Camping in the Carson N.F.

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.

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. 

Middle Fork of the Santa Barbara River

We were glad we didn't have to cross as the late snows had the rivers ripping.

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. 

Hiking the Columbine-Twining National Recreation Trail

in the Columbine-Hondo Wilderness near Red River

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…

Columbine River running full

The fourth bridge on the trail had washed out earlier this year

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.

David looking up a bird in the guide while I'm trying to find it.

"It's in the pine tree," says David.

Tomorrow we are moving on to our last stop in the Carson N.F. – Hopewell Lake.  It is a few thousand feet higher and may be down in the 30’s at night.  Time to get out the down blanket.  In the meantime, here are a few statistics from David just because he can’t resist…

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 

Staying Alive: A Cousins' Reunion

Glass art by Dale Chihuly at the Spencer Theater near Ruidoso

While in Santa Fe, I abandoned David for a day and took a quick trip back to Ruidoso to spend a fun weekend with my cousins.  Sisters, Diana, Jeanie and Carolann are really my third cousins but since our moms are very close first cousins, we saw each other often growing up.  I was the only granddaughter on my mom’s side of the family and so I always thought of the sisters as my first cousins.  Carolann and I have reconnected over the past several years, but I hadn’t seen Diana and Jeanie since my wedding -- almost 40 years ago!  A reunion was long overdue…

Jeanie, Carolann and their mom, Una Vee all live in New Mexico but Diana has been living in California for many years.  Una Vee planned this fun weekend with her girls in Ruidoso and when I heard about it and knew I was going to be so close, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see them all together after so many years.  They graciously allowed me to crash their girl’s weekend.

Me, and cousins Jeanie, Diana, Una Vee and Carolann

We all had tickets to the Spencer Theater, located just outside Ruidoso, to see a Bee Gees tribute band.  The Spencer is a lovely, modern building that somewhat reflects the shape of the mountains that surround it.  Inside there are many windows to capture the mountain views and several pieces of glass art by Dale Chihuly add splashes of color to the walls and main spaces.  The theater itself is intimate, not really any bad seats in the house and nice acoustics – a very fine venue.

A green chili lasagna dinner was served before the concert and we had time to visit and tour the Spencer and enjoy the art.  It was so fun catching up on everyone’s lives.  Diana is a grandmother four times now and Jeanie will be blessed with her first grandchild in September.  After dinner and all that talking, we were full and happy and ready to boogie…

The band did not let us down.  They did the Bee Gees very well and had us dancing in the aisles.  We had great seats on the first, second and third rows near the aisle, so that facilitated our dancing.  The whole crowd was our age or even older so everyone was having a blast.  No photos were allowed inside the theater or you would see us all dancing.

There was talk of going out to the Casino or doing some more partying after the concert, but I think the dancing wore us out and we were all in bed by midnight.  I don't want to admit it, but maybe our Disco years are over and maybe that is not all together a bad thing. The next morning, we met at The Cornerstone Bakery for a great breakfast before everyone had to head back.  Maybe we won’t do this every year, but I know for sure it won’t be 40 years before it happens again.  After all, we won’t be able to dance if we wait that long…

A few more photos from Meow Wolf

The Magical Mastodon Cave

David plays the Goldberg Variations on the mastodon's rib cage

Eternal Returns...

Magic Bus -- Santa Fe skies reflection
There are some very fancy 'rigs' at our RV park.

Santa Fe is one of those special cities that defies definitions -- amazing scenery with some of the most spectacular skies you will ever see, funky neighborhoods, old and new architecture, history, indigenous cultures, art, opera, rich, poor, straight, gay and everything in between.  I don’t know how many times I have visited or how many more times I will return but it is for sure that Santa Fe will always have new experiences and new surprises to be discovered.

A new surprise for us on this trip to Santa Fe was our visit to Meow Wolf.  We had heard of this art collective of about 135 artists who combine several art disciplines including painting and sculpture, video production, audio engineering, architecture and writing to create fully interactive art experiences.  And yes, this group of artists call themselves, Meow Wolf. When we were here last year a couple we met in our RV park told us we just had to go to Meow Wolf’s new exhibit space in a recently purchased bowling alley but we didn’t make the time.  I was determined we would go this year and so we did.

David sits in the parking lot at Meow Wolf

What a fun, fun thing to experience!  The bowling alley is painted white and the old neon bowling pin sign is still out front.  Except for the giant statues of a red robot, a wolf and a scary black spider plus a few food trucks, you would think you were going bowling.  But once you purchase your tickets and enter the double doors into the bowling alley, all semblance of reality shifts.  An old Victorian house looms ahead of you in the dark and beckons you to walk onto the porch and enter the front door.  There, an interdimensional mystery begins to unfold that will engage all your senses and suck you in for hours.

