Look here AZLRO site for more info on event, lodging and trails!

The turn off onto State Road 279 is just west of mile marker 41 on US 550. SR 279 starts as a two lane black top that becomes a well maintained dirt road beyond San Luis.

The mesas, peaks and valleys along the roads in the area are stunning. I’m always dismayed that I can’t capture the grandeur and beauty my eye perceives through the lens of my camera. On the last two trips into the valley my dad was driving and I shot from the passenger’s seat, so forgive the poor quality.

There are several neat old adobe structures in the Guadalupe Historic Site. All but a few are in various stages of decay. Some of our neighbors are from Guadalupe and other small communities in the area. The memories they’ve shared with us were the inspiration for our exploration out in the Rio Puerco Valley.

The old store:

This out house should have been pointed easterly for a nicer view:

A few of the neat old houses:

Continuing south on the road will bring you to the Guadalupe Ruins. This site is a Chaco Outlier and is part of the vast network of communities surrounding (at a great distances) Chaco Canyon.

Climbing up to the ruins:

Inside one of the Kivas:

A common wall from which rooms have slid off the mesa:

View from the ruins:

The slopes to the south of the ruins and the area on the opposite side of the road are literally …. littered with sherds and tiny remains of tools or tool making debris. We spent at least on hour sharing a look at little treasures before flicking them back onto the slopes. Most of the sherds where white on black of various styles. We did find a few orange and red pieces. The children we took out on one of the trips had a blast sorting through the tiny pieces of the distant past.

One of our neighbors told my dad about a cave that we very much want to find. The cave is supposed to have a “Spanish Map” etched into one of the walls. After visiting the Guadalupe Ruins my dad and I explored several roads trying to relate our aging neighbors recollections with the terrain we could drive or walk to.

On one of these little side roads we found a sign indicating that the way beyond it was subject to seasonal closures. The canyon and the Tower Ruin Site are closed for privacy during sacred Native American traditional activities during the following periods: 15 September – 15 October, 15 December – 31 December, 1 March – 15 March and 20 June – 30 June. Eager to see the Tower Ruin and knowing we wouldn’t get another opportunity until after the New Year we decided to return prepared for a hike in short order.

The 13th was a perfect day for a short hike and we entered the canyon mid-morning. You can drive in to the trail-head on a road or drive through the arroyo about 1.3 miles before you get to a fence. The arroyo wasn’t a major challenge, but we were in my dad’s Jeep Comanche with stock sized tires, so care was taken while negotiating lots of rock fields due to ground clearance concerns.

The canyon was a real treat. It started out fairly wide and narrowed as we worked our way in along the arroyo bottom.

This guy looks a lot like Woody Woodpecker to me:

I really liked the way the sun shining though bushes on the rim made them look translucent:

About 1.7 miles in you’ll come to a petroglyph panel on your left:

There are more petroglyphs on the right wall of the canyon a bit further in and closer to the canyon floor.

Two of my favorites:

You can see how close to the floor many of these are. Surely there are more buried beneath the sand that has washed into the canyon:

You can see one of the ruins from the floor near the petroglyphs:

The other one becomes visible when you climb out on top of the mesa:

View of the large tower structure through the window of the nearly complete round structure:

A nice view back down the canyon from the mesa:

Cabezon in the background:

The Tower Ruin:

Several of the small round ruins near the tower. Could they have been dwellings or for storage?

The two nearly complete structures were rebuilt in the late 1980s I believe. As mentioned earlier, they are still in use for ceremonial purposes.

Exploring the back-roads of New Mexico with my dad is always awesome. He has forgotten more about the open country than I’ll probably ever learn. I’m always amazed when he takes stories he hears from the elderly gentlemen in the neighborhood and plots them using Google Earth. When he starts plotting coordinates and identifying trails, roads and geographic features I am guaranteed an adventure.

