New Mexico Spring Shakedown - May 2024

Super Short Spring Shakedown

May 8 - 10, 2024

Remember to click any photo for a larger version.

Intending to visit the deep outback of Utah before it gets hot, I needed to check all camper systems were functioning properly. Thus a short trip was on the menu. I'd been building a home made "barn door" star tracker which needed a test, too, so a visit to a location with dark skies was in order. I remembered seeing a spot on the map called "Cosmic Campground" in southwestern New Mexico which sounded just right.

Wednesday, May 8th

Google stated that it would take only about 4 hours to reach Cosmic Campground, north of Glennwood, NM. I figured it would take my rig a little longer. Looking at the satellite map of the campground it looked pretty baren and open, so I didn't want to arrive too early in the day and have to just sit around waiting for full dark. Even leaving mid-day would get me there too early. I looked for somewhere interesting to stop along the way and decided a hike at Lava Falls in El Malpais National Monument would suit as it was along one of the routes to take. I'd been there before, but a second look would be good.

Lava Falls

I headed out Interstate 40—what a dreadful stretch between Albuquerque and Grants! I was very relieved to turn off on NM-117 and drive into El Malpais. Such a crazy place with the topsy-turvy lava flows. I've written about this place several times; look in the right-hand column for a link to those other postings.

The turn off the highway to the trailhead is well marked and I proceeded down a good dirt road only about a mile to the parking area. The wind was blowing and it was a bit cool, but not a bad afternoon for a short hike. The trail is listed as a one mile loop. 

Typical scene

"Trail" is a grand term for the route across the lava. One has to follow the cairns which are made from the same lava, so if a cairn gets knocked over it essentially disappears. About a quarter of a mile in I had no idea where I was supposed to go. No need to panic I just walked along a ridge enjoying the views. I was pleasantly surprised that some of the cacti were starting to bloom.

At first I thought this lava gravel was being added to the cracks to make the trail safer.
Later I realized this was all a natural process.

Tenacious life.

In a while I came across a couple who were on their way out. I'd apparently cut across the loop. I followed the cairns in the direction from which they came and found the far point in the loop after a little while.

An interesting dome structure.

The "end" of the loop. I guess this is part of the "falls" in Lava Falls.

I didn't take the extension of the loop as I was tired of the chilly wind, but I did last time and recommend it. I continued in this "reverse" direction around and back (only getting lost one more time. LOL) I figure I walked a figure '9', but it was all good when I got back to the truck.

Traveling

South of El Malpais is open plains and it was indeed plain. I followed 117 then left on NM-36. I passed through some hills and arrived at Quemado where I topped up the tank. It was nearing the half full/empty mark. From there I took NM-32 south though the Gallo Mountains and Apache National Forest. This is a very pretty section as the highway climbs up into the green forest with mountains on either side. There is also a dramatic canyon which you wind through on the way south. Sorry, I didn't think to stop and take photos.

At Apache Creek I turned west on NM-12, passed through the town of Reserve, then left on US-180 for about 16 miles to the turn-off to the campground. Fortunately the junction is well marked. I didn't know what to expect. The National Forest Service website for Cosmic Campground listed its "Usage" as "Light." I wondered if there would be anyone there or not.

Cosmic Campground

I got my first clue when I turned off the highway and saw two or three RV/camping trailers disperse camped just off the road. As I drove along I was delighted that this was no barren desert, but a beautiful piñon juniper forest blanketing an area of rolling hills. When I drove over the hill where I got my first glimpse of the small campground I was chagrinned to see it was packed with cars, trucks, and large camping trailers. I drove around the short loop road and did not see a single open site. Not at all what I expected. I parked by the vault toilet and walked back to where I'd seen a woman sitting in a camp chair beside her car.

I asked her if all these people were there for the dark skies. She didn't know, but said she was. We chatted for a couple of minutes. I mentioned I'd intended to camp and try out my home made star tracker, but there were no open sites. She said she'd walked along the dirt road that continued past the campground earlier in the day and that there were many nice dispersed sites along that way. I'd noticed the road when looking at the satellite map, but thought it just lead to an old corral and cattle tank. She said next time she'd not stay in the campground itself with the trailers and generators, but find a spot along that road.

