Mesa Verde National Park - Around Camp

We went north from Heron Lake, through Chama New Mexico into Colorado, finally making our way into Mesa Verde National Park. They opened the campground on Friday the 15th and we pulled in on Saturday. They were more than a little disorganized. Computer systems were cumbersome, personnel inexperienced, communications not clear, campground loops only partially open, with most of the plumbing not yet functional. And we're paying full price for WHAT? In spite of all this, or maybe because of it, we found the campground and the park to be surprisingly calm.


Our NPS friends Dave and Coella dropped by our camp one night to visit. We made plans to see them in Cortez when we left the park. They're the last people on our list of folks we really wanted to see this trip, so we're just about done!

This is the second UniMog I've seen this spring. Both were licensed from Europe. Awesome go anywhere do anything campers, but, darn, I just can't image driving down the interstate in one. This one, by the way, is named Steppenwolf.

Many of the Mesa Verde campground restrooms have phone booths outside. These are US West phone booths, and they still have dial tone. This one lacked some glass ... Interestingly, the phone book is open to "Lodging".

Heron Lake, New Mexico

On our way north from Albuquerque, we spent a few days south of Chama at Heron Lake. Gorgeous setting. Lots of wind, as we've come to expect when it's springtime in New Mexico.

This lake, which is on the east side of the continental divide, actually gets it's water from the Colorado River basin, on the west side of the divide. From here, the water flows downstream into the Chama, eventually joining the Rio Grande.

Brilliant sunsets on the lake gave way to great star gazing.

One warning - if you visit this great state park with a 5th wheel trailer, you need to know that there are not many spots that can handle a large trailer outside of the full hookup area. Further, there are many roads into campsites that dead end with inadequate room to turn a large trailer around. Unless you want to back your rig out a long ways, walk it first!

Bandelier National Monument

While staying with Doug and Rona, we hauled the 5th wheel up to Bandelier
National Monument and camped there for several days. Doug was our tour guide. Unfortunately, Rona had other commitments and couldn't join us. Bandelier is the site of several ancient ruins. There's a pueblo in the valley, and, most interesting, several ruins along the canyon walls.
The canyon walls are very soft rock. The ancient ones utilized natural caves, in addition to some they excavated. Houses and other structures were then built in front of and attached to these caves. Joanie is pictured inside one of the caves.

We also came across some exotic, though all to common, plant species. By the way, it's rather hard to find a spot in the Bandelier campground for a 27 ft. 5th wheel ...

San Antonio Hot Springs is not too far from Bandelier, so we day tripped there. We rode our bikes about 5 miles into the springs, crossed a swollen stream and then enjoyed the spring's great hot water.

With good friends in Albuquerque

We headed north from Sun Dial Springs into Albuquerque. On the way we stopped by the Very Large Array (VLA) of Radio Telescopes. They're huge and they got a lot of 'em!

Once we got into Albuquerque, we were able to get together with a friend (and former work associate) and his family. We really enjoyed visiting and sharing a great meal with them. Robert and I worked together in the Wyoming coal industry in the 1980s. Our beards were not so gray then!

Here's Joanie, Robert's wife Toppin and their daughter Jennifer.

While in the Albuquerque area, we stayed on the east side in Sandia Park at our good friends Doug and Rona's. They've got a great gravel lot out back that we shared with Ralph, another friend of theirs.

Doug put Ralph and me to work one day roofing Rona's studio. I'm sold on metal roofing now. All in all, the project went easier than anticipated.

And here we all are, together by the hot tub in the side yard. Rona is holding their 7 month old Chihuahua named Sweet Pea. She's actually a pretty good dog.

Sun Dial Springs, south of Glenwood New Mexico

On our way north from Gila, we stopped at Sun Dial Hot Springs. This is a really sweet place. Full hookups and pull throughs for 5th wheels like ours. Bath house. Several pools to soak in. It's located on a rise above the San Francisco River. To the west, on the cliffs across the river, you can occasionally see Big Horn Sheep. Once again, sorry, no telephoto! Sun Dial Hot Springs is open by reservation only, and pools are filled based on demand, so you gotta call ahead! Well worth the visit.

http://www.sundialsprings.com/

Silver City T.E.A Party

We stopped by the Silver City T.E.A party on April 15th. T.E.A stands for "Taxed Enough Already". The gathering was small, though part of a larger national effort. Parents were there with their children. If you have kids and you're not mad about the trillions of dollars of debt that the US Government is saddling your children with, you're not paying attention.

The Catwalk in White Water Canyon

While staying at Ceci's in Gila, we took a day trip to the Catwalk in White Water Canyon, just east of Glenwood. At one time, a large mill sat at the mouth of the canyon, powered by water piped down the canyon. The ruins of this mill are still visible. Frequent floods made the canyon a tough place to do business. We took the time to walk the one mile trail up the canyon narrows, it's well worthwhile. Whoever got the idea to install the catwalk, trail and bridges through this narrow canyon must have been crazy. The main structures are sound and *appear* to be above flood levels.