The Long Goodbye

New Mexico:  Not really new and not really Mexico.

Long before we launched, we anticipated spending a large chunk of time in New Mexico, and thought it was high on our list for permanent residency when we decide to come off the road. One year later, both those things are still true. We spent almost half of our first year on the road in New Mexico, but our upcoming travel plans won’t see us back in the Land of Enchantment for well over a year. One of the reasons New Mexico is so appealing as full-time travelers is the cost of staying in its state parks. With the state’s yearly pass, reservation fees, and the nightly cost, we averaged about $8/night. We have nothing to complain about there!

After leaving the Gila, we had three more stops in the state before we said goodbye-for-now.

Caballo Lake State Park

We took our chances and didn’t make reservations. We had no trouble finding a spot, and the alert camp host directed us to a 50-amp site. That was hugely important since we were back down in elevation, and the temps were flirting with 100°.

 We hid inside with the air conditioning cranked for most of the rest of the day, making phone calls now that we were back in the land of service and only venturing out in the evening for a walk around the park. I espied a critter from afar in the vegetation near the river and went to investigate.

Yikes! The business end of a hog-nosed skunk!

The park is divided into two sections, the one in which we stayed was the prettier and more spacious of the two as far as the sites were concerned, but it required a short drive to access Caballo (cuh-BYE-oh) Lake which we did on our last day.

 

While I got in a paddle

TBG stayed cool(ish) in the shade.

These juvenile Yellow-headed Blackbirds kept him company.

Her name is Rio, and she dances on the sand.

Goodnight, Caballo!

Albuquerque

Our primary objective in visiting Duke City (again) was shopping. We stayed at a commercial park on the edge of town in order to make stops at REI, Cabela’s, and Camping World which was literally next door to our campground. While the RV park wasn’t at all scenic (or quiet due to highway noise) we did take advantage of the (unheated) pool and the hot tub each of the three days we stayed.

Other than a little daily swimming, we didn’t get in much activity save for a trip to Petroglyph National Monument. 

TBG shows off his new woolly REI shirt.

Side-blotched lizard shows off its water-drinking skillz.

 

I show off my new boots and woolly socks.

My favorite petroglyph. Look at the snake’s tail — it’s a Diamondback Rattlesnack!

Right this way, ma’am.

We had lunch at the Standard Diner, a place we’d seen featured on an old episode of Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives, as a belated birthday treat for me. I had the “famous” meatloaf, which was pretty good. Because of my general aversion to non-professional pictures of food, you’ll have to use your imagination. Hint: It looked a lot like non-famous meatloaf.

Only one other incident of note occurred at this stop. One night, we were both having trouble sleeping and were snuggling in the living room hoping to get back to sleep. Suddenly, the generator started itself! Our first thoughts were that we had, indeed, sustained mouse damage in the Gila (there had been evidence of them nesting in both engines while we were there.) TBG shut it off, and the next day’s investigation revealed nothing obviously amiss. Internet diagnosis gave two possible causes. One was that condensation from the air conditioner had collected, completing a circuit and starting the gennie. With the a/c having been consistently used, that seemed quite possible. The other was that a cat had climbed up in the generator compartment and accidentally hit the switch. That seemed a bit silly unless you understand that there were several park cats about, especially since our neighbor, a permanent resident, kept the local pigeons well-fed. Whichever it was, neither was a critical circumstance, thank goodness.

Bluewater Lake State Park

I don’t think we’d even gotten completely settled in our site here before we were discussing extending our time at this park. We ended up staying a total of seven days instead of the originally planned three.

Lucky #13.

Again we rolled in reservation-less, but had no trouble finding a site in the electric loop.

Bluewater Lake

This park sits at 7500′, and we were luxuriating in the cooler temps.

The park’s wild horses thought it was pretty great, too.

Our first outing was into Gallup for a hike at Red Rock Park.

 

 We hadn’t really known what to expect, and we were blown away by the varied rock formations.

 

Church Rock in the distance.

There were rocks of every color.

 

And every shape.

We even saw a shepherdess with her goat herd and watchful pups.

I found the lightning rod!

It was a 750′ climb in a 3.4 mile roundtrip trek. We hustled down, sand blowing in our eyes, to beat the gathering storm.

