El Morro -- We Passed This Way

Go west of Albuquerque about an hour on the interstate and then another 45 minutes or more south and west on two-lane blacktop and you are in what appears to be a deserted part of the state. Not exactly mountains and not exactly desert and not exactly forest...it's a grassy mix of scrubby junipers, Pinon pines and rocky bluffs.  This is Indian country...the Acoma and Zuni pueblos and Ramah Navajos live here. It is pretty country because it is so empty. There are lots of Elk crossing signs on the road so there must be Elk in the area. You drive through the western reaches of the Malpais...a large area of old lava that flowed across the land eons ago. The lava is so sharp it will cut up your shoes if you aren't careful.

The Ramah band of the Navajos are a separate group or "chapter", not totally connected or located with the main Navajo Nation. They have been living in this isolated state more or less since the middle 1500s when they came to the aid of the Zuni pueblo people who were struggling against Coronado and the Spanish. The name 'Ramah' comes from the Mormon settlement established under orders of Brigham Young in the 1870s.

All very interesting but I digress.

I'm supposed to be focusing on El Morro...a large rock outcrop that served as a landmark to travelers for centuries. The remoteness and dryness of the country made El Morro important because it was an oasis of sorts thanks to a perennial pool of water at the base of the cliffs. Prehistoric nameless Indians stopped at the pool of water and left petroglyphs on the face of the cliffs. These were pecked into the solid rock and depict various symbols and pictures of animals. There are human hand prints engraved on the rocks showing that people passed this way for centuries.

 

 

 

At the very top of the cliff there are two pueblo ruins...one partially excavated. Park Archaeologists think that there were as many as 1,500 people living at El Morro and farming the land many centuries ago. The country side was mostly a grass land at that time and it supported crops for the Indian population.

In the early 1500s the Spanish first pushed their way into this remote area. Coronado was looking for the cities of gold. They didn't find any but they did find a native population that they viewed as a source of labor and who were in need of salvation through conversion to Christianity. The Indians were less enthusiastic than the Spaniards and resisted cooperation and conversion. there were several groups sent north to convert the local Zunis but they wouldn't cooperate.

 

That didn't deter the Spanish -- they kept coming north from Mexico with priests and plans for missions and settlements. El Morro was important for the early exploration and conversion efforts because of the water and the fact that it was a landmark on the trail between the various Indian pueblos. The reliable water source made this a popular stop on the trail into the remote interior of New Mexico. Apparently the spot was sort of a resting place and the travelers stayed long enough to record their passing by engraving their names and various messages on the face of the cliff.

 

At least two Spanish governors of New Mexico passed this way and had their names and messages carved on the rock. This seemed to be a PR job of sorts with glowing accounts of their deeds and often that they were paying for the trip out of their own pocket. One had his deeds recorded and that he was a Christian gentleman...but someone came shortly afterward and scratched out the word "gentleman".

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the inscriptions are in poetry. Given that literacy was somewhat rare in the 1600s it is interesting that some inscriptions were from common soldiers. There are over 2,000 inscriptions on the face of the cliff -- some in Spanish and many in English.

 

As the American pioneers arrived in the area after 1850 they also camped at El Morro and recorded their passing. Most were on their way west toward California and many didn't make it. Indian raids were frequent as they moved into Arizona and a few names  have been traced to people who were later casualties or survivors of Indian attacks.  Miss Bailey was one traveler who was wounded but survived to eventually complete her trip to California.

 

 

The US Army sent expeditions into the area for exploration and peace-keeping purposes. One group was a cavalry troop travelling with camels as an experiment to see if they would be more reliable than horses in the dry climate. These military groups also stopped at El Morro and recorded their passing. The camels came and went without a trace, apparently. One group included an artist who recorded all of the inscriptions that he found on the face of the cliff...quite a task.

 

 

 

El Morro became a National Monument in 1906 and there was a change in attitude. Apparently, you can't carve your name on a national treasure. Some folks did from time to time but the Park Service has removed the offensive graffiti from the rock.  They do have a couple of large boulders out in front of the visitor center where you are allowed to scratch your initials in stone.

 

 

 

Ruidoso, White Sands, Guadalupe Mountains, Marfa TX, Big Bend

My daughter, Jill, is visiting this month (November) and we decided to take a week and head south to Big Bend National Park. We have been seeing a lot of New Mexico (go to I Spy With My Little Eye) and wanted to go  a little farther for a few days.

