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| Hiking | 1.91 Miles |
250 AEG |
| | Hiking | 1.91 Miles | | | |
| 250 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | The first real day of a 5 week long New Mexico Trip.
Some friends that used to live here in the valley wanted me to visit them in Santa Fe and help watch their cat and house while they went overseas for 3 weeks. How could I turn that down? While I have worked over there extensively in the past and driven through a few times, there was never any chance to explore. I decided to plan on taking 2 weeks after they got back and exploring north central New Mexico. We made the plans in November of 2024. And I spent months on an itinerary of places to see and when. Little did I know then how incredible the timing would actually be. 2025 came in pretty awful and got worse from there. By the end of March, my Mom had passed away and by the end of April, I had suffered two more incredibly personal similar losses. By the time I left for this trip, I was a mental and physical wreck and praying that there would be no further heartbreak. This trip was everything I needed and then some, and it delivered.
I left the valley late on the evening of the 8th with the intent of just getting out of town and spending the night somewhere cooler. The next day I headed for Santa Fe. My goal was to get to their place on the 10th and they would leave the 11th. So I had planned on making an overnight stop at Bluewater Lake State Park about 90 minutes from Santa Fe.
It was "preseason" at this park for sure. Very few people there and even fewer, like 1, employee that I saw. Had my pick of campsites and I found a nice one overlooking the lake. After taking a break from the drive, I meandered down to the lake for awhile and then after dinner, decided to "hike" the Dam Overlook Trail. I decided to make a loop of it, so hiked up the road almost to the overlook itself and finished climbing the hill. Nice views from the top, where there were the remains/foundation of an old structure. The small dam was pretty scenic to look down upon as well. I went down the hill looking for the real trail and found a use trail that hugged the cliff by the dam, so I followed it first and it took me all the way back to the furthest south campground before mine. So I retook the road to the top again and grabbed the real trail which followed the canyon and Bluewater Creek back to the north before forking off and dumping me back at my camp.
Scenic little jaunt and it gave me my itinerary for the next morning before I left for Santa Fe.
Just a few notes. Non-residents pay slightly more than residents at New Mexico State Parks. New Mexico State Parks are really hurting for money and thus, really hurting for personnel, so not as well maintained as maybe what you're used to. The route I posted with this is completely computer generated, as I forgot to use RS on this one. Don't believe the brochures when it comes to the actual trails, chances are good that they are not accurate. Many of the parks have very limited information about the parks themselves. Some don't even have a brochure at all, it's all either online or on a sign somewhere. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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| Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty & well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming, "Wow What a Ride!" |
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