of fire wood, including what we had gathered and cut was all left behind.

As we continue on our travels we venture into Coyote Creek State park.  This will become a very nice park, once they get all the work done.  While there, we had no water resource-for they were putting in a new well, and a recently built new shower building. 

Site at Coyote Creek State Park

The new Ranger Station and Shower Building

I got wind of some spectacular hiking in the Carson National Forest and part of the Pecos Wilderness and was told of a National Forest campground called Santa Barbara-so off we go again to a new place.

This became a favorite of ours.  The trails were awesome and always something new to explore-no matter what direction we headed.  Here we wish we could have stayed much longer.  But with the 4th of July sneaking up on us and rumors flying around that both State Parks and National Parks may shut down for a spell due to the extreme fire dangers in the mountains-we had to get somewhere that we could hold over for a spell.

Santa Barbara Campground in the Carson National Forest-so peaceful and awesome!

  

Each one of these pictures were from a different trailhead that we adventured onto.

We headed towards Storrie Lake near Las Vegas, NM.  We had been told by the park ranger that it would be “safe” during the crazy holiday and they have never shut down due to any fire danger.  When we arrived there-we saw why; There was literally nothing to burn!

Storrie Lake State Park-where’s the lake?

The days were hot, but tolerable and by early evening we could live without the AC running.  However we had to put up with neighboring dogs constantly barking, but enjoyed listening to the coyotes carrying on during the wee hours of the night and morning.

The monsoonal rains came early and was a blessing to all, including us!  So that meant we could continue on our adventure and not worry too much about fire dangers.  So back to the mountains we headed.

Next destination was towards Santa Fe.  We landed at Hyde Memorial State Park up in the mountains.  Hyde is New Mexico’s very first State Park.  The park shows the age-it is old, but unique in it’s own way.

Our spot at Hyde Memorial State Park-we are tucked in, but just behind us was a Day-Use Pavilion.

 

While here, we had a pleasant visit with our daughter as she moved from Grand Junction, CO to San Antonio TX.  The days are still warm and nights are still cool.

Our daughter, Melissa and her dog-Duke

The monsoonal rains have proven to us that when it rains-it pours here in the mountains.  Each day we got hit with a thunderstorm and even a little hail.  We wonder with all the recent rain-will they ever lift the burn ban? 

Monsoonal rains also brings hail with it during one of our afternoon thunderstorms.

Sure enough the day after our daughter’s visit-they lifted the burn ban and we can go back to having campfires.  Our problem is the site we could fit the motorhome in-we literally was inches from the fire ring and could not even think of a campfire while parked here.

I was starting to feel the summertime blues and the last two parks we managed to park very close to a day-use pavilion that always seemed to be rented.  At this point we have decided that we are not very fond of the State Parks and needed some peace and quiet.

We wanted to spend a little time at Bandelier National Monument, so we headed in that direction.  Here we did find our peace and tranquil.  Well, all except for one night when some partiers decided to come in and be rude.  After numerous complaints the next morning to the camp host by us campers-rangers were called in and the rowdy group was asked to pack it up and leave the park.

Campsite at Bandelier National Monument

We were amazed by the Indian Ruins in the mountainside and the trails.  Again the days were warm and now the nights are tolerable to where we could have a window open during the night time.  We even had a pair of bucks that grazed right behind our site.

 Part of the ruins at Bandelier National Monument

A Pair of young bucks grazing very near to our campsite.

As continue on our summertime adventure we now spend two weeks at Jemez Falls Campground in the Santa Fe National Forest.  During the week it was peaceful and not very busy.  But come Thursday and Friday we watched the campers piling in for the weekend.  On Sunday-they would all head back home.  Majority of those that come to camp came from Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Bernalillo to escape the heat and the city life.

Jemez Falls Campground in the Santa Fe National Forest.

We came across this elderly couple that camped next to us and we became fast friends.  Their few days became a week stay.  However-not knowing why or reason-they all of sudden packed up late one afternoon.  Strange…..we hope we didn’t offended them-and we always remembered our deodorant-I think…

Brian and I both have come to the conclusion that we really like the Jemez (pronounce: “Hay-Mez”) Mountains.  There are three hot springs nearby to soak in and the air is so refreshing and very relaxing.  We now know why the “city folks” come here for a little R&R.  Only thing is-we stayed clear of the hot springs during the weekend!

McCauley’s Warm Spring

Spence Hot Springs

While adventuring one day, and nature calling with no nearby bathrooms, one does what one must do-find a tree or in my case-a rock.

Not needing to go into details-I manage to look over the edge and found a white roof camper and another one on the move.  I went back and told Brian what I had discovered.  The question became where did those campers come from and how they got there….

