When I first found out I was pregnant, I already had plans for my due date- August 21- to go see the solar eclipse, but it looked a whole lot like I was going to have to change those plans.  For the whole nine months, I kept saying that I hoped baby would arrive a couple of weeks early and we’d get to go see the solar eclipse anyway- which was exactly what ended up happening!

Traveling with a three week old baby is not exactly the easiest thing- but then again having a new baby to take care isn’t the easiest thing to start with.  The hardest part for me both traveling and in general is just waking up so many times during the night.  I enjoy the time spent taking care of baby, but I am so longing for a few more consecutive hours of sleep (not to mention time to do other things).

I don’t think there are many things that could motivate me to travel right now, but eclipses are one of those rare things and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to see one in my home country.  (The last time I had a chance to see a solar eclipse was in 1999 in Turkey- hard to believe it’s been 18 years since then!)

We drove to Fort Collins Saturday, spent the night in a hotel and then drove up to Glendo State Park on Sunday to meet my dad and some other family that were already camped there.  It was pure luck that they were able to get a camp site there as the park had been full before opening up eight temporary camp sites in an empty field right before they showed up.

The camp site was nothing exciting- a spot in a field with no shade, other campers very close and a well-traveled dirt road about 25 feet away that led to lots of dust.  But it was a short distance down to a sandy beach by the lake, it was crowded for a state park, but not crowded for an eclipse-viewing spot and it was right in the middle of the path of totality.  We felt incredibly lucky to end up where we did and since I’m such a fan of state parks, that added a bit of something for me.

Monday we watched the eclipse from the beach down by the lake.  We had perfect weather for it.  It is an experience beyond description… and not one that lends itself to good cell phone pictures.  The temperature started to drop as the sun started to disappear.  The shadows do this weird thing where they turn to crescents as the moon starts to cover the sun due to the change in shape of the sun.  (OK, obviously the sun doesn’t really change shape, but it appears to.)

And totality was just amazing.  One of the really cool things was that it looked like sunrise or sunset all the way around the horizon.  This was something that I was not expecting at all.  (The previous solar eclipse I saw was in an area that was more humid and the cooling of the air caused the humidity to condense into clouds making it not nearly as spectacular.)

After the eclipse, we decided to hang around the state park and let traffic die down a bit.  It was a good thing we did too because southbound I-25 was pretty much a parking lot for 200 miles.  My family that did hit the road right away said it took about 8 hours to make it 100 miles.  We ended up waiting for the state park to clear out a bit and then moving to a much nicer camp site closer to the beach in the shade of some cottonwoods.

I was glad we didn’t hit the road right away, especially as Google maps still showed traffic as being super backed-up when I checked a bit past midnight (what else was there for me to do while up with the baby in the middle of the night?)  By 4am, it had finally cleared up and we made good progress towards home when we headed out the next day.

So many things worked out for us to make it a really great experience from baby arriving early to the weather to the great campsite we got!  I’m so thankful that we went.  It feels good to have gotten out on a trip post-baby.  It’s sort of proof that I can still travel and do cool things.  And… I am so glad to be back home and really don’t have any plans for another trip anytime soon!

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We made it out on a short trip last week that included two nights camping in the National Forest and a night at the lodge at Mesa Verde National Park.

The first night camping was in the Jemez Mountains near a spot that I went camping at last year and just fell in love with.  Unfortunately this year somebody else was already at my favorite little camping spot by the creek.  The spot we ended up at instead was still surrounded by lots of gorgeous tall trees, it just didn’t have the creek.  It was the perfect place to stop for a night on the way up to Mesa Verde.

Camping in the Jemez Mountains

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Mesa Verde National Park is less than 45 minutes from Durango where I grew up.  It’s one of the places people visit when they visit Durango.  It’s the sort of place one doesn’t go at all when living in Durango.  My mom says she took me there once when I was a baby, but I have no memory of it at all.  I’ve always felt a little like I got jipped since I never got to go.  But that has now been remedied.