Our next outing was within the park, which offered a few short trails that are all connected.

We started at the Canyonside Trailhead.

Which should have been called the Canyonbottom Trail since it dropped quickly into the canyon and followed the water, sometimes through tall grass that made me wish I’d brought my snake-smackin’ stick.

It also crossed the water a few times.

It was lush and green and really very pretty, but also soggy and a bit overgrown in spots.

We didn’t go all the way to the end of the Dam Trail.

But the left edge of this photo, taken from the Dam Overlook Trail, is about where we turned around.

Sometimes hikes don’t work out for various reasons, and the one we attempted the following day got scrubbed partway through because I got zapped by a little altitude sickness. The trail started at 9000′ and topped out at 11,000′. About a mile in, as we climbed gradually but steadily, my heart was pounding out of my chest, and I felt a little nauseated. We rested and hydrated, but with no noticeable decrease in my heartrate whatsoever, we decided to turn around. It is highly doubtful that I was in any danger at that low end of the high-altitude scale, but who wants to hike feeling like crap? Not me, but I still felt terrible that I was the reason our hike was ruined, which is stupid if you know anything about altitude sickness (i.e. it’s not a measure of physical or mental fortitude.)

TBG before his wife messed up his happy.

Not to be deterred, we ventured forth the very next day for a hike at the stunning El Malpais (ma-pa-EECE) National Monument along the Narrows Rim Trail.

TBG took too long to pose for his trailhead shot.

 If you think you’re tired of hearing me complain about mileage discrepancies, imagine how tired we are of encountering them. The little map shows this trail to be 4.5 miles one-way, GPS clocks it around 3.8 miles one-way, and the guy at the ranger station said the old maps used to indicate it was 3.9 miles one-way. Our very experienced feet told us that 3.85 was a pretty accurate reading, and we shall credit ourselves with 7.7 miles.

 This trail stayed up on a mesa and mostly paralleled the road about 500′ below.

 The temps hovered around 80° with light cloud cover and the ever-present New Mexico breeze, and there were no other hikers on the trail. Perfection!

Hey, what am I? Chopped lizard?

We encountered this little scooter near the end of the trail. Prickle Frogs are ant-eaters, but for all of them we’ve seen and the hundreds of anthills we’ve passed on our hikes, this was the first time we spotted one actually at an ant hill.

Speaking of the end of the trail, though…

La Ventana Natural Arch

We were lucky the sun broke through the clouds while we lunched, providing proper light to see through the arch.
 

Deceptive perspective, we’re livin’ on the edge.

 Are you sick of my prickle frog photos?

Too bad for you!

It was a wonderful hike and a fine way to mentally recover from the previous day’s disappointment.

A soggy change in the weather accounted for our seventh day to stay put rather than travel in the rain.

COMMENTS

Shannon We’ll be in New Mexico through the middle of November, and I couldn’t agree with you more about the affordability of the state parks! We’ve also been surprised about how easy it is to get spots. When making reservations 4 months in advance we often saw that nearly every spot in the park was available, leading us to momentarily panic about whether we were going to be visiting at a horrible time of year. But the parks we’ve stayed at have been well used during our stays (and the weather has been quite good) so we’ve concluded that NM is just a more casual place where people don’t get too anxious about advance planning. That’s certainly a welcome change from the always-booked-out-in-advance Colorado camping spots.

Chasing Dirt There really is no beating the great deal of the New Mexico parks, even like you said in your blog when you don’t have the pass. As well as the low rate when you do have it, though, is that it allows you to boondock for free at any of them if there are no developed sites available when you arrive. For self-contained travelers like us, that’s just a no-brainer. Most people aren’t staying more than a few nights and can be waited out if need be. Sounds like you have a great few months ahead!

chapter3travels We would love to take advantage of the NM state park annual pass. It really is such a great deal – and the parks are beautiful and have so much to offer, as your posts and pictures have shown.

Red Rock Park – Wow!!! What impressive and colorful scenery! Though, I have to say I was a bit partial to that Canyonside Trail. All that green! Just beautiful.

Sorry about the altitude sickness but it was definitely the right decision to call it a day. Sometimes it’s just not happening. No reason to make yourself sick. Or get struck by lightning. Look at you guys with all the good decision making!!!