A very young explorer of the exhibit

It is difficult to describe the experience of this exhibit, you really must just go.  The exhibit is entitled, “The House of Eternal Returns” and the main mystery revolves around the Selig family that has curiously disappeared after a break in the space-time continuum.  Clues are all over the house, notes from the children, books, old photographs and grandfather’s journal of his ‘experiments’ in interdimensional travel.  Strange people in white coats are roaming the house.  But where did the family go?

Navigating the Aquarium

 A weird glow in the fireplace, a cracked door under the staircase, the closet in grandfather’s room and other passageways in the house invite entrance and then lead to a magical cave system, a haunted forest and portals to other worlds.  Sort of a combination of Disneyland (only you can really get off the boat in the Pirates of the Caribbean Exhibit and go through the ship on your own and there is no map to the gold) and the Harry Potter novels (only the chapters are in no particular order and anything can happen at any time), The House of Eternal Returns goes on and on, as long as you do…    

Coffee?

Or a little TV?

An interesting note about Meow Wolf is that George R.R. Martin, author of “The Game of Thrones” series, was involved in the acquisition of the bowling alley enabling Meow Wolf’s first permanent exhibit.  Martin said the concept for the exhibit “pushed all his buttons.”  He had to help.  Although permanent, The House of Eternal Returns will continually be added to and reworked.  All I can say is no matter your age, if you like art, fantasy and/or the surreal you really should experience this! 

Will we ever find the way out or are we doomed to eternal return?

Once again, "On the Road with Maya"

"When almost 90 you are, look as good you will not."

Quote attributed to Yoda, but modified somewhat.

What a long, long time it’s been since last summer!  My last blog entry was “Leaving Colorado,” posted last September and at that time I thought there would be a few more entries on our way back to Nacogdoches.  Although we planned a couple more stops before returning to Texas, my dad had another fall landing him back in the hospital and we hurried home.  Then it was time for school to start and it seemed like so many things happened last fall and spring that I never got back to the blog.  School kept us busy, my dad had more health issues so there were trips to Odessa. Then Maya started having some health problems too.

However, I am very happy to say that there will be at least one more summer, “On the Road with Maya.”  Maya is 13 ½ now and she is showing signs of her age.  It started last summer with a hurt foot on the trail and the beginnings of arthritis, but she bounced back quickly, still out hiking both David and me.  In the fall, Maya continued to slow down as arthritis started taking its toll.  At Christmas, she had some kidney issues but recovered nicely.  Her overall health is good now, she just doesn’t walk nearly as far or fast.  Depending on how you do the math she is somewhere between 75 and 91 in people years.  So of course, she isn’t as fast!  I only hope I will do as well as I age. 

We arrived in Santa Fe yesterday after spending two weeks with my mom and dad.  Fortunately, they were both in good enough health to make a trip to Ruidoso. My parents so loved being at their cabin.  It had been a long while since they had been well enough to go.  Dad joked that he and Maya were too old to climb the stairs anymore.  He got a kick out of Maya taking the same medication for pain and arthritis as he did.

As you might have guessed, we will be going west again this year and most likely not too far from Texas as we might have to make a fast trip to Odessa for my parents.  But towards the end of summer we will trek up to Wyoming or maybe Idaho to view the total eclipse of the sun on August 21 (weather permitting and assuming good health for all, Maya included).  This summer will be our 40^th wedding anniversary and a total eclipse seems like a good way to celebrate.  Although spending the summer in cool mountains is a fine enough celebration for us.

We will let Maya set her own pace this summer and all of us will slow down and smell the roses (although I must say, roses are not usually what Maya wants to smell).  For David and me, it will be a great opportunity to do more naturalist explorations.  David took a dendrology course (study of woody plants) at SFA last fall and we both took ornithology (study of birds) this spring.  We are planning on visiting places we have never been and taking shorter hikes -- our packs loaded with plant, tree and bird guides, binoculars and picnic lunches.  Maya will dictate how far we go.  I’ll even have more time to take pictures.  We won’t bother to keep hiking statistics as they will be pathetic compared to previous years, but who cares?  We will have one more summer, “On the Road with Maya…”

Here's wishing you all one more great summer!

Leaving Colorado...

The Continental Divide Trail heading north from Wolf Creek Pass

This hike took the prize for 'Trail with the Most Wildflowers."

Our last few days in Colorado were spent in the Pagosa Springs area exploring trails and sites that we didn’t have time to see during our June visit.  Besides the Chacoan ruins at Chimney Rock, we hiked another section of the Continental Divide Trail near Wolf Creek Pass and also visited a new wilderness, the South San Juan Wilderness.  

View of spruce bark beetle damage from CDT north of Wolf Creek Pass

Dead spruce trees stretched for hundreds of thousands of acres.

Trail head warning signs

Signs were posted at many trails in southern Colorado warning of

the dangers posed by the dead spruce forests.

It has been so much fun this summer to slow down our travels and really explore south-western Colorado more thoroughly.  This area is blessed with mountains, monuments, parks, history, great summer weather and wildflowers. 

