Sunday, a bright blue morning with a hint of fall in southern New Mexico. The temperatures have been getting down into the low 70’s at night but sadly still going up into the high 90’s which means the AC still comes on. I’ll appreciate it when we get into the day 80’s and night 60’s and my construction block house walls finally cool off. Officially today was the last day above 90°.
I woke with only one thing in mind. To get to the mountains. I’ve got to do it fairly early because there is a chance of thunderstorms up there, like it is often during monsoon. I posted a request on the local social media site to see if the road to Sunspot was no longer full of loose chip gravel. I was surprised by such about a month ago, and I turned around at the first chance and went to Fir Trail. Several people assured me it was fine.
I wanted to go to Upper Karr Recreation Area where there’s a mile long, quarter mile wide meadow with finger meadows reaching up into the treelines, so Bella can finally stretch out and run. You may recall that several weeks ago I let her off leash on the Fir Trail. She loved it and on her last run before leashing I saw she was going to hit afterburners if I didn’t stop her. This is a problem on the Fir Trail seeing how there’s a highway nearby, a twisty trail where I can’t see what is coming, and lots of trees. Upper Karr Recreation doesn’t have any of these.
My connection to her seems strong, so I opened the gate and opened the back door of the CR-V and called Bella to get in. It’s 20′ where she could get it into her head to run for the street. Instead, she walked out and stood at the back door. “Get in.” She balked once and I gently blocked her with my legs from running back in the yard. She just needed a moment to think. She does that a lot. So I paused and she did some calculating for footage and up she scrambled. Yessss.
She also sat up for a couple of miles of travel before she laid down on the seat cover. I wonder what bothers her about traveling. Tire noise? Swaying? Sensitive to music? She hasn’t thrown up in several months. If she has to lay down every time we travel I can live with that. As soon as I turn off the ignition, her head is up and she is ready to go.
At the intersection of US70 and NM244 a careless driver pulling across and a speeding driver almost T-boned. I guess he was focused on me turning and didn’t see the speeding guy in the other lane. The speed limit is 55. I get passed like I’m standing still all the time.
About halfway through NM244 I come upon the feral horses feeding on the side of the road. A stallion, three mares and two spring foals. Darn it. So many people squeal with delight. Wild horses, they say. No, feral horses released by owners whose pastures are eaten to nubs in the heat of the summer. They are breeding and making all sorts of trouble. The Forest Service catches them on occasion but more keep showing up (and, of course, making their own). Feral horses are not protected by the FS. They are an invasive species. They injure people, eat the grass needed for native species, leave big piles of poop everywhere and are hit by vehicles.
The little fishing and RV camping business, Silver Springs, had a couple of fishers on the bank. It’s not a very big pond but it seems to be popular. I passed the quad campgrounds of Silver, Silver Overflow, Saddle, and Apache where we’d recently camped twice. On the main national forest sign at the entrance sitting perpendicular to the traffic, are big CLOSED signs.
I continued on to Cloudcroft. Happily, US82 looks to have been sealed and the loose gravel removed. However, there are faded spots that look like no rock took a grip. I hope that doesn’t hold water come winter. The tennis courts temporarily turned into pickleball courts was busy. The Farmers Market at the ice rink was going strong. People already lining up at Mad Jack’s BBQ. Cloudcroft has a tiny police force. Las month they posted a summary of the calls made. Averages five a day. The chief said the tourist season makes them really busy. I’ve read about some of them. Tourists can be idiots and entitled, just like locals.
Turned onto NM130 which makes a big loop south of Cloudcroft and comes out near Mayhill. I passed Deerhead Campground which looks to be still open. A homemade CLOSED sign has been taped to the Sleepygrass Campground sign. Sleepygrass is right past La Pasada Encantada Trailhead. Before the first snow or a certain date which I don’t know, whichever comes first, the gate about 50 yards off the highway will be closed and locked. It will also put an end to visiting La Pasada and primitive camping on the forest service road Pumphouse Ridge until the snow melts. That used to be a fabulous road to camp on but the road has gotten worse and worse over the years. I don’t recommend a car traveling it or a heavy SUV unless you have really good tires.
I turned onto NM6563 which could take me to Timberon and even farther to out of the mountains to the Owen Prather Highway/NM506. I’m not sure why it’s called a highway. From Timberon south, it’s a gravel road until a few miles away from US-54 between El Paso and Alamogordo. My trip is shorter and remains within the forest. About 5 miles to Upper Karr Recreation Area.
