Cochiti Camp
Jamez Waterfall
Bandelier
Tent Rocks
Cool Train
Bisti Badlands
Best Of Friends
Tent Rocks /Bandelier/Jemez Falls/Santa Fe:
Cochiti Dam is the base camp for Santa Fe and these sights. The dam is weird because it is an earth dam and confusing as you drive up to it because I can’t tell if I am looking at an expanse of water or what. I have never seen an earth dam wall this big. The camp sight is nice and so near the Tent Rocks I can see why I chose this sight. I will end up going to the tent rocks twice to get sun into the slot canyon there. There are two trails, one to a cave and the other thru the slot and up to the top of the tent rocks plateau. The climb is very much like Cowles Mountain in San Diego if the first half was almost flat. Then in the last ¾ mile you use stairs and foot holds cut into the rock to get to the top…. excellent hike. First time thru was good for the tent rocks and summit but the slot was mostly shaded. Tomorrow (Wednesday) I’ll time it for sun in the slot.
Bandelier: They say the average lifespan of the Anasazi, woops “Ancestral Pueblo people” that lived in these collectives was 35 years. So by that count I have worked 20 years longer than most of them before I retired. None of them I assume had medical coverage either. At least not as good as we have now even going to the free clinic. But not many people I know would want to live in a mud and stone house with no running water, shower or bathroom. But I’m sure the Llama trekkers wouldn’t mind. We can live like that for weeks at a time, of course I assume even the Ancestral Pueblo people had some form of alcohol. After all, they were not uncivilized.
Jemez Falls: Lots of hiking and carrying the photo gear has gotten me tired looking at these places. When I saw that Jemez falls was a mere ¼ mile from the trailhead I thought at last an easy day. Bur wait, when I got to the turn off from HWY 4 to the Jemez Falls Campground the gate was closed!!! The trailhead is at the end of the campground, so I had to hike the 1.5 miles or so just to get to the trailhead. Light gear this trip, just the digital camera. The falls were nice but having seen Yosemite I would not list this as a gotta go back and see. But definitely not something to pass by if here, with the road OPEN!!
Santa Fe: One day spent in Santa Fe swimming and chores and sightseeing. The cool thing was the train outside the pool I went to. The Santa Fe 5011 class steam engines were the coolest looking ever I think. We use to have one in the model railroad set from Lionel probably like many others. I have never seen one before; the posted information says only 4 exist of this series.
After all the wind, Deb flies into Albuquerque and we have three nights of calmness in Santa Fe for camping. That was good timing. Mike and Caroline met us and the 4 of us had a blissful uneventful few days together. Fun yes; it’s just that the 4 of us don’t always have a good track record when it comes to vacations like this without disaster hitting. Let me tell you about a misadventure involving a guy named Wade and a transmission in Las Vegas……….no… not enough time, besides, those days are past us now and nothing but good times ahead. So it was a few days of water coloring, hiking, photo’ing, DVD’ing, and in general just hangin out with good friends. Two websites to note: (http://www.lisakristine.com/images/index.html) which is one of the galleries we stopped at and of course one place to find Mike (http://www.spacedinoart.com/) .
Farmington: This was base for Bisti, Aztec ruins and Shiprock. But the lazys got me and I am passing on the Aztec Ruins. Hit Bisti twice and I could, if energy permitted, go there again tonight, but just not feeling up to it. So tomorrow it is Shiprock, 4 corners and seeing what brings as I head up to Cortez to set up camp and welcome Dan Nesthus & co. on a week’s leg of the adventure thru Mesa Verde, and Moab. P.S great aquatic center in Farmington with lots of lanes open.
The film is getting spent so many pictures to process when I get home both in the darkroom and on the computer. I know the next few weeks will use a lot film heading into Utah, can't wait.
That's it for now. Keep the adventure alive (after a good nights sleep).
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