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| Meadow in bloom, Pecos Wilderness |
Before we left Santa Fe, we visited another new place for
us – the Old Santa Fe Trail Building.
Completed in 1939 and built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the
building was originally intended to serve as the National Park Service’s new
Region III Southwest Headquarters to manage the expanding number of
southwestern national park areas.
NPS regional architect, Cecil Doty, blended 1930’s “NPS
rustic” style with the Spanish-Pueblo Revival architecture that originated in
Santa Fe around 1910. The result was a
masterpiece of adobe and timber architecture, perhaps the largest adobe office
building in the United States.
The NPS Regional Headquarters eventually moved to Denver
but the Old Santa Fe Trail Building remains home to various NPS departments and
divisions. Besides the adobe
architecture and lovely grounds, David and I enjoyed seeing some of the
original art purchased to decorate the building. Fine examples of Navajo rugs, Pueblo Indian
pottery, oil paintings, drawings and other local native art are showcased
throughout the building. As many times
as we have been to Santa Fe, we wondered why we had overlooked this treasure.
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| Birding with Maya |
As much fun as we were having exploring new places in Santa
Fe, we were seriously craving some forest time.
So, an excursion into the nearby Carson National Forest was next on the
agenda. Because moving slower is our
mantra this summer, we ventured about 40 miles (as the crow flies) into the
northern part of the Pecos Wilderness.
One of our favorite places, Santa Barbara Campground, was almost 2,000
feet higher in elevation than Santa Fe making all of us thankful for some easy
days of strolling and birding in the area.
Maya went with us for short walks everyday but we did leave her in the
RV in the cool mornings while we did a bit of faster hiking into the Pecos
Wilderness.
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Middle Fork of the Santa Barbara River
We were glad we didn't have to cross as the late snows had the rivers ripping.
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In years past, Maya would have hated being left behind and
protested loudly (annoying the whole campground – if we would have let her) but
this year she seems content to have a morning snooze while we hike and then
eagerly await our return for lunch and afternoon and/or evening birding
walks.
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Hiking the Columbine-Twining National Recreation Trail
in the Columbine-Hondo Wilderness near Red River
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We passed several days this way before moving on to another
of our favorite campgrounds near Red River, Columbine. Again, the same routine ensued as it seemed
to be working well for us all. We did
make a few trips into Red River and Questa for dinner and a lunch and one ice
cream “run” on our hottest day of 82 degrees.
Such is the life…
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Columbine River running full
The fourth bridge on the trail had washed out earlier this year
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We are all enjoying our birding and Maya really likes the
pace – slow with lots of stops while we look through binoculars and our bird
guide. Here are some new (to us) and/or
just pretty darn cool birds that we’ve seen so far: Blue Grosbeak, Evening Grosbeak, Black-headed
Grosbeak, Western Tanager, Mac Gillivray’s Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Say’s
Phoebe, Violet-green swallow, Western Bluebird, Mountain Bluebird, Black-billed
Magpie, Pine Siskind, Northern Flicker and Acorn Woodpecker.
We’ve heard a lot of birds that we didn’t see and wished
our phones had service so we could use one of our bird apps to help with the
ID. But all in all, we are a lot better
birders since our ornithology class this past spring.
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David looking up a bird in the guide while I'm trying to find it.
"It's in the pine tree," says David.
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David’s Stats:
Days
Hiked 4
Total Miles Hiked 17.57
Ave. Miles per Day 4.39
Total Elevation Gain 2,972
Ave. Elevation Gain per day 743
Birding Walks 5
The Columbine Trail is my favorite place to hike when in Red River, too. 50+ years of precious memories are scattered through there. Enjoyed your pictures tremendously. So glad Maya is adapting well to the slower pace!
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