I have a timeshare and I can trade and book into different places so we decided to use Ruidoso NM as our base and starting point. We only had occasional Internet service so I didn't post anything along the way except a few pictures on Facebook.

RUIDOSO, NEW MEXICO
It rained for most of the 3 1/2 hour drive to Ruidoso. We got there just in time for the wind to blow at 30 mph and gust to over 50.  Next morning it was still raining and blowing and the electric was off. We went out for breakfast and it seemed like most places had power. Ruidoso is a nice place and I'll come back here in the summer or spring for fly fishing or horse racing at Ruidoso Downs.

Since the weather was bad we went to see the Hubbard Museum of the West. This is essentially a large exhibition space that has a large collection of horse-drawn carriages and wagons. I was interested in the "formal" carriages and the variety of utilitarian wagons and carts. The museum has a photo exhibit and a number of saddles and other donated items.

We watched a video of a man "breaking" a horse that was wild in the morning and would allow him to ride it after a few hours of persistent reasoning and communication using body language and some basic guide tools and a lariat. Jill thought it was inhumane and unnecessary but his method was fast and painless except for the apparent fear the horse had at the start.



WHITE SANDS NATIONAL MONUMENT
The weather cleared up on Sunday so we took a drive over to see White Sands National Monument south of Alamogordo. It was a pleasant drive but we saw a little more evidence of the huge forest fire - the Little Bear Fire - that went through here in 2012.  Much of the forest we drove through on the way into Ruidoso was burned with thousands of dead trees as far as you could see.

 

Snow-capped Sierra Blanca in the distance

 

White Sands is a gypsum sand desert covering a large portion of the Tularosa Valley. The park is surrounded by White Sands missile range so it is shut down occasionally when the military is launching test missiles. The park is fairly large and offers a great opportunity to explore and photograph the unique plants and what few animals are evident. If you are a geologist this would be your kind of place just to see the different types of dunes and how they change and move. This is a place to come back to and spend a couple days...and nights...but it closes one hour after sunset.

White Sands is relatively young...only about 10,000 years old and the local animals are not totally adapted to living on the sand so there are fewer animals here. They seem to come out at night and leave their tracks showing they have been there but you don't usually see them in daylight.

Coyote tracks over the dune

GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK

On Tuesday we headed south and east through Roswell and Artesia to Carlsbad. This was not a very scenic route and there seemed to be a lot of chemical or oil related air pollution in Artesia. We had lunch at a restaurant in White City, close to Carlsbad Caverns. We opted not to go to Carlsbad Cavern on this trip...not enough time.

Just a few miles south of White City we crossed into Texas and encountered the Guadalupe Mountains. Most of this range is in New Mexico but the most prominent part is in Texas. Guadalupe Peak is the highest point in Texas. The Guadalupe Mountains National Park is fairly new and isn't all that big but it offers a lot of back country for day hikes or longer backpacking. Although the mountains appear to be dry and stark, the back country is lush and green...according to the Ranger we talked to.

We were on a tight schedule so we only stayed about 45 minutes and took some pictures. We took a short detour to see some local salt flats. There has been so much rain that the salt flats were a shallow lake that offered unique reflections of the looming mountain range a few miles away. My friend, Betty, has a family owned ranch next to the park and salt flats...it looked very green compared to the local desert.

MARFA, TEXAS
This part of west Texas is sparsely populated with many miles between towns. It's 64 miles from the park to Van Horn and then another 74 miles to Marfa with nothing much in between....except for a Prada store sitting all alone out on the deserted highway.  You have to have a sense of humor to survive.  This is a local art project...a fake Prada store in the middle of nowhere.

We finally made it to Marfa and El Cosmico, our "glamping" destination for the next two nights. We reserved two safari tents for the first night and a tepee for the second night. The safari tents were nice, equipped with a queen size bed, side tables and a chair all on a raises wooden floor. There was a hanging pendant light as well as a reading light. The best part was the heated mattress pad. It was pretty cold -- down in the low 40s -- and the heated bed was great. My problem was with my CPAP (yes, my sleep apnea rears its ugly head). Each tent has electricity but the cold temperature caused the vapor to condense from the CPAP and it kept dousing me with water every few minutes. That made sleeping impossible.  Jill had a much better experience.   I opted to sleep elsewhere and made plans to stay at a local hotel the second night.