I know that verde means green in Spanish, but for whatever strange reason when I would hear Mesa Verde, I always thought ‘red’.  Having visited there has helped a bit to get that misconception out of my head.

There is a lodge in the park named Far View Lodge and it did live up to it’s name with sweeping views.  The views were definitely the highlight of staying at the lodge and breakfast out on the patio was super pleasant.  I have to admit I felt super spoiled staying there because as a kid my impression of National Parks were of places where one found a patch of dirt for a tent.  Staying in a lodge room feels so plush.

Mesa Verde is known as one of the best archeological sites with many cliff-dwellings and other ruins.  I have to admit that ruins of old places are kind of something I don’t really get that excited about.  They just look like dilapidated buildings to me and most of the stuff they say about the people that lived there seems like guesses at best.  Mostly I was there because I liked the idea of staying at the lodge in the middle of nowhere.  But since I was there, it seemed like we should check out the ruins.

Most of the cliff-dwellings require going on a paid tour to see them.  After seeing the crowds and some annoyingly loud kids at the museum where tickets can be purchased, we decided that we didn’t really want to go on a tour and would stick to the cliff-dwelling that is open to just walk around.  Unfortunately the trail to it was closed due to a rock slide and we had to make do with a view from across the way.

We ended up taking another trail 1.25 miles out to some petroglyphs.  It would have been a bit more enjoyable had we planned for a hike.  The way out to the petroglyphs I felt fine, but by the way back I was sorely wishing for a drink and a snack.  I also fail to get very excited about ancient graffiti, but it was a very neat hike along the side of the canyon with rock staircases and a few narrow passages.

Petroglyph Hike

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After the hike we had a much-deserved lunch and then left the park for another night of camping in the National Forest in Colorado.  I know there are a bunch more ruins and things that we didn’t get the chance to see, but I don’t feel like I’m missing out.  It’s a pretty area and I wouldn’t mind going back if the opportunity presented itself.  I also don’t feel a pressing need to go back.

Clearly it’s the type of thing that some people are very into.  There were license plates there from dozens of different states and people at the restaurant there speaking languages I didn’t recognize.  If one is into archeological-type things then it’s clearly a must-see destination.  For me, I’m glad to have seen it but would probably be happier going to a new place next time.

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The Ouachita National Forest is perhaps my favorite place in Oklahoma.  I know in my post about Wister Lake State Park, I said the southeast corner of the state was my most favorite.  The Ouachita National Forest is in this same area, so I’m not just saying they’re all my favorite.  Although I do have many other favorites, this area tops the list for me.

The Ouachita National Forest is home to the Talimena Scenic drive- an epic drive that curves along the top of the mountains from Talihena, Oklahoma to Mena, Arkansas.  The drive is known as one of the best motorcycle rides in the state and for good reason.  It’s also one of the best drives I’ve seen.

The road is filled with curves and goes up and down the hills making it feel roller-coaster like.  Each curve makes you wonder what is around the next bend and the road seems to lure you forward.  There are several pull-outs with expansive views that look out across the rolling tree-covered landscape.

A few years back, I took a weekend day on one of my trips and did the complete drive and then found some other back roads from Arkansas back over into Oklahoma.  It always stuck in my mind as a gorgeous area that I wanted to see more of.  So on my last trip to Oklahoma, I figured I’d spend the weekend there since I had the van with me and could camp where I wanted.

I drove out there on a Friday after a work conference in Oklahoma City.  Talimena State Park is located at the start of the drive.  I’d stopped there before on my mission to see all the State Parks, but all it has is camp spots, RV spots and some trail-heads, so I hadn’t stayed long.  Since I had the van with me this time, I thought it would be the perfect time to stop.  I remembered it as quiet and nestled into the tall trees of the forest.

When I finally made it there after a bit of a drive it was as gorgeous as I remembered, but also much more crowded and some of the people there were fairly noisy.  I decided it was not the spot for me that night.  It was eeking on towards late afternoon and I was starting to feel that unique tension of being on the road and wanting to find a place soon, but not really knowing where that place was going to be.