Geez, the campground is packed with a big group. 23 vehicles. Every campsite is taken and another dozen or so tents and canopies are pitched in various spots in the trees. They even have a large water tank on a trailer. Kids squealing. Teenagers walking. Parents packing. A lot going on. Only one small dog in the entire group. I wonder why they didn’t rent one of the group campgrounds. I think those are still open because there is no water at them. Would have been more private, but may have been too many people.
I parked on the road coming in. The Forest Service has been cutting dead trees and piling brush. It was desperately needed. Lots of standing dead in the path to where the kiddos sled and the parents wait for the kids to come to a stop and around the campsites. I wonder if they will remove the piles to somewhere else or burn them in place this winter. I’m guessing burn in place.
I leashed Bella, and we safely maneuvered all. Was surprised to find more tents down the hill near the meadow and people walking along the old logging road/trail. Also surprised to find quite the crop of dried thistles. I haven’t been here since I got Bella and quite the crop has flourished. I wonder if those are the non-natives that the FS wants to get rid of. I once saw an old woman with an equally old butcher knife at the Toboggan Trail. She was cutting thistles down like she was mad mad. I bet I can rig up my sharpest knife to a wooden staff and cut them down like I cut cornstalks when I was young.
How am I supposed to let my dog off leash in this? Easy. We went up the finger meadow past the stock tank. There I let her off and she buried her nose in a gopher hole and inhaled like it was a steak on the grill. She had plenty to choose from. I sent out the hope that she knows not to step on one while she’s running. I expected her to go berserk with freedom, but she stayed close. We even played fetch and that wasn’t enough to get her to zooming. So we walked to another meadow, even bigger, and I tried again. I think the openness gave her anxiety. She’d go about twenty yards away and turn to check. I like dogs that check.
We walked a mile out. Dodged some really big, sloppy cow poop piles. Found a pile of elk poop with turds the size of quarters. Usually they are a bit bigger than a pinto bean. That must be a massive bull.
A dad with two small boys and a dog approached us on the faded road tracks. The littlest boy saw Bella, came at a run and dad had to stop him. He explained to the little one why he could not approach stranger’s dogs. I waited so he could practice not rushing. Our dogs so wanted to meet, but we went on. She got to meet people in the parking lot. All knew how to approach a strange dog. Two miles is a goodly jaunt. I pulled the CR-V into an empty slot and Bella and I feasted on a Bumble Bee Tuna Salad Kit. One cracker for you — one cracker for me. I was hungry and got all the tuna. The bottomless pit had a big breakfast before we left home. She’s not going to starve, although she acts like it.
Let’s go over to La Pasada Encantada to hang out under the trees. Several families went out. Two bow hunters came back to their UTV and left. I needed to potty and as I can no longer easily spring up from a squatting position, we headed for Deerhead Campground. I used one of their vault toilets and we headed back into the village. Even more folks than before. It’s remains tourist season and will do so until cold weather hits. They usually have an event every month. On Labor Day weekend they hosted the Food Truck Battle and Craft Show at Zenith Park. Nothing in November but December has two events.
A quick pull in at the quad campgrounds. The iron pipe gate was locked into place stopping access to Silver, Saddle, and Apache. A truck and travel trailer are in front of the locked gate. Perhaps, he like me, wonders why the campgrounds have been closed during nice weather. I can’t turn around easily with him there. The Silver Overflow pipe gate has not yet been put into place, so I pulled into the Overflow and did a 180. As I am coming out, the truck driver pulled in to turn around as well.
We continued on our way. More people are using this road while US-82 is being resurfaced. Impatient people. It began to rain — sometimes hard, sometimes not. A white SUV sat on my bumper. A stupid thing to do in New Mexico. I topped a hill and there she was. A cow facing the road with her nose almost touching the asphalt. Her head went up. She looked across to the other side. Oh crap. I slowed down. The vehicle behind me did not. I swerved in the left hand lane to miss the cow and not get hit by the vehicle behind me. The cow shied away from my vehicle and the moron stayed behind me a considerable distance until we entered the twisties and dang if he/she didn’t ride my bumper again. Are you kidding me? I held scrupulously to the speed limit.
Bent is having an apple festival next month.
A driver yielding onto the highway gathered speed nicely. I judged the big SUV as entering slightly ahead of me. Oh no. At the last second he/she tapped their brakes and slowed. Then flickered brakes as though they couldn’t decide. By then they are over the line. I hit my brakes which caused the vehicle behind me to do so as well. Another driver driving much too close to my bumper. I passed very unhappily. What a piss poor job of merging.
Three bad driving incidents within my vicinity was enough for me. I was glad when I pulled under the carport.
Monday is a big day. The remodel crew arrives at the big house to strip the master bath shower down to bare bones and rebuild. I will be so excited for Margo and I to not have to step over the side of a bathtub to shower.
