Finally, after what seems almost like an eternity, I am back in the forested mountains which I feel so at home in, despite still being far from that place I once considered my home - Montana. After a seven hour trip from the high desert locale I had been camping at just north of Silver City, I arrived in the mountains of the Santa Fe national forest, and found a beautiful creekside campsite in a high mountain canyon to setup camp, where I plan to stay for the next two weeks to 16 days or so.
I arrived on the tail end of a cold front which I later learned brought around 10 inches to a foot of snow to the area, large pockets of which remained on the northern slopes and shaded side of the canyon, reminding me of spring in Montana. It also got down to 19 degrees Fahrenheit my first night here, the coldest temperatures I’ve felt in a long while now, probably since around Christmas time.
I also hadn’t seen more than a light dusting of snow since late December when a post-Christmas snow storm dropped several inches of snow on my campsite at 6,000 feet elevation south of Silver City, shortly before I headed further south to Arizona, where I would spend over a month before returning to the Silver City area of NM.
I had planned to leave the southern area of NM on Monday at the latest - where I had been for just over 6 weeks, camping at various places in the southern Gila National Forest around Silver City - but after volunteering at the local Gospel Mission (food bank/soup kitchen/thrift store all in one) the previous Wednesday, I decided to postpone my travel out of the area until Thursday so I could volunteer there one more time. They only needed help on Wednesdays, due to cutting back on the number of days they gave out food boxes in response to Covid19.
I still had to leave the campsite I had been staying at just north of Fort Bayard, however, due to having reached my two week camping limit and having enough of that location anyway. So on Sunday I headed a bit deeper and higher into the forest, only a few miles away, and found a wonderful temporary campsite to pitch my smaller tent for a few nights, with a little more peace and quiet than the previous location had afforded me, and amazing high desert Mountain View’s from 7,000 elevation.
The campsite I found near Fort Bayard was probably one of the most beautiful desert locations I have yet camped at, at around 6,200 ft elevation, with a small clear spring-fed creek flowing through, settled in a grove of very large mature juniper and oak trees that created quite the canopy, with amazing views across the desert valley and of the surrounding hills.
Fort Bayard is a no longer functioning old historic fort, from where the US Army hunted down Geronimo, who spent a number of years in that area leading the remaining Apache warriors in their fight against the US invaders, apparently often raiding the fort itself, so the area was rich in Apache history and apparently also artifacts as well, though I never did stumble upon any...
Unfortunately, for as beautiful and interesting a history the area has, I quickly learned it was also frequented by some interesting and seemingly sketchy characters. Upon my arrival, I was shocked to find that a number of the large junipers there (largest junipers I had ever seen) were not only riddled with bullets, but people had taken chainsaws and axes to their trunks, in what looks to have been unsuccessful attempts to cut them down. They appeared to be slowly dying, probably from that damage, as the untouched ones appeared perfectly healthy. At least there wasn’t an abundance of litter like I have become accustomed to in the state, however there wasn’t an over abundance of peace and quiet.
One night a homeless man who appeared to be on drugs decided to park his SUV right across from my tent, rather than at any of the other pullouts absent of other campers on the road, and proceeded to spend an entire 24 hours almost solely sitting in his vehicle. Most people drive to public lands to get out of their cars and enjoy nature, but as I had already seen elsewhere in NM, in these parts it is not uncommon for people to drive to the national forest to park their car and stay inside of it for hours on end! This fellow told me, in the brief time he got out of his car in the evening, that he was seeking rehab but they were all closed due to coronavirus (which I later found out wasn’t true, they were still open), he offered me some ‘stuff’ (whether alcohol or meth or something else I wasn’t sure), and then proceeded to stay in his car until the next afternoon when I kindly asked him to find another place to park. Thankfully he obliged, but explained as he drove off that he just likes to get out of town and watch porn on his IPhone for a day or two!
On another occasion a truck pulled in and parked for some time, the two young men not leaving the truck. I don’t know what they were up to, as I went on a bike ride and they were already gone when I returned, having left behind two empty Gatorade bottles where their truck had been parked.