So I started driving up the Talimena Scenic drive.  I quickly hit fog.  Cool, blanketing, dense, encompassing fog.  I took the road slowly, knowing I couldn’t see far.  It was cool.  I don’t know how often that area sees fog like that but my previous journey there had been on a clear day and I love how different weather and times of year change an area.  One of the things I love about traveling to the same places again and again is the way they change and it’s never really the same place.

Fog Pictures

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I pulled off on one of at one of the scenic vistas to take some pictures. It felt strange and isolating in the fog. I knew that if it weren’t foggy, there would be an expansive view but as it was, I could only see a very short distance. I studied the map a while and saw there was a dirt road tahead that I could turn off on and it looked hopeful for finding a camping spot.

I drove down the dirt road a few miles, but the road went steeply down and the only flat spot that would be good for spending the night was right where I’d turned onto the road. So I went back to there. It wasn’t ideal because it was close to the highway, but I figured it would work for the night. In all other respects, it was a perfect, gorgeous little camping spot.

I was happy to have a place to call ‘home’ for the night.  The Ouachita Trail was right there, so I took off down it for a little ways, feeling drawn on by the mystery of what lay ahead.  The tall trees and dense fog made it seem so dreamy.  Eventually I turned back to go eat.  Once I had dinner, I went back outside again.  By then it was dark and being alone in the forest with the dense fog made me feel creeped out and I hid in the sanctuary of my brightly lit van.

The next morning when I woke up, it was still a little foggy out.  As the sun rose, the sun beams filtering through the trees looked amazing on the fog.  As the trees moved in the gentle breeze, the sun beams danced around in this mesmerizing sort of way.  It was one of those super enchanting moments that just makes one feel like, “WOW!”

The only downside of the morning was that there was heavy motorcycle traffic on the road once the day got started.  They seemed too loud for the peaceful forest.

Bike Ride Pictures

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After breakfast, I took my bike down a section of the trail.  I found a couple of bugs that look like sticks and was also treated to a gorgeous view at one point.  Sill, it was one of those rides that was less than enjoyable.  The terrain was just a little past what I’m comfortable riding and I walked more than I rode.

Then I crashed twice, the second time twisting my ankle pretty good.  Worst of all was knowing that I crashed both times because I suddenly freaked out, hit the brakes, lost my balance and went tumbling.  Both times I was riding parallel to the hill, and I ended up leaning towards the downhill side where the ground was too far away to get a foot down to stop my fall.  If it weren’t for feeling afraid and hitting the brakes, I would have been fine.

I was relieved when the trail finally met back with the main road and I could just bike back on the main road.  But it turned out to be steeply uphill the whole way back and I had to walk the entire thing.  Every time a car would pass me as I was pushing my bike up the hill, I’d smile at them, hoping I wouldn’t look as miserable as I was.

After my bike ride, I showered and drove on to find a new camping spot for the next night.  I found a dirt road that turned off of the main highway and went a few miles down it before finding a nice little spot.

The next day I took off to Lake Wister State Park feeling more peaceful and rejuvenated.  The sky was overcast and visibility wasn’t as good as it could have been, but I couldn’t help but take a few last pictures on the way at a couple of the scenic pullouts.

This is one of those areas I have plans to go back to again and again.

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Lake Wister State Park is one of only two Oklahoma State Parks that has cabins that I haven’t stayed in.  Doing so is definitely still on my to-do list.  I did make a brief stop by it one day on a previous trip, but the cabins were all booked up.  On my latest trip out to Oklahoma with my van, I figured I’d at least stay there, even if it wasn’t in a cabin.  In some ways, I prefer staying in the van anyway.

My stay was short, but sweet.  I arrived at Lake Wister after a weekend spent in the nearby Ouachita National Forrest.  I found a nice RV spot by the lake without any close neighbors.  It was unusually hot and sticky for October, so upon arrival, I plugged my van in and turned the AC on high.  But I didn’t cocoon up in my van too long- I went to go walk around the park and explore.  I found another RV spot that I liked, overlooking the water and close enough to it to have a guard-rail around the spot.  I would have moved there, but it was too close to another occupant for my tastes, so I settled for taking a picture of it.