I took that nice lady's advice. I passed the first few sites as they were still close to the campground. I found a beautiful, level site at the top of a knoll. There was even a small tree that might block the westerly wind. I was hoping the wind would die down by nightfall and it did.

My campsite in the late evening.

I set up my photo equipment before it got dark. I noticed I had a strong cell signal so called my step-mom to check in while waiting for it to get dark outside.

Barn Door Tracker on my tripod. The camera attaches to the ball-head on top,
but it's not there now as I'm using it to take this photo.

It's hard not to have an appreciation of the night sky when camping in the outback as often as I have. I do confess, though I enjoy the beauty of the stars and the Milky Way, I never learned more than a few of the most popular constellations. Oh, I could often spot Venus, Mars or Jupiter, but that's about it.

I was able to calibrate the alignment of the tracker before the trip, but the mechanical parts were not working well enough to take clean, sharp images. Still I was enjoying the excuse to be at this lovely location. I went though the motions of taking sequences of stars and looked up at the sky trying to learn the names of the brighter stars. I'd brought my spotting scope to look at planets after my photo session, but discovered none were visible this night. Oh, well.

The Little Dipper—"It's full of stars." See paragraph below for details.

This is an image from the astrophotography processing software I'm trying to learn. There is a technique of "stretching" which is supposed to make image from your camera sensor look more like your eye sees the sky. I have not mastered this technique so my photo is too "flat", meaning the stars are all a similar brightness. Consequently, it would be impossible for you, the viewer, to determine the stars in Ursa Minor from the photo. So, I added a dim outline during post-processing as an aid.

Thursday, May 9th

Cosmic Campground (continued)

It was a beautiful, sunny morning so I sat out in my chair enjoying the view with my coffee. An older gentleman (who, honestly, might be younger than I am) came walking briskly up the road. I wished him a good morning and he stopped to chat. He was staying in a trailer in campground—no interest in the dark sky, just enjoying a free campsite in lovely New Mexico. He'd been there a few days and mentioned there were a few nice trails to hike in the area.

Morning view looking back toward Cosmic Campground, where you can see the white trailers.
Most of Whiterocks Mountain is in NM, but the back part is in Arizona.

I thought I'd walk up the road, myself, a little later in the morning, but in the meantime strolled around my site and found lots of blooming wildflowers. I found more flowers when I did hike up the road along with nice views.

The road past my campsite winds around the hills and up to a ridge.

As they say "LichenSubscribe."

Tufted Evening Primrose

Some sort of daisy. I wasn't able to narrow it down.

You can see this Phacelia plant all over the dry areas of NM.

Common dandelions are pretty when not in your lawn.

I wasn't aware of seeing Golden Desert-Trumpet before. It was all around the area.

Spreading Fleabane or Purple Aster, if you prefer.

Beautiful bouquet!

Desert Dandelion doesn't look much like ordinary dandelion, IMHO.

More of the flashy Golden Desert-Trumpets

And another beautiful roadside bouquet!

I enjoyed a lazy afternoon. When I was planning the trip and thought this was going to be a barren area, I had tentatively planned to revisit The Catwalk near Glenwood, then find a new campsite at another location. This area is so nice I decided to stay here another night

Where I spent much of my day.

I set up my camera and star tracker before it got dark. I took more star sequences pointing at different parts of the sky. As I had the night before I also took sequences of calibration photos, but I won't get into the technicalities here. I also knew this was more an exercise of learning the procedures and the processes without expecting much in the way of results (which was indeed the case once I reviewed the photos at home.)

As it was getting dark I photographed this "toenail" moon.

Friday, May 10th

Cosmic Campground (continued)

Started the day with a reprise of the previous day: enjoying coffee and the view from my camp chair; walking up the road and photographing the wildflowers. This had been a wonderful location to camp and enjoy the lovely countryside. I feel comfortable in recommending this area. There are a number of very nice dispersed campsites along the road both before and after the official campground.