As we get back in the car and head around the bend on Hwy 126 we soon learned of a Forest Road (379) that went 22 miles to the Gilman Tunnels (towards Albuquerque) and reconnected again with Hwy 4.  We adventured a small distant down FR 379, we discovered there was several disperse camping areas that we could actually get our little motorhome into.  So when our time was up at Jemez Falls-we would move into this area.

We literally had 3/4 of a mile all to ourselves for the most part.  Weekends picked up and campers piled in-but many respected each other and gave plenty of space.  We never heard any real noisy generators and only had one group not far from us that party a little-but was respectful.  And they played country music that we liked.

We first thought that we could only stay for two weeks and would have to move on.  But after making a phone call we learned that we could stay up to a month-that was perfect for us!  Both Brian and I and even Leah truly love our little piece of heaven and really don’t want to leave.

Well now hearing that I may go to work sooner than what we expected-it’s now time to think about heading towards Fernley.  So our month long stay in our little part of the world will be cut short.

First stop will be at Albuquerque for some shopping, then onto Bluewater State Park for a short lay over as we slowly make our way to NV. 

Spending the majority of the summer with temps in the low to mid 80’s and nights being anywhere from the mid 40’s to lower 50’s I now have to acclimate my body to warmer temps.  The temps in Fernley are still in the low to mid 90’s; and the fulfillment centers are not AC-so I must prepare myself to these temps once again.

I can’t believe that the days have gone by so fast!  We did many things that most don’t have the time to see or do.

There were many trails and errors over the course of the summertime adventure.  Many we learned from, some we have cried over, but laughed a lot, the most is that we made lots of fond memories to carry with us and we look forward to our next adventures in life.

McCAULEY WARM SPRINGS

While camped at Jemez Falls we took the 2 mile hike to the McCauley Warm Springs.  On our first adventure, we weren’t sure which direction to head, since the map doesn’t tell you where it’s actually at….

We asked a group that appeared that maybe that is where they were heading and they actually headed us in the wrong direction!  Yes, we think it was deliberately…oh well.  Due to recent rains here in the Jemez Mountains the creek we thought we had to cross was overflowing and pure muddy with no safe way of crossing.

So this particular day-no soaking in the warm springs for us…getting back to the campground we asked another couple if they knew where the spring was at and they gave us perfect directions. 

So now I will do my best to give those that wish to find these springs directions so they don’t get confused-like we did.

Many folks that head to McCauley Warm Springs will go from Battleship Rock Monument and hit the trail from that end.  But there are us that go in from Jemez Falls.  The Springs are about a 1/2 way point on the trail if hiking from Jemez Falls to Battleship and visa versa.  One way the hike is about 4-4 1/2 miles.  Which means getting to the springs is a 2 mile hike-one way.

So, if at Jemez Falls, jump on the trail that says to Battleship Rock.  As you go down the hill from Jemez Falls Day-use area you come to a split immediately at the beginning of the trail.  There is a wooden post, one stating Jemez Falls in one direction and McCauley in the other direction.  Follow the trail up the hill.  A short distance you come across an intersection in the trail.  Take a moment and take the trail to the left (Westward).   It only goes a very short distant and take in the view from there.  It was breathtaking!  Here are a few pics of what we saw:

   

Now get back on the trail.  If you didn’t make that left turn, you would go straight ahead and there is a wooden post that states the trail goes straight. 

At this point of the trail it will get very rough and not a trail for those with bad hip, knee or any other serious health issues to be on.  The hike gets very difficult.  The trail is easy to follow, but due again to all the flash flooding recently-the trail has many washed out area and then you have to climb over, up or jump (short distant) off rocks.  Mind you; all the while you are climbing downward.  So what goes down-in this instant-must go back up…that’s the hard part!

You will also have  to either do the limbo, or climb (in my case I’m short-so I had to straddle), several fallen pine trees.  There were points we wonder if we were headed in the right direction.  If you can hear the creek to your left in the distant-then you are on the right track.  You will come across some very red terrain on this trail as well.

        

As you do get closer to the  springs, you will hear more rushing water.  You will come across a small meadow like and will see some paths to your left.  Those paths are just camping spots people have made over the years.  Just veer to your right, and climb a short ways and before you know it-wha la-you are at the springs!

There are three pools, the first one you see is the smaller of the three.  Now these springs are called “warm” springs.  They are not hot in any means.  We guess the temp to be maybe 78-80.

When we got in, we started to get nibbled on by minnows!  It was a very weird feeling to feel these little fishies eating on our flesh.  Some folks think it’s refreshing and enjoy it-for us we didn’t care to much for it. 

Can you see the minnows swimming around?

 

  The lower pool

 

  The Top pool

Anyways, we decided that the pools were not warm enough and didn’t care for the minnows in it.  We will go and check out Spence HOT Springs and see if it’s any better. 

 

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…..