I walked on to go check out the “group camp”- several A-frame cabins, a dining hall, and bath-house in their own separate area of the park.  I let my imagination run free, thinking of the events that might be held here.  I imagine how much fun it would be to be at one of them, although oddly I suspect I have more fun exploring by myself and imagining such things than I would being a part of such an event.

Then there was the sewer lagoon with a fence with barbed wire on top and signs proclaiming “NO TRESPASSING SANITARY SEWER LAGOON”.  I wonder how sanitary a sewer lagoon could possibly be and who would want to trespass there anyway.  I meandered on back to the van, stopping to take a few sunset pictures on the way.  I climbed back into the van, closing the door behind me and pulling the curtains closed too, content to snuggle up in the safety of my own little space.  Then it was time for dinner and reading a bit of Word Freaks- an excellent book Sam lent me about competitive Scrabble players.

Lake Wister Pictures

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I was in bed early and up early enough to see the near-full moon reflecting on the lake.  Early mornings are so precious and still.  With a small amount of regret, I left my lake-view spot to head to work.  But some day, I’ll be back to Lake Wister to try one of those cabins.

To learn more visit the Oklahoma State Park website.

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White Sands National Monument is a really unique place.  It features miles and miles of white sand dunes and, well, really nothing else.  The fact that there is nothing else there is what makes it so cool.  It’s a surreal sort of place.

Sam and I went backpacking there for a night.  White Sands gets a ton of visitors, but there are only 10 back-country camping permits issued a day.  Camping somewhere is a much different experience than driving around and maybe getting out to take a few pictures.  I like that feeling of really being places.

Back country permits are available on a first come, first serve basis, so we showed up at the Visitor Center mid-day to get our permit and then went to the Organ Mountains for the afternoon to avoid being at White Sands for the hot part of the day.  We came back in the late afternoon to hike in to our camping spot.

It was a relatively short hike in, maybe about a mile.  It does require packing in your own water since there is none available out there.  The weight wasn’t a challenge, but making it fit in our packs was.  We talked, only partly  joking, about bringing a sled to haul our stuff in next time.  By the tracks in the sand, I’m pretty sure somebody else had done just that.

Hiking and Sunset Pictures

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We had a fantastic time.  Being able to watch the sunset and sunrise was a real treat.  It’s amazing how the change in lighting can make such a difference in an area.  I had been to White Sands a few times before this, but it was always for short visits during the day.  Frankly, the middle of the day isn’t a good time to be there.  The sun glares down and is insanely bright reflected off of all the white sand.  It was super cool to see the dunes in the soft light during sunrise and sunset.

When we went, the moon was close to full and it reflected off the sand making it bright enough that we didn’t need our flashlights.

Watching the sun rise over the dunes was a real treat.  The light was magical.  My pictures hardly do it justice, and my words certainly aren’t going to.

Sunrise Pictures

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The only life we saw other than fellow backpackers was a few black beetles and some plants.  We did see a few animal tracks in the sand and heard a couple of squeaky noises at night.

One of the things that I find fascinating is that there are little ‘islands’ of plants mixed in with the dunes.  These islands start to disappear as one goes further into the dunes.  The hardiest of plants manage to hang on, but as the wind moves the dunes, they start to be overrun.

Something I didn’t expect was the total silence at night.  Thinking about it, the silence made sense as there isn’t much in the way of life out there.  We happened to be there on a clear night when the weather was still and silent.  The loudest noise was that of our breathing.  It was peaceful and calm.  It was also very strange because even out in the woods, there is normally noise: leaves rustling, birds and bugs and little animals scurrying around.  Here, it was just silent.

Hoppy Pictures

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This was a one-of-a-kind sort of experience.  If you ever get the opportunity to go backpacking at White Sands, I highly recommend taking it.  Actually, if you’re interested in such things, I’d recommend making the opportunity. It’s totally worth it.

More information can be found on the National Parks website. 