Aspen and fern on the Opal Lake Trail in the South San Juan Wilderness

Here are a few more photographs of Colorado, wildflowers still blooming…

Wildflowers along the CDT near Wolf Creek Pass

Resting after lunch near Wolf Creek Pass

Subalpine Larkspur

And more Columbines...

Mountains near Telluride

Clearing dead spruce near Slumgullion Pass to make firebreaks

Brook cress loves water

A whole field of brook cress!

David’s Stats:

Days Hiked   3       
Total Miles Hiked  11.46  
Ave. Miles per Day      3.82
Total Elevation Gain   2,100 
Ave. Elevation Gain per day  700

 

Another Interlude and A Visit to Chimney Rock

The 'chimneys' at Chimney Rock National Monument

Although some may have concluded from the long delay between blogs that Silver’s brakes gave out and we plunged down the side of a mountain on our way to Pagosa Springs, I am happy to report that is not the case!  We are safe and sound with new brake pads installed and are now in Nacogdoches attending our first week of classes. 

What a crazy month it has been!  Many things have occurred to keep me from posting blogs, some my own fault and some that couldn’t be helped.  We have done so many things the past month and there is much to catch up on, so I will make several blog posts over the next few weeks to get it all up to date.

Maya and her buddy Rocky, hanging out by the San Juan River

After our stay at Silver Thread Campground near Creede, Colorado we made our way to Pagosa Springs.  The brake light stayed on as we maneuvered the mountain passes on the way.  Wolf Creek Pass in particular was a bit scary as it is descends steeply.  We did see where a truck had not made it to the ‘Runaway Truck’ Ramp and had indeed plunged down the mountain.  We were quite happy to make it safely to Pagosa Springs.

Collared Lizard at Chimney Rock

We stayed several days in Pagosa and met friends Dustin, Melissa and their Australian Shepard, Rocky for a day before they headed back to the Austin area.  We had a cookout at our campground along the San Juan River topped off with ice cream and homemade cookies.  The dogs got reacquainted and we all had a great evening. It was over way too soon and we were sad to see them go the next day.  (I think they were a bit sad to be leaving the cool mountains for hot Texas…)

Melissa and Dustin

Going back to Texas...

During our stay in the Pagosa Springs area we visited Chimney Rock National Monument, located about 20 miles to the west.  One of the newest of our National Monuments administered by the National Forest Service, Chimney Rock was proclaimed a National Monument in September 2012 for its unique archaeological structures, pottery and artifacts.  Naturally formed twin pinnacles that resemble chimneys stand above the sight that was home to the Ancestral Puebloans of over 1000 years ago.

Ruins of some of the living quarters of the settlement

Settled by native peoples of the Chacoan culture, mysteries and legends about Chimney Rock abound.  As the highest in elevation and most remote community tied to Chaco Canyon in northern New Mexico, Chimney Rock evokes many questions.  Why did the Chacoan people, primarily an agricultural culture, come to this remote and harsh place where growing crops was very difficult? What, if any, significance, did the landmarks of the ‘chimney’ formations have for the Chacoans?   Why did they come and why did they leave?

We had an excellent guide that was an archaeology student in Durango.

This structure is believed to be the astronomy room.

David and I have always wanted to visit Chaco Canyon and have yet to do it, so we were thrilled to see this site with its hundreds of structures including a Chacoan Great House Pueblo, Great Kiva and the everyday multi-family dwellings of the common people.  Many structures on the site have been excavated and stabilized for viewing.  The site is restricted to tours only so it is well preserved with little damage. 
 

Ruins of a kiva with San Juan Mountains in the distance

Guided Interpretive tours are led by volunteers who walk visitors through the grounds to see the structures (the monument is not well-funded yet, so volunteers provide most of the services – Yay, volunteers!).  We had an excellent tour guide and spent about 2 hours walking the site. 

Like Chaco Canyon, it is believed that many of the structures at Chimney Rock are tied to astronomical events, especially those having to do with moon cycles.  So many questions may never be answered but archaeologists are now seeking help from today’s Puebloan cultures of the four corners area.  Many of today’s Puebloan peoples are believed to be descended from the Chacoans and have similar rituals and ceremonies that may shed light on some of Chimney Rock's mysteries.

Standing on the walls of the Great Kiva, believed to be where some 

of the special ceremonies relating to the moon cycles were held.

Maya spent time her time at the monument in a kennel in the shade of a large pinyon pine tree while we explored the ruins.  Chimney Rock is very friendly to traveling pets, providing shady outdoor enclosures free of charge for visitors to the monument.  Maya was a very good girl (except for a little digging in the dirt) and the volunteers enjoyed hanging out with her until we returned.

Young Native American on our guided tour making a 'selfie'

The day was sunny and quickly becoming hot so we returned by noon to our campsite outside of Pagosa Springs for lunch and a nap.  We had to rest up for our big hike on the Continental Divide Trail the next day.

The stone work had recently been restored on the astronomy room.

The Chaco Indians were excellent masons.

David’s Stats:

Days Hiked   1     
Total Miles Hiked    1.50     
Total Elevation Gain  350