We lined up and waited for the "wagons ho" call, from the wagon master on the portable radios. Once we heard that call, we all slowly inched up to the front of the campground. We all departed the Little Creel RV Park and headed south on US 84 / US 64.
Just south of Chama, there is Ranchero Escondido de Chama. It is a 5000 acre privately owned ranch consists of wooded hills and open grassy meadows, with elk, deer and turkey ... and occasionally bear. The moderate terrain and abundance of roads provide for easy access to the prime hunting areas. They have resident elk and they can be seen from the road (sort of.)
Southwest of Chama, you can take a day trip to Heron Lake State Park. It is a picturesque lake set among the tall pines. It is a designated a “quiet lake” where boats operate at no-wake speeds only, making it an excellent location for all types of paddle craft. Heron is a fisherman's paradise with record-size trout and kokanee salmon. If you want to camp there, several line the shore of this scenic lake. The park elevation 7,167 feet above sea level.
We saw a flock of Canada Geese in the fields along US 64 in New Mexico. Canada Geese in New Mexico? Yes, the Canada goose resides primarily north and southward in the Rio Grande and Pecos valleys, but can be found statewide. Canada geese nest in or migrate to New Mexico in the thousands. Canada geese can be found in agricultural fields and in marshes that occur in desert streams.
For the second time on our two lane adventures this summer, we have located a camoflagued cell tower. I know, if it is camoflagued, how can we see it? Our first sighting was outside Phoenix, the cell tower looked like a palm tree. The cell tower we saw today, was camoflagued to look like an evergreen tree. Does it really help or does it really matter?
In the town of Cebolla, we passed by the Santo Nino Cemetery. I know, talking about a cemetery in a blog is a bit strange. But, this is one of the first cemeteries we have seen up close. They certainly don't look like any cemetery we have seen before. It looks like there are fences around some of the plots. Is that to keep the dead in or keep the living out? I tried to research it, but no luck!
The Carson National Forest is all around us as we drive down US 84.
I know, by now you would think that we have seen enough rocks .... not yet! After this caravan, I will never look at rocks the same again.
Driving down US 84, there are two totally different rock formations, across the road from each other. How is that possible? Did the engineers that designed the road plan it that way? Was there a gully between them and they used that for the road? Amazing!
Then when you start turning the curve, there is another totally different rock formation. WOW!
In this area of all these rock formations, we discovered the Echo Amphitheater. It is a natural stone amphitheater, located in Carson National Forest. At the Amphitheater have fun singing, yelling and screaming and listen to the cliffs singing, yelling, and screaming back at you. According to legend the curved stone cliff wall was the site where a group of Navajo executed a family of settlers. As the story goes, the victims were brought to the top of the cliff and killed, their blood running down the cliff wall and permanently staining it.
Possibly in response to this legend another story says that years later a number of Navajo were in turn murdered in the same spot, once again staining the cliff wall with their draining blood. Now the natural echoing caused by the sites geography is often ascribed to the voices of the unquiet dead. There seems to be little truth to the tales, but the colorful sandstone itself may have inspired the myths. Running in red vertical stripes down the otherwise horizontally stratified cliff wall are streaks of mineral varnish that resemble blood. This colorful geological feature combined with its unusual auditory properties no doubt fed the myth associated with the Echo Amphitheater.
Our last rest stop during this last leg of our caravan, was near some unique rock formations and a beautiful lake. The lake is Abiquiu Lake (pronounced Ab-Ba-Que.) It sits between the rugged Sangre de Cristo and San Juan Mountain ranges. The Abiquiu Lake is fed cold, clear, mountain water which is diverted from the San Juan Mountains in south-central Colorado, and piped under the continental divide into the Rio Chama approximately fifty miles upstream.
We crossed over the Rio Grande on the Stanley A. Griego Bridge, on this portion of the trip. It was moving swiftly, but very, very muddy. I tried to figure out who Stanley A. Griego was, but no luck! Oh well, it was the first time we crossed the Rio Grande on this trip!
For all my friends who love purple, put this one on your bucket list! The Purple Adobe Lavender Farm in Abiquiu New Mexico. You should do it in early July, that is when they have the Lavender Festival. The farm has been around for more than 10 years. It's main focus is to grow and provide efficient, expert solutions for growing the finest lavender. They try to bring the best growing information to provide success to our customers and individuals interested in growing their own lavender. Their primary services include lavender plant sales, educational programs and information on growing lavender. They provide lavender bath and body product lines in their gift shoppe and lavender and gluten-free products in their cafe.
We went through the City of Espanola, it was just a quick trip. But what I found the most interesting was the painted switch boxes on every corner. It just made the intersections come alive. I took many pictures, but this is the one I like the best. I wish every town would create a community art project to spruce up every town in America!
There were so many beautiful views in Northern New Mexico, I just had to share one more with you!
We traveled through the Tesuque Indian Reservation. This was the first place we saw painted overpasses.
We continued to see this after we left the reservation and got closer to Santa Fe.
It does give a normally bland highway necessity a bit of color and interest!
We passed by a road names Camel Rock, do you think this rock formation has anything to do with the road name? I might have named it Turtle Rock Road ... what do you think?
We turned Southwest onto MN 599 and followed that all the way to our home for the next two nights and our last RV resort on our caravan. We ended our travel at Santa Fe Skies RV Resort.
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