This report is wrapped up, but the adventure isn’t. We’ve still got the cave with the map to find. It’s been said, of course, there is Spanish gold in those hills

Public Lands Maps of New Mexico

I’ve borrowed some information about the Chama River Canyon Wilderness from the USFS website:

“CHAMA RIVER CANYON WILDERNESS

The Rio Chama Wilderness encompasses 50,300 acres in northwest New Mexico. The U.S. Department of Agriculture designated the land a wilderness area in 1978 and in 1986 the Rio Chama, that flows through the wilderness, was deemed a Wild and Scenic River. Chama River Canyon Wilderness, photo

Ponderosa Pine, Willows and Cottonwoods populate the landscape as well as a range of shrubs and desert grasses. The walls of the Chama Canyon are a striking variety of colors from yellows to maroons marking the distinct sedimentary layers of rock.

Between 70 and 80 different bird varieties can be found in the Chama River Canyon. Raptors, hawks, and owls perch along the canyon walls and surrounding trees. On the ground, mule deer, elk coyote, black bear among other animals can be seen searching the canyon for food. Cattle also are seen grazing in areas of the wilderness during summer months.

Two main trails are most popular as access into the wilderness. The Hart Trail (Trail #293), off of Highway 84 and Forest Road 145, descends into Chama River Canyon and meets with the Rio Chama. This trail provides a great view of the canyon as well as great fishing opportunities.

The second most popular trail is a portion of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail System. There are two access points to this famous trail. The Skull Bridge on Forest Road 151 is one entry. The other access is from the top of Ojitos Canyon from Highway 96.

The Chama River Canyon Wilderness is located in the Coyote Ranger District of the Santa Fe National Forest. Small areas of the wilderness also extend into the Carson National Forest.”

To get to the areas I wanted to camp in I chose the Forest Road 151 route. Take US 64 north from Santa Fe or south from Chama. Forest Road 151 is just north of mile marker 227 and the same road leads to the Christ of the Desert Monastery. I didn’t carry my Canon G9 on the last two trips out here and had some challenges working with the camera on my Droid X, but I’ll share what pics I thought were usable.

You can see this formation across the highway from the Forest Road entrance.

Some shots of the very well maintained road:

The road runs a little more than 13 miles into the canyon. At the end is the monastery. Christ of the Desert Monastery (warning, monastic singing at this link)

The canyon widens out before you get to the monastery. The views from the improved Rio Chama Campground are stunning.

The improved camp ground is really nice. There are four or five sites right on the river. All sites have picnic tables and steel fire rings. There are three vault toilet buildings within the camp ground. I choose not to stay in the improved campground wanting something a little more private (though the sites are spread out fairly well). Surprisingly, this camp ground generally does not fill up on a weekend.

I generally camp at dispersed sites between “The Whirlpool” and “Oak Point”.

Here’s a shot from my Oak Point camp site:

That was a nice site, but I found a nicer, more secluded site back up the road (east). This site is unnamed, but is hard to miss. It’s got a lonely tall cottonwood right at the edge of the river which provides excellent shade and an anchor for a rope to swing out into the river on.

Views from the camp site:

A group with kayaks had already set up at my cottonwood camp site this weekend, so I camped in the “Whirlpool” dispersed camping area. There are several nice sites right along the river, but the best is all the way down the road (sorry, no pictures). This site is at a bend in the river right before the “Big Eddy” take out. The water gets shallow enough for some easy wading and swimming. The site is large and can accommodate a good sized group.

On my way out to resupply some essential items I stopped to take a few photos of an old adobe ruin off of Forest Road 151 and overlooking the canyon and river. I haven’t found any information about the ruin and assume it was an old ranch house. It is large enough not to be a line shack.

That wraps up this short trip report. If you are traveling through northern New Mexico and are looking for a nice place to camp, I highly recommend this area. It’s a good base camp for exploring the El Vado area and the forest roads south and west of Abiquiu.

Cheers,
Abe

http://landrovernationalrally.org/

Ouray was a blast – we didn’t break the record of 13 vehicles, but came in close with 12 on Black Bear! Thanks everyone for making this another great High Desert Rover’s adventure.

Our Farmington Trip is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, May 15-16, 2010. If you plan on joining us, please contact Jackie via this website.

High Desert Rovers will have 8 vehicles participating in the Arizona Land Rover Rally in March. Contact Dan Barton if you are interested in joining the club in Tuscon, AZ. For more information on the Arizona Rally log on to http://www.azlro.org/.