On three different nights there were overly loud trucks driving up and down the road for extended periods of time, well after dark, before eventually shooting off a long volley of bullets and then driving back towards civilization. Two of these ‘drive-by’ style shootings into the dark took place after 10pm, and another at 1am. Two of them were very close to my camp, the one at 1am took place at the trailhead and as I witnessed the next morning, they had shot up the trailhead sign. For whatever reason, I hadn’t been able to fall asleep that night, and so I was already awake when the shooting began. The evening before that someone had proceeded to vandalize that same trailhead, ripping up other signs and trailhead posts and leaving behind a fast food sausage sandwich. I can only imagine that alcohol was probably involved in all of these instances. Apparently I had chosen the one place in the area that was frequented by late-night drinkers looking for a place to go shooting in the middle of the night...
There were also plenty of responsible visitors, a family having an Easter picnic the day I left, a couple camping nearby, families and couples walking their dogs up and down the road, etc. Nevertheless I was exceedingly ready to high-tale it out of there, due to all the strange visitors and late-night shootings. So I felt quite relieved when I finally arrived to my new temporary camp on Sunday evening, impressed by the views and comforted by the peace and quite to be found there.
To save time I didn’t set up my canvas tent, but rather just cooked on my wood stove outside in the open, which was fine as the weather wasn’t terribly cold and the days are much longer now than in the heart of winter, much more conducive to cooking dinner outside.
There was such an abundance of firewood scattered around, including pieces small enough to fit in my stove that I didn’t even have to cut a single piece to be able to have enough for three whole nights! I had filled up on water from the creek before leaving the previous spot, so I had plenty of water despite it being a very dry location.
Four days later, another day spent volunteering, and it was time to pack up once again and head further north. I took my time and didn’t leave until 11am, and then took a route that appeared to be a shortcut on the map, but due to the mountainous terrain was probably a much more time consuming though more direct line of travel through the mountains of the southwest corner of the Gila National Forest. 20 miles of winding mountain road, hairpin turns, ups ands downs, and beautiful views took at least an hour to get through! At least there was an epic view from a lookout at the high mountain pass, though I missed driving through two of the larger cities of southern NM due to this choice - Deming and Las Cruces.
The rest of the drive was mostly north on I-25, and almost all desert terrain until reaching Albuquerque, the largest city in NM and the state capitol.
I was in for quite the surprise when I stopped in Socorro for gas and a sandwich, due to Covid19 restrictions implemented there. I got a sandwich at Subway and a coffee, as I was feeling really tired at this point, but they had no open restroom. Then when I stopped at a nearby gas station to fill up my tank, and attempted to go inside to see if they had a restroom, I noticed the large sign on the door prohibiting people without a mask from entering. So once my tank was full, I went to the gas station across the street, but they too had banned entry without a mask, and as I quickly realized, it was due to a citywide ordinance, not establishment rules. Apparently I had broken the law by entering the Subway without a mask, not noticing the sign on their door, and employee hadn’t asked me to leave, probably being happy for any business they could get (it looked like they had been dead all day). So, not having a mask and not caring to wear one anyway, I got back on the interstate, pulled off to the side and relieved myself there.
Thank you city of Socorro, for caring so much about my health that you forced me to use the side of the highway! Never did I imagine I’d see the day when people in America would be banned by order of the government from entering any public establishment without wearing a mask (or any cloth covering of the face). In times past those entering stores with a mask would be liable to get the cops called on them for suspicion of robbery, and in fact some stores (in Montana at least) ban the wearing of face masks in their establishments for that very reason, but now it is the ones entering a store without a mask on who are liable to get the cops called on them! Other establishments in other towns in NM are doing the same as well, banning entry without masks, whether out of personal choice or government mandate...
On the bright side, with Spring Turkey season having just opened up in these parts, I think the covid19 scare has largely reduced the number of active hunters who would otherwise be out and about, but are instead staying at home. I am appreciative of this, not only for the Turkeys’ sake, but also because - as I was told by a passerby on Friday - this canyon is usually an extremely popular area for turkey hunting. As it is, there have only been about a half dozen vehicles drive up the road past my camp on Saturday, and I only saw a total of three cars on Friday.
Having arrived in the canyon on Thursday evening, I still needed to find a place to setup camp, and the road became increasingly worse quality the higher up I drove. I soon reached a very large gravel parking area with several fire rings, but apparently campfires have also been banned because of Covid19 (but hunting is still allowed, go figure). There is indeed a covid19 campfire ban, but no specifics on the signs in this canyon so hopefully stove fire is fine or no rangers come up during my stay, as I heard the ban went through June! No idea the reasoning behind campfire ability to spread a virus, or why hunting is some at the same time not a risk, but go figure, that’s government for you.