The road makes for a dandy hiking trail.

Yellow Evening Primrose

New Mexico Thistle

It was then time to break camp and head back home. The shakedown had been a success and pretty much all systems were fully functional. The only issue was that the camper batteries no longer seem to hold as much charge as they have aged. Regular readers will know I obsess over this aspect which has become more critical since I've had to use a CPAP machine overnight the last several years. (Spoiler: when I got back to town I purchased a third AGM battery to place in parallel with the other two. This should give me a comfortable margin for cloudy days or for fall camping when the days are shorter.)

Traveling

I returned home initially following the route I drove coming down, but rather than face I-40 I stayed on US-60 until Socorro. I refilled the tank there and headed up the freeway for home.

Northern New Mexico (NM/CO) - June 2014

New Mexico and Colorado - June 2014

I'm breaking this trip into two blog posts, which is not unusual. However, instead of doing this strictly chronologically, I will divide the posts into a New Mexico post (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday morning, Thursday afternoon and Friday), then a Colorado post (Wednesday noon to Thursday afternoon).

Remember: to see larger versions of the photos, simply click on one.

Monday, June 23, 2914

Jemez Mountains

I started out this trip by revising favorite areas in these mountains only about an hour NW of home. I intended to search out the small rivers and streams for dragonflies. For some reason all the fishing access spots along the lower Jemez River were closed.

Jemez River

 I stopped on the shoulder of NM-4 where it was close to the river. There was no dragonfly activity, but I did photograph this lizard.

Whiptail Lizard next to the Jemez River

I turned back to the NM-485 turn off that leads to FR-376. I always enjoy the scenery where the Gilman Tunnels punch through the narrow canyon of the Rio Guadalupe before it flows into the Jemez River.

Gilman Tunnels

I stopped at my favorite place to access the stream just past the tunnels. Very little activity there, though I did see a Four-spotted Skimmer dragonfly that is usually only seen on lakes and ponds. I'll post a photo of this species later in this narrative. I also was happy to find a Red Rock Skimmer, a species I'd been looking for in the Jemez for two years, though other people didn't seem to have any problems finding them.

Red Rock Skimmer

I then drove up FR-539 that runs along the Rio de las Vacas. The stream at my second favorite stop was lower in June than it had been last year in August - not a good sign for the forest. Very little wildlife activity there, either, though I photographed a pretty butterfly and a very blue damselfly.

Weidemeyer's Admiral Butterfly

Tule Bluet Damselfly

I decided to continue up 539 as I'd never driven past that one spot before. My poor reading of the map led me to believe it connected to FR-126. Physically it does, but where it passes through private land the gate is locked. I returned to 376 and continued north. I took FR-604 which branches off 539 about a mile before it hits NM-126. I'd wanted to explore up this way as the USFS map showed it led to Ghost Rocks above La Cueva. I'd explored these rocks where I was a kid. The road does indeed lead there, but to the top of that feature, so there is no way to explore the rocks from there, but I did take pictures. I should have realized the rocks were on private land, but was still disappointed to discover someone had built a cabin just below them.

Looking down at Ghost Rocks

I then took NM-126 west past the turn to Fenton Lake to the Fish Hatchery. I'd found interesting dragonflies here before, but only saw the Four-spotted Skimmer and lots of damselflies. I did also get a nice shot of a Song Sparrow.

Four-spotted Skimmer

Song Sparrow

Continuing on NM-126 I ran into a couple miles of white dust of the consistency of talcum powder. It was so deep that I shifted into FWD just for stability as it was actually slippery! This was surprising as the road was perfectly fine last August. I guess it really is dry this year (glad to report the Jemez has received a couple of good rains in early July since my trip.) I then hit a delay for road construction. I was going to stop to check for dragonflies where Rio de las Vacas crossed 126, but that clearing is just where the construction company was parking their heavy equipment. Sigh.

I continued on the the town of Cuba. I stopped there at El Bruno's for either a late lunch or early dinner and had one of the best green chile cheese burgers, evar ;-) With the large portion of fries, I couldn't finish it so took half along for later. Gotta love having a fridge in the camper. (Spoiler: it was better cold that most other burgers are, hot.)