Jill had a great experience with the tepee the second night. It was much larger and had a cow hide covered wooden floor and a couch/futon as well as the chair and side tables and heated queen bed. There were three tepees and about eight safari tents as well as six or eight vintage travel trailers that were available for guests. They have a shower house that includes a claw-foot tub and a kitchen house where campers can cook their own meals.


We were hoping to see a dark night sky and thousands of stars but it was a full moon and we mostly saw the moon. We could walk anywhere at night without a flash light because the moon was so bright.

BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK

We spent a day at Big Bend National Park...about two hours south and east of Marfa. I wasn't sure what we were going to see since we were on the road four hours out of the day but we were able to get through the best part and still get back to Marfa before dark. The Chisos Mountains make up the most prominent part of the park but there are miles of desert and the Rio Grande river and valley/gorge runs along the south edge of the park...the border with Mexico.




The geology is a mix of things but a good deal of volcanic relics. There are prominent dikes where magma or lava seeped into cracks or faults and solidified and now appears as natural walls running through the mountains once the softer material eroded.




There was a small community living in the area back in the early 1900s that raised cotton on the farmable parts of the Rio Grand valley. A few ruined buildings are left behind from that era.



Rio Grande and the Mexican cliffs
looming over the river.

  
 
I was surprised to see that they did raft float trips down the Rio Grande. The park cautions boaters not to purchase items from people on the Mexican side. They are trying to establish a port of entry to allow park visitors to cross the river and visit the Mexican park on the opposite side of the river.





Santa Elena Canyon is on the Mexican side of the river but is very impressive. Apparently the Rio Grande somehow changed course and carved the canyon while the rock wall was being slowly uplifted .

We were visiting in November and most of the vegetation was going dormant for winter or because of the drought. We saw a few lingering flowers and the Ocotillo cactii were in bloom.




We exited the park over a 13 mile gravel road that was a challenge in some places. In wet weather it would be impassable.

The trip back to Marfa was uneventful except for a stop by the Border Patrol at one of their checkpoints.

HOTEL PAISANO - MARFA, TX

I already mentioned that I opted to stay at a local hotel the second night in Marfa. The Hotel Paisano is a historic hotel on the national register, built in 1930 and designed by Henry Trost. The hotel was used during the filming of the Edna Ferber classic "Giant", which was James Dean's last movie.

 

 

My room was next to the room Elizabeth Taylor stayed in during ther filming of the movie. Maybe James Dean or Rock Hudson stayed in my room?

 

 

 

The hotel is restored (somewhat) and is well maintained. They seem very proud of it and its history. The public areas are nicely kept and restored while the rooms are well maintained but in need of a little more restoration...like new carpet and some fresh paint.

 

My room was nice and roomy with some nice period (1930-40) style furniture. It had French doors leading out to the balcony overlooking a large courtyard with a fountain. It was a little too cold to take advantage of the balcony.

 

 

 

The hotel has a nice and popular restaurant. The food was good and plentiful but the prices were a little high.

RACING FOR HOME

Beginning about Tuesday we began hearing horror stories about how bad the weather was going to get starting on Thursday. Snow, ice, sleet, rain and high wind was in the forecast. When we left Marfa on Thursday morning we decided to try to get all the way home. The only problem was that we had to get back to Ruidoso to check out of the condo and pick upur other luggage. We got an early start and decided to go on the interstate through El Paso and then pick up US 54 and go north through Alamogordo to Ruidoso. The trip was OK...no bad weather. The check out process was quick and we were loaded up and back on the road in about a half hour.  We ran into deteriorating weather by the time we reached the Rio Grande valley near Soccorro and it was blowing drizzle in a few places. Of course, we reached Albuquerque at evening rush hour so it took a while to get all the way through town and then through the perpetual construction work at Bernalillo. We made it OK and were able to go pick up our cat, Watson, before thbe animal hospital closed.

 

The weather threatened all day Friday and then we woke up with a light dusting of snow on Saturday. It snowed a little until Monday morning but never amounted to much. 

Local Trips

I've been doing a few local day trips and most of these are posted on I Spy With My Little Eye
(  http://ken-ispywithmylittleeye.blogspot.com/  ).

 You might enjoy seeing some of the pictures.

