Sunday, July 1, 2012
Valle Vidal - June 13, 2012
We had planned a trip east thru the Carson National Forest since our arrival here. When our friend, Frank, stopped for a few days we decided to take him with us. We left hwy. 522 at the town of Castilla and drove through the town square..
Then we enter the Carson on gravel forest service roads. We were not allowed off the main road because of elk calving in the area.
This forest service road (No. 1950) like so many has lots of switchbacks as seen on our GPS.
There are probably a dozen windmills and ponds along the 60 mile route over to Hwy. 64 just north of Cimarron, NM. Not sure who installed or maintains them. We did not see any wildlife but elk and deer are in the area. We did see cattle grazing in the National Forest.
Chama, June 7, 1912
Beautiful day and we decided to drive back for a visit in the Chama area. Went out of El Vado Lake State Park where we hosted last summer. The state had announced plans to renovate the campground and upgrade the sites which was most needed. All we saw, however, were large gates at the entry stating the park was closed from Oct. 2011 to May 2012. Guess they spent all their money on gates.
Conejas Creek. There is a USFS campground here.
The top of Cumbres Pass is 10,022 feet.
The Cumbres and Toltex narrow gauge train was coming out of Chama as we were driving back into New Mexico from Colorado.
The Brazos Cliffs. The restaurant that we enjoyed at the foot of this cliffs, Cliffview, was not opened. It has been sold and the new manager plans to open in about 2 weeks. To bad because I was really looking forward to one of their roast turkey in a dried tomato tortilla wrap sandwichs.
Cattle are moved from the lower elevation up to high country once the snow melts. Cattle drive the old fashion way.
Red River Auto Show June, 2012
There were not as many antique cars for the June show as the Memorial Day Motorcyle Rally in Red River but there were many.
1936 International Truck
Ford Truck
Francis loves old cars.
Manby Hot Springs –June 2, 2012
The Springs located off Hwy. 64 (approx. 3.5 miles of gravel) is another of our off-site patrols. There are a number of homes in this area (some off the grid using solar and wind power) and some have wells for their water while other haul water in from a large well near the Rio Grande Gorge bridge on Hwy. 64. The springs are located approx. half mile down in the Rio Grande River Gorge.
While friends have been sending pictures of cactus flowers this is the first prickly pear flowers we have noticed.
Following are pictures of some of houses in the area:
Yes this is a private residence.
Sunsets
If we had a complaint about our currently site it would be that we cannot see the beautiful sunsets from our location because of the trees. Of course the trees provide us shade which is nice during the day. Most of the pictures were taken on our PM Patrols when we drive through all the camping areas, overlooks and trail heads.
Trip to Las Vegas, NM
One of the beautiful drives we had been told about was Hwy. 518 so we left early (approx. 300 miles round trip).
Besides the beautiful rock formations and huge trees we say many old buildings. This barn of stone has been repaired with cinder block.
We stopped at Morphie Lake State Park
but no site here would handle large RVs. People were enjoying tent camping and fishing. No one reported any catches.
Then on to Storrie Lake State Part at Las Vegas were we also stopped.
Liked the pavilions at the developed camp sites.
Then a stop at the Las Vegas Visitors Center at the old train station.
Coming back north from Las Vegas on Hwy. 434 we saw Victoria’s Ranch and stopped. We missed the last tour at 3 PM but they were very friendly and allowed us to see the Alpacas and told us about the operation. They have 360 alpacas and 6 lamas. The lamas are used to protect the other farm animals from preditors. The day before they had sheared 306 animals to make yarn for knitting and weaving.
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