Just northwest of Cuba I took NM-96 north, then east, to connect to north US-84 and hence to US-64.

Tres Pedras

I'd never been on 64 between 84 and 285 before. It is a lovely area, but all of it until well after you go over the pass is private. There was a spectacular rock mountain to the north which I learned is named the Brazos Cliffs. I stopped at the overlook just past the pass to try to get a photo. The light wasn't very good and I waited a while to see if the clouds would change and sun would shine on the cliffs, but it never happened.

Brazos Cliffs

Once I entered Carson National Forest I turned off to try to find dispersed camping, but the forest road on the map was closed. I tried a smaller road on the other side which was a bit rough. I found a couple of potential spots, but the mosquitoes were thick. I did get this interesting photo of a lone pronghorn shedding it's winter coat.

Pronghorn in molt

As there was no immediate prospect for bug-free dispersed camping and it was getting late, I turned into the National Forest campground at Hopewell Lake. As in most areas I've noticed that older forest camps have become day-use only and new camping areas have been built to be more ecologically sustainable and physically larger to accomodate the trend toward larger camp trailers and vehicles. Such was the case at Hopewell Lake where camping is no longer permitted at the scenic lakeside sites. The new campground had the advantage, at least, of being mosquito free.

I didn't realize until the following day, many miles away, that this was the first campsite I've utilized in my FWC camper where I forgot to take a photo of my camper in the site. Perhaps because of my late arrival. Oh, well, it was bound to happen and this was a pretty ordinary site, after all.

Tuesday, June 24

After breakfast I took the trail from my campsite down the hill to Hopewell Lake. It's a nice looking lake and I had fun chatting with the folks fishing and the family cooking breakfast lakeside. There were wildflowers to admire, as well.

Blue Flax

The north end of Hopewell Lake

I spoke with the fisherman who had the blue, inflatable pontoon boat in the photo below; he said there were enormous trout, some even 24" in length out in the middle of the lake. Of course that could be a fish story.

The south end of Hopewell Lake.

Blossoms of the shrub that was all around the lake.

After returning to camp and packing up I kept on 64 with the goal of heading north on US-285 and then west on FR-87, an interesting road I traveled last year. I had asked the camp host about FR-133 that heads north from 64 up to the same area, but her description of the roughness of the road convinced me to take the pavement around.

Taos Plateau

I love driving west on FR-87. The first 15 miles, or so, are the northwest-most part of the Taos Plateau Volcanic Field.  It is the largest volcanic field within the Rio Grande rift, but you wouldn't necessarily realize that looking at the grass and shrub covered praire. The first 5 miles are BLM, then you enter Carson NF. Incidentally, the largest section of the field, east of US-285 is now part of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, established in March 2013 which runs from the Colorado border to just north of US-64.

San Antonio Mountain looks like a small, round hill, but is a volcano with a height of 10,908 feet.

San Antonio Mountain from FR-87 near US-285

I stopped where 87 crosses Rio San Antonio creek to look for dragonflies. I only saw a few damselflies and some lovely wildflowers, but it is a pretty stream.

Where 87 crosses the Rio San Antonio.

Toad Flax on the side of the cut above the Rio San Antonio

Rio San Antonio

Boreal Bluet on the Rio San Antonio

Tusas Mountains

I continued up 87. It quickly climbs up into the foothills of the Tusas Mountains leaving the plateau behind. There are gorgeous views from up here.

Looking back (east) toward San Antonio Mountain and the plateau.

Paintbrush near my feet where I took the photo just above this one.

At the "top" of 87 you can go left, continuing on 87 to Lagunitas or right, following 87A, to Rio de los Piños. Last year I went right, this year I wanted to look at Lagunitas to see if the campground was worth spending the night, then head back the way I did last year. There was some pretty country on 87 and some rough road, too.