Cabezon Peak

Day Trips -- Tent Rocks AKA Kasha Katuwe

I've been working on my house and not getting out much so I decided to take a few day trips before the weather got too risky.  I hope to take a day each week and just run off somewhere.  Yesterday I headed up to Tent Rocks.  It's about a 25 minute drive up the interstate toward Santa Fe with another 20 minutes or so going through the Cochiti Pueblo lands.  Kasha Katuwe is a Cochiti name for a white cliff and it is now designated as a national monument. It's a place close enough that I can go there from time to time just to get out and walk around but this was my first tip up to see it.

Of course, things never go as planned and I got stuck in a traffic jam in Bernalillo for forty minutes. That seems impossible but there is a minor traffic jam there all the time because of road construction. Then there was a serious car wreck on top of the construction confusion only complicated by cops trying to direct traffic and no one having any idea where to go. Then there were ambulances and fire trucks trying to get through. The cops directed traffic into a residential neighborhood and from there it was every man for himself. So, the trip took twice as long as it should have.

I've seen pictures of Tent Rocks so I had an idea of what was there but there was a lot more than I expected. Part of the monument is closed because recent monsoon rains have washed out a road. The main picnic and hiking area is open and I was surprised to see how busy it was on a Thursday afternoon. The parking lot was nearly full. There is a loop trail among the tent rocks and then a second trail that goes through a slot canyon and climbs up to the top of the cliff and offers a view of the area.

The geology of the area causes strange erosional features that appear to be Indian tepees from a distance.  Millions of years ago this was a very active volcanic zone and much of the area is covered with volcanic ash and ejected rocks. As water wore down through the layers of ash it left strange shaped remnants that ere usually capped by a hard and water resistant rock.

There were many periods of eruption and ash build up to the point that the ash layer is over 1000 feet thick. It has become consolidated into a concrete-like stone with hundreds of different bands representing the different eruption cycles.

The local Indians occasionally carved homes or shelters out of the solid layers of ash.  This one is close to the loop trail.

I wandered around taking pictures of the rocks and the loop trail and then decided to take the trail through the slot canyon to the top of the cliffs. They said it was a rugged trail with some climbing and rock scrambling along the way. It turned out to be a pretty good challenge and certainly worth the effort. I was surprised to see some of the people trying to make it up the canyon. There were a few old folks...older than me...and one woman with a rotator cuff injury that was being led back into the canyon by a friend. The friend was sure they would make it OK. I had my camera monopod that I was using as a hiking stick and a small backpack and I was having a hard time in some of the places.

There were a few places where the canyon walls were only about four or five feet apart. I'm kinda pear-shaped and was wondering just how narrow this was going to get. Footing is treacherous in many spots either because of loose stones or slick bedrock.  The trail is actually a creek bed that must become a raging torrent during heavy rains.   There are dry waterfalls that you have to climb over. What you climb over on the way up you have to climb down as you come back -- it isn't a loop. I kept thinking "How am I gonna get down from here??"

When you finally get through the narrowest part of the canyon you have to climb up through a jumbled boulder and cobble filled ravine to get to the top of the cliff. The trail is identified mostly by the tracks of hiking boots of people who went this way before. I was hoping that they knew where they were going. Folks coming back down were exhausted but said it was worth the effort. At one point I met Larry...who was lost or at least separated from his group. He was at the top of the cliff and somehow missed his friends and started back down. He asked if I had seen his party and then said that if I met them along the trail to tell them that "Larry is on his way back down".  Well, sure enough, about five minutes later here comes Larry's wife and two friends who are looking perplexed and wondering where somebody is. I asked if they were looking for Larry and, of course they were and I passed on his message.  Seems like Larry does this sort of thing fairly often. I also met a couple who were celebrating their eighth anniversary by hiking through the canyon.



View from the top

The final climb is a scramble up a nearly vertical slope over switchbacks and some three and four foot rock ledges. The top is impressive but the wind came up and it almost blew me off the cliff. There are a few trails around the top and a couple trees to get behind as shelter from the wind. I met a German couple hiding behind a tree who were thinking they could camp there but were going to have to find another place. The monument is day use only. I suggested they go up to the national forest up by Santa Fe but they were afraid it would be too cold in the mountains. (Joanne and I camped there in October one year and it was very pleasant.) It was especially windy the day I was there...next time I'll pick a calmer day.

The view is impressive and I took a bunch of pictures but I took so many on my way up that my camera battery was getting low. I ended up not taking as many on my way back down the canyon.  When I got back to the parking lot I read some of the information posted on the displays and the brochure -- the climb to the top is 630 feet up --- no wonder I was tired.

This was an interesting place and close enough that I can come back here and spend more time.