I thought the likelihood of other campers using this large gravel area was high and so I drove back down to a place I had spotted with enough room to pull my car off to the side of the road, which looked promising, however the small meadow near the creek wasn’t flat at all, so I drove back up. By the time I got back to the first spot I had seen, a group in a truck had arrived and was setting up camp, and despite there being plenty of room I wanted a bit more solitude, so I decided to park there and walk up the road to see if I could find a better spot. There were some massive potholes so I wanted to avoid driving further unless I knew there was a better spot. Thankfully, not much farther up there was a much prettier pull off with much less room, lowering the chances of another party attempting to camp right next to me.
I was able to get through the potholes without issues, and am actually quite thankful that those other campers arrived when they did, prompting me to explore further before deciding on a final place to setup my camp. This is by far a much more isolated, peaceful, and prettier spot, and I am happy with my find, despite my late arrival and delayed start to setting up camp.
Nonetheless, I was able to get my tent up with cot and wood stove installed before dark. But then I had to go collect firewood in the dark with a headlamp which was interesting, but I managed to find just enough to heat up some dinner for my first night, which consisted of a can of Amy’s hot Chile (tastiest canned chili I’ve ever had, but not cheap) and some instant mashed potatoes. When I finally got to eating it I was famished, as it was well after 9pm!
I spent Friday exploring the area and finishing unloading my car and setting things up I hadn’t gotten to the night before, filtered some water, and collected some firewood. Turns out there are several more nice spots to camp even further up the road but I’m happy with where I’m at.
Dalton creek is quite large compared to the other creeks I’ve seen in Arizona and New Mexico. I have learned that the peaks in this area reach 12,000 feet, and as I briefly saw on my drive in are still snow covered. I was able to find a flat spot to setup my tent right on the creek bank, and the sound of the running water is quite soothing. The water is not clear, slightly yellow, probably due to silt from snow runoff, as I was told by a local who also informed me that it turns clear later in the season, and then even completely dries up in some years, which I found shocking due to its large size.
This canyon reminds me quite a bit of the canyon I camped up in Utah for three weeks last fall, for it is so similar in many ways. The canyon is rather narrow with the forested slopes rising up steeply from both sides, reaching up to ridges which line the canyon. There is a large variety of trees here, just as in Utah, predominantly pines and other evergreens but also some hardwoods scattered through the forest with Cottonwood and aspen groves lining the creek. There are a number of junipers as well, especially right where I am camped and on the southern slopes.
This must be black bear and mountain lion country, I have seen signs of deer, and there are obviously an abundance of turkeys just like in the mountains of Utah, two of which Dakota flushed out on our late evening walk my first night here, a pair of ducks even stopped by and hung out in the creek nearby for a few minutes last night.
For some reason there are several large live pine trees that a previous visitor felt the need to cut down, for what reason I can’t possibly imagine. They were not cut up or taken away for firewood, they were not put to use in the creation of a makeshift shelter of any kind, or hauled away to be used as lumber, or used as a bridge across the creek, but rather it would appear that the perpetrators simply wanted to cut down a tree for the sake of cutting down a tree. The tip of one appears to have been burned in a campfire and then set in the creek, so maybe someone cut down an entire tree just to burn the tip, despite the fact that there are a number of dead trees within eyesight of the ones they chose to down!
There is also a bit of litter scattered about, but nothing a few minutes of my time won’t be able to clean up, much cleaner than some of the previous areas I’ve camped at in this state.
There is much more litter strewn up and down the road, as I have learned is commonplace and to be expected in the national forests of NM, anywhere you go. Why people take the time to bag up all their trash and then toss the bag on the side of the road or leave it behind when they leave the campsite I may never know. I will at least clean up the trash left behind at my campsite, so that I have as clean and natural a setting as I can, and then enjoy my stay in the mountains.
No cell service here but only a quick 15 minute drive to the nearest small town where there is a good signal.
New Mexico is officially known as the Land of Enchantment, and it would be that much more enchanting if the people learned to respect it just a little bit more. Compared to most of the places I’ve been in this state, however, so far this is one of the prettiest and seemingly most peaceful spots I have found yet.