Looking over the Cruces Basin Wilderness from the junction of 87 and 87A

Olguin Mesa seen from FR-87

The campgrounds at the lakes at Lagunitas are of the old style, though it looks like they are trying to refurbish the lower campground. Seems they brought down quite a number of full grown trees, but then stopped without taking them away or doing anything else to the sites.

Lower Lagunitas Campground and one of the little lakes.

Strange and it didn't make it inviting for me to stay, so I headed back, then continued on on 87A.

Golden Banner growing alongside the road.
I simply poked my camera out my window.

Last year when I camped at Rio de los Piños, it was just me and one couple way down the road. This year there were folks in nearly every site. That doesn't make it "crowded" like most campgrounds as most sites are placed along the road at far enough intervals that you are out of eyesight and hearing of other campers. I didn't get as pretty of a site this year, but did find one with lots of shade for the very warm afternoon.

My campsite next to the river.

It is a beautiful area with the river running along rocky cliffs. I enjoyed my early evening walk and took a few photos.

River and canyon walls

Wild Rose

Bend in the river

Spotted Sandpiper

FR-284 runs along side the river

Wednesday morning

After a short morning walk, I left the campground on Los Piños Road that leads north to Colorado.

The next section of my trip in Colorado will be covered in the next post.

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Thursday, continued.

I returned to New Mexico from Colorado on a hot Interstate-25 late in the afternoon.

I tried to find the family New Mexican restaurant I'd had recommended to me in Raton, but was mistaken on where it was and couldn't remember the name. So I just gassed up and continued down the freeway. I turned east at Springer onto US-56, then south on NM-39 to Mill's Canyon Road where I turned back west. I was amused to find this windmill smack-dab in the middle of the road.

Windmill in the middle of Mill's Canyon Road

There are two campgrounds at this western unit of the Kiowa National Grasslands. The Rim Campground is, as its name implies, on the rim of Mill's Canyon and includes two covered horse corrals. As the hot wind was blowing across the rolling prairie, I decided to drive down the high-clearance vehicles only, primitive road. I was not optimistic about my chances for star photos as high clouds had been evident for hours.

There were several Kingbirds in the Rim Campground.

I had expected Mill's Canyon to be a small, unimpressive feature, like some of the canyons I'd seen on the high plains of the Texas panhandle. But no, the narrow road switchbacks down the rock canyon wall 1000 feet to the bottom where the Canadian River flows. Along the river are ruins of a ranch with orchard, and hotel and stage stop.

The old orchard along the Canadian River

The campground was fairly new, though just basic with vault toilet and level gravel parking for campers, metal fire pits, and tables. There is evidence of much dispersed camping in the area, but the mosquitoes chased me back to the no-fee, developed campground. Plus, if the clouds did clear, the wide gravel area would be a good, safe place to set up my tripod and camera.

My campsite

The clouds didn't clear entirely that night, but there were areas where I could see the stars. I think there was still a lot of high altitude moisture as the stars weren't very bright even though there was no moon. I worked around them best I could. I was also surprised there there were one or two lightning bugs in the canyon.

The Milky Way shining down into Mill's Canyon

Friday

Before I left Mill's Canyon I stopped to look over the ruins of the old Mill's ranch. Interesting, but not particularly photogenic. As I was climbing the road up out of the canyon I spotted a bear crossing the road ahead; that was cool.

Looking across the grasslands on my way back to the highway.

Once I was back at the highway, I drove south to Roy, then west on NM-120 toward Wagon Mound and the freeway. About seven miles west of Roy the highway descends into the Canadian River Canyon before climbing right back up the other side.

I was heading home, but decided to head over to Mora first as the thought of the brisket enchiladas made New Mexico style with blue corn tortillas at Rene's Diner was too enticing to pass up. And I could check the Mora River for dragonflies.

The enchiladas were every bit as good as I'd remembered from last year. There weren't very many dragonflies, but I did get photos of one of my favorites, a Pale Snaketail.

Pale Snaketail in the Mora River

Thus, I headed down NM-518 to Las Vegas where I picked up I-25 that took me back to the Albuquerque area.

My next post will cover those parts of Colorado I skipped above. Thanks for reading.