Views of some the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

Wednesday, March 18

Altitude: 7543ft

I spent the afternoon enjoying the sunshine and trying my hand again on using binos with my phone's camera.

The temperature only got to 75°F and while it felt quite warm in sunshine, it was a bit cool in the shade, especially the light breeze.

I thought the light was OK at 430pm, some short depth of field shots:

But then, as the golden hour took effect, the colors got a bit richer.  They really came out with some post-processing.  Here are bino closeups of the peaks show above.  Taken from my campsite using a tripod and the bino adapters.

Roughly 21 miles away

Blanca Peak

Closeup of a visitor, sitting on my campsite 

shelter's roof.

Returning to Colorado

Tuesday, March 17

I spent St Patrick's Day driving along I-25 to Albuquerque from Elephant Butte New Mexico. 

I spent Monday night lot docking at Suzuki Samurai Guru Mike W's home in Elephant Butte.  Dinner was with neighborhood friends Ed and Luana where I learn to play the game called Aggravation, quite a lot of fun actually.

I woke late on Tuesday, it was almost 8:00 a.m.! Coffee inside with Mike and Laura while we chatted for a while and then I left them at 9:30 to head north along I-25 towards Albuquerque. 

This time though, I decided not to use the same old route of staying on I-25 all the way back to Denver metro. I thought I would explore the US 285 route between Albuquerque / Taos in Northern New Mexico. 

The first BLM campground I tried was still closed for the season, damn it. They don't open till April. This was the Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area Overlook campground.

So I continued on to the Rio Grande Gorge recreation area which had four open campgrounds but no dispersed spots that I could see although there was a small primitive camping lot that was very small. 

I checked them all out, I ended up at the first one closest to the highway, since it had open spots and the RV sites had electricity. No water at the site though since I guess it's still winter in there schedule even though the weather has been very warm. 

It was close to 5:00 before I was fully set up, long day, lots of windy roads through hilly terrain. 

After dinner I took Yagi out for a ride hoping for some kind of nice lighting. But the lighting went away pretty quickly after these pictures due to the high canyon walls of the gorge.

Wednesday, March 18

I left the Pilar campground shortly before 9:00 a.m., having waited fruitlessly for sunlight to come out enforce so I could get some pictures of the Rio Grande waters.

It was hilly driving north and I crossed into Colorado at 10:00 a.m. 

About an hour after that I was nearing the Great Sand Dunes National Park area and the sign Luis Lake Wildlife Area.  I am now staying at the campground there where there is free electricity at some of the sites and great Mountain views of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. 

Relaxing near Indian Bread Rocks Recreation Area

Saturday, March 14 - Pi Day

Sunrise at Indian Bread Rocks:

Some pics from a short ride into the nearby campground area during mid-morning:

Pi Day sunset:

Pi day high temperature: 80°F

Sunday, March 15

A do nothing day, sunny but windy with a high of only 80°F.

Sunset was ok:

Tomorrow, Truth or Consequences!

Back at the Indian Bread Rocks BLM Rec Area

I guess I am a desert guy, happy with just medium sized bushes around me as opposed to surrounded by large tall trees. 

I left the Chiricahua National Monument area this morning around 8:00 and by noon I was setting up camp at a new to me site in the Indian Bread BLM area.  My usual preferred side was occupied so I decided to check out a couple of candidates, and I am glad I did. 

It was a very windy day as I left Willcox, so I was glad that I decided to stop nearby at Indian Bread Rocks BLM Rec Area!

I found a wide site in a small warren of trails:

10x digital zoom of interesting rock

Altitude: 4068 ft.

Temperature high of 75°F, lovely.

I relax the rest of the day until about 4:00 in the afternoon when I went out for a short ride to see how full the camping area near here was.  There were still three small sites and one large primo site available! 

Here's some other rocks that were being painted by the afternoon sun: 

Can you spot the rock climbing cows?

Here you go...

An update about the leak in Yagi's rear tire's inner tube.  One still exists, however it is much slower now. I had pumped it up to 20 PSI before retiring for the evening yesterday; and it was at 10 PSI this morning.  

I feel did that come to 20 PSI before I loaded it on to the front rack on the RV and preparation for today's move. When I got to Indian bread rocks it was at 15 PSI.  So, she's quite rideable for now until I get her home. I'm not going to replace the inner tube on the road like I did the front tire, as the rear tire needs to be replaced as well.

Friday, March 13

This morning before things got too warm, I decided to try and hike up the rocks near the campsite to get a picture of the campsite from above. 

Lots of brush with spines in it but otherwise no issues. 

Bedrock Mortars used for grinding 

By native Americans 

Getting close to top

The Ocotillo isn't blooming yet...

Cool rocks seen behind the rock below

That's as high as I got....

As I was sitting by the campsite resting and cooling off, I decided to take some bino shots with the camera phone:

Rock at highest point visit from camp

Distant Balanced Rock

The rock I climbed to....

More to follow.... weather is supposed to be warmer the next few days