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The Manzano mountains lie about an hour’s drive from my house and yet I have visited them only twice very briefly in the years I’ve lived there.  They are kind of the southern extension of the Sandia Mountains that dominate the eastern skyline of Albuquerque.

My first visit to the Manzano mountains came because I wanted to visit Manzano Mountain State Park.  I was driving towards there on the way home from a trip to Oklahoma.  It was already dark by the time I got to the State Park and beyond that, it was closed for the season, so I couldn’t even go see it.  Turns out that it is a small State Park that is little more than an RV park.  OK, it probably has less to offer than many RV parks.  Rather than turn back and take the paved road, I headed up a dirt Forrest Service road into the mountains.  I’d never been there before, it was late and I was exhausted and yet wired with the excitement that comes with exploring.  I was driving my beat up ’91 Honda Accord with too many miles on it and very little clearance.  Admittedly, I was probably taking the road faster than I should have been.  It was in good shape, but on a dirt road, you never know what is around the bend.  I think that added to the excitement in it’s own way.

Still, it all worked out OK and by some miracle the road I was on connected back up with the paved road towards home some 20 or 30 miles later.  It was dark on my drive, so I couldn’t really see much of what was there.  When I stopped alongside the road and looked up at the stars and could hear the wind in the trees and smell the fresh air, I knew I wanted to come back.  I did make it back one snowy winter day for a drive through the mountains, but it wasn’t until recently that I made it back to really explore.  Driving through a place isn’t the same as really being there: walking on the ground, sitting and listening to the silence, sleeping and eating and watching the sun move across the sky.

This time I was determined to make up for my short trips just passing through by staying a couple of nights and going for a hike in the area.  It was gorgeous there upon arrival, with tall, peaky mountains rising out of a gently rolling sea of trees.

The next morning Hoppy and I along with another traveling companion headed out for a hike up Manzano peak.  It was overcast and cool; a welcome relief from the recent heat of the summer.  The first part of the trail was in pretty good shape and the hiking was easy.  There was a wild raspberry patch growing along part of the trail.   It was pretty delightful to pick the ripe little berries and eat them.  Although I did learn that raspberry plants are a bit prickly.

Then we encountered a large area that had burned several years ago.  The ground was full of fallen trees and many of them went across the trail making for some rough going.  Eventually, we decided to ditch the trail and just head straight up the side of the mountain.  It was very steep going and I had second guesses about this choice a few times but eventually we caught back up with the trail to finish our climb up to the peak.

There was a ladybug swarm close to the top of the peak.  There were literally thousands of ladybugs covering logs and bushes.  I used to really like ladybugs and think that they were cute but seeing so many was actually rather creepy.  Although I really know very little about ladybugs, I am pretty sure by the positioning of some of the them that the males are smaller than the females.  It does seem strange that there are male ladybugs.

After I stopped to take a bunch of pictures of the ladybugs, we made it to the top to snap a few pictures.  Being on the top of a mountain is a great feeling.  It’s simply amazing to be able to look around and see so far out across the landscape.  There were very dark, menacing clouds in the distance but we mostly weren’t paying that much attention to them.

Mountain peaks are not the best place to be in lightning storms, and perhaps it would have been smarter for us not to make the climb on such an overcast day.  It started raining and then hailing as we sat on the peak and we soon packed up to head back down the trail.  The hail grew heavier and we hid under a small stand of trees shivering and hoping it would lighten up.  Eventually the hail stopped and we continued on.  The rain continued for hours. I was soon completely soaked.  My feet were squishing in my boots with each step.  I had my rain jacket, but it’s not really good for much more than light rain.  Once it finally quit raining and I took off my rain jacket, my hoodie underneath of it was so soaked that I was wringing water out of my sleeves.

This time we followed the trail for the five miles back down, trying to make good time and get out of the rain, but we were slowed by the rain, thick undergrowth, muddy ground and fallen trees.  Eventually, the rain above us let up and we could look out and see several different lightening storms in areas around us.

By the time we arrived back at the car, it was almost dark.  We thought about just driving back to Socorro, but were too tired.