Stay safe out there and happy trails!!! 

TBG We had no idea that this greater Gallup/Grants area had so much hiking to offer. Even Thor friendly stuff.

Chasing Dirt OK, but this will have to be our secret from here on out. Don’t tell anyone else about the great deal that is New Mexico state parks, ok? I know when you guys get the chance, you three will have fun at them, too.

Red Rock Park was such a great surprise! There area few other hikes in that park — it’s a big fair/rodeo grounds with RV sites, even, nestled up against those rocks. So cool! I hear you about the Canyonside Trail. It was hard to fully appreciate how beautifully lush it was while we were knee-deep in snakey territory, but we tried to pause when the trail opened up to look around and breathe it in. The daytime temps at that elevation were just golden.

We are unwitting daring-dos, charging up high-elevation trails and swinging on lightning rods! Ah, well, it’s educational for the readers, right? 😉

heyduke50 Next time in ABQ check out Coronado Campground in Bernalillo… better than the commercial parks…

Chasing Dirt Hi there! We actually did stay a few nights at that campground on our first pass through ABQ in the spring. We were glad to have a pool this time, though, with the heat, but I would definitely recommend Coronado 🙂

Laurel We love New Mexico, too, although we’ve spent a good deal of our time around Santa Fe, Taos, Silver City, and exploring thereabouts. You know us, we like those little towns and art and cool restaurants along with our hiking, LOL!! But we’ve always wanted to spend a big chunk of time exploring more of the state parks. Your photos are so colorful and beautiful and remind me of why we love that state so much.

Bluewater State Park looks great—and that hike you did at Red Rock is fabulous! About that hike where you turned around? Starting a hike at 9,000 ft with 2,000 ft of elevation gain is a LOT. I’m glad you didn’t push yourself.

I always enjoy seeing your little prickle-frog trip mascots. And you saw a hog-nosed skunk!! I’m jealous!! BTW, I need new hiking boots. Do you like your Oboz? My feet are kind of square (I always say the shoebox fits me better than most shoes). I’m thinking I’ll try some the next time we pass by an REI. 🙂

Chasing Dirt Yes, I know you, and I rely on your wonderful blog posts about the different things you do that we don’t as much. That way I get to see those things in beautiful pictures and lovely narrative without actually doing them 😀

Bluewater was really great for our time there, and with it situated almost dead-center to Gallup and Grants, it was a good launch point for exploring both of those areas. I have a date with a high-altitude destiny to return for, too! These is a seemingly endless list of new places to explore, thankfully.

I’m glad you’re not sick of the prickly frogs. I even saw one at Petrified Forest! A hog-nosed skunk — I know!! I had no idea they were a bit on the rare side (is that even possible? ha!) and we didn’t see any others while there, although we saw their striped cousins nightly.

I like my new Oboz very much. They’ve needed no breaking in period at all — lace and go! One of the reasons I chose them was that they offer them in wide and they are a top recommendation for sufferers of plantar fasciitis (occasional in my right foot.) Almost invariably, even with a good shoe, it flares when I get a new shoe, but it has stayed at bay with these boots. Wahoo!

Laurel So good to know about the Oboz! My beloved Keens are being discontinued and I’ve been freaking out because buying new hiking boots is SO traumatic for me. I can’t tell you how many boots I’ve bought thinking “Oh, these are great!” And then one mile into a hike I hate them. (Which is why I will only buy hiking boots from REI now because at least I can return them if they don’t work in real life.)

Lowe's Travels Skunk! I would like to see one, someday but not when it is nasty. How lucky you are!
All these state parks are new to me and you have given us ideas for next years gallivanting especially at Red Rock Park. I’m intrigued with the Ventana Arch and would like to hike there.
Steve loves his Oboz too, maybe I’ll get one myself soon so I can join in the Oboz fan club 🙂
NM was also on the list of possible stick and brick house, but we scratched it from the list when the winds at springtime is a bit too much.

Chasing Dirt I wish I had gotten a better picture of the skunk, but you can only get so close, ha! Red Rock Park was really neat and looks like it would be a decent place to stay, too. You should give some Oboz a try! I think I have now had a pair of every manufacturers boot. I hear you about the NM wind — we do not care for it, either!