Hell’s Half Acre

I am absolutely DYING for a camera. Everywhere I look there are spectacular sights and I want to capture them all! We left the campground just at 10am and as I began the climb out of the gorge we passed her; headed down to collect $5 for the day fee. This camp is so incredibly disorganized with their fee collection. The must keep no records whatsoever; we fill out the paperwork, but each morning are awakened at 7am by the ranger driving by to see if we have a receipt in the window. Even when we do, if they suspect we’re up, they’ll question us us about past fees and where our past receipts are and who we paid to. Each day brings a new ranger so I can only imagine that some sort of bookkeeping would be in order. It has become somthing of a joke to us though and only a bit irritating.

We had absolutely NO idea where we were headed this morning. We pulled out of camp and headed up the gorge, not even sure wheich way we’d turn onto the road. By the time we got to the top of the ridge, we’d decided to turn left, but that was it. We pulled over and read the AAA book, various camping books and recalled the suggestions of our wonderful friends in the Santa Fe area. We seriously considered Pagosa Springs and Colorado, but finaly decided on Navajo Lake and the Aztec National Mounument or something.

After manuvering around gas stations and parking lots I was happy to turn the driving over to Jamie so I could enjoy the splendour of the landscape. The kids were oohing an dahhing along with us. Cliff bottoms of brick reds and oranges led to ochre turning to a sandy white and topped by brilliant blue sky which is interspersed with puffy white cloudss. To further compliment the beauty of the red/orange rock, dark green pines and pinon trees, light green and yellow grasses falling to a river basin. On the other side of the valley dark green tree covered mesas and green pinon studded foothills. Bright yellow daisies grow roadside. Horses and cows dot the grasslands.

I just may die without a camera to capture the beauty, but then I remind myself that the camera never quite captures the absolute grandeour of these mountains. A small consolation, but I’ll take what I can get. I am astounded by the beauty of this area and it is killing me to sit, unable to collect a single photograph.

Climbing higher and higher we leave the red/orange rocks and find gently rolling hills and mountains. Pine and pinon trees blanket the hills with ocassional bursts of fields of yellow daises and very rarely burnt orange poppies. A long swath of hillside cuts into the far mountains and I wonder if there is not a river at the bottom. The road meanders through valleys of ranes and llama farms, tops ridges and crosses ocassional creeks and rivers; many full of water. Brown and black cows, horses and tiny white sheep dot the ranch land. The sky continues birlliant blue; we see no rain headed this way. The road is two lane and just what we like. I can’t imagine the interstate passes through such richly varied landscape but even if it does, I can’t imagine anything more beautiful than what we’ve been treated to so far. I never imagined New Mexico could be so beautiful.

Climbing into Tierra Amarilla (that’s a town) we dropped into a magnificient valley at the far side of which, waited what could only be the beginning of the Rocky Mountain Range. Crossing green farmland of the valley and the Rios Los Brasos we were absolutely surrounded by mountains. The sheer granite cliffs of Brasos Peak (11+ft), Navajo Peak (11k+ft), Cumbres Pass (10kft), Canjelon and Gallinas (10k+ft) mountains. It seemed that in an instant, the desert was gone. Dry yellow grasses led to lilac flowers and black eyed susans; lush long green grasses and deep green reeds topped with dark brown cattails. We headed towards the Continental Divide, while the Cubres pass called to me. When the boys were small we used to watch videos of great train journeys. The Cubres/Toltec Railway was one of our favorites. With 4 kids and 2 adults, however, the cost is simply unaffordable.