“OK, but I’m not sitting out in the rain and cooking anything.”

“I’m not cooking either.”

So we ate cold tortillas and cheese for the third time that day.  It’s funny how much one appreciates simple things under certain circumstances.

We woke up the next morning and took another much shorter hike before heading back to Socorro.

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This weekend I spent 3 nights in the Pecos Wilderness. The area was absolutely gorgeous.  I spent most of my time on the Trampas Lake Trail.  It followed a mountain stream and not a smooth, tame sort of stream, but the sort with rocks and logs and some steep descents making the water seem powerful and alive and also providing a great soundtrack.  The end of the trail is at  some small alpine lakes surrounded by rocky peaks.  The undergrowth of the forest was lush and green with lots of wildflowers in bloom.  Perhaps my favorite part was lots of wild strawberry plants with the smallest strawberries on them I’ve ever seen- yet still ripe and delicious.  It was high enough up to get away from the sweltering summer heat of New Mexico which was a welcome relief.  (The trail-head is at an elevation of about 9,000 feet and the lakes are at about 11,500.)

I spent one night camped not far from the trail-head and then backpacked in for two nights, camping part way up the trail.  I did a day hike up to the lakes to check them out.  There are two small lakes not far about called Trampas Lakes and a third lake a bit further on called Hidden Lake.   Trampas Lakes had what was a disappointingly large number of people- day hikers and backpackers.  There were at least half a dozen small camps setup.  One guy I encountered on the trail said that it was “hardly crowded” but to me, it was much too crowded.  Hidden Lake didn’t have any campers and I only saw one other hiker there.  It also lived up to it’s name- the only trail going to it being in a different spot than those on any maps.

Hidden Lake also had these notable water-bug-creatures that looked kind of like pine cones at first glance, but were definitely crawling around.  I have no idea what they were, but was fascinated to watch them for a while.

The area was gorgeous.  The only down-side was the number of people out there.  Perhaps a different time of year or going on a weekday rather than the weekend would help.  I took the Trampas Lake Trail 31 and the trail-head had several cars parked there.  Trail 30 takes off from not far away, but the trail-head didn’t have any cars the first time I passed it and only two cars the second time.  It also leads up to a couple of little alpine lakes and if there’s a next time I’m in the area, I think I would try out Trail 30.

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I went on a short trip with the van to explore the Jemez mountains a few weeks ago.  Some of the areas I found were nice enough that I’m reluctant to share lest more people go and it ruins it for me.  Like a lot of trips, this one had some ups and downs.  There were times when it was plain hot, the AC in the van didn’t seem to be doing much good, some areas were pretty crowded with people out camping, fishing, and hiking for the weekend, and my hiking boots about made my feet feel like they were on fire.  I don’t write that to complain, but simply to help you understand how nice some of the areas were when I say that the good far outweighed the bad on the trip.

The first cool find was an area called tent rocks.  It was not a planned destination, but rather a happy accidental find.  It was not visible when driving on the dirt road I was on, but it happened to be across the road from a little place I parked for a nap in the back of the van.

The other really cool area I found was the San Pedro Parks Wilderness, not far from Cuba, New Mexico.  It is a vast wilderness area, filled with super tall trees, green alpine meadows and a few streams.  The area gets more rain that a lot of New Mexico so it is much greener than a lot of the  mountains I go to around here.  The campsite I found was absolutely perfect: up a little dirt road off of a slightly more traveled dirt road, surrounded by tall trees, a little campfire ring made of rocks, and a gurgly little creek right there.

Swimming in the creek was a real treat, although it was pretty cold.  I always love to spend time sitting by creeks, just listening to the sweet creek-noises that they make.  It’s always such a soothing delight.  There are some areas that I travel to and I am glad that I got a chance to go, but don’t want to go back.  Other places are nice and I’d go again if it was convenient but would just as well go somewhere new the next time.  This area is one I would be happy going back to again and again.  I’ll end this post with one last picture of a grassy meadow I found on a hike in the wilderness area.

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