March/April 2021 - Yosemite NP, Saguaro NP, White Sands NP

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Yosemite NP

Moonrise over half Dome

Orange groves and nut trees line the roads heading towards Fresno.  Once through town we see development give way to open ranch land then rolling hills.  The snow topped Sierra Nevada mountains form the backdrop to the east.  Our route is one of the main roads entering Yosemite National Park.  We are here for a photography workshop lead by Gary Hart.  The next portion of my blog is an unsolicited story of our workshop experience.

More Utah travels, September 2020 - Central TX; Petrified Forest NP; North Rim - Grand Canyon NP

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Grand Canyon, sunset

Since I last posted we have relocated from NM to central TX.  We are enjoying our time here, happy we made the move.

Back in early-March we started thinking about a trip to Greece when the pandemic hit.  As time went on we knew Greece was out of the question so we started looking at revisiting southern Utah catching some of the areas we missed in April, 2019. 

Alaska adventure, Early - Mid July 2019, Albuquerque to Fairbanks, Alaska

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Alarms set for 630 are not needed.  All the research, planning, scheduling and preparation are done, now to get on the road.  I had picked up two vegetarian burritos from the Burrito Lady the previous day; our regular morning ritual when starting a trip.

The road is quiet through to Farmington where we run into road construction traffic.  It’s warm, 80’s and sunny as we make our way to Monticello, UT, our first stop on this adventure.  The mountains west of town are spotted with snow; a big change from the snow covered mountains we saw this past April.

Houston - WI - SD - CO trip, Sept. 2018, part 3

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This is part three of our trip.  Go to The Thursday September 27 posting for the first part of the trip.

Leaving Mount Rushmore we drive to our campsite at the Sylvan Lake campground in Custer State Park.  The campground is on the Needles Highway.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Needles Highway it is a mostly two lane road winding over, around, and literally through some of the rock formations making up part of Custer State Park.

Great Sand Dunes National Park - mid August 2018

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View of Great Sand Dunes NP

This is our first extended trip where both Nicida and I are officially retired.  Being retired means we are leaving on a Monday, when most people are back to their routines.

I have made several improvements in the camper since the Great Basin trip.  I added an inverter so I am able to work on images and writing for this blog while on the road while memories are fresher.  I have added several small storage pockets for miscellaneous stuff. Employing YouTube I found an idea for a shower frame modifying it for the camper and adding a curtain.

Great Basin National Park, July 2018 - part 2

You can read the first part of this trip on the August 5, 2018 posting

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Day 4 - No rain this morning.  There are human made noises this morning; lots of people packing to leave their campsites before the noon checkout time.  I am hiking the glacier trail today.  I did the first 2/3 of the trail yesterday when I hiked to the Bristlecone pines.  The glacier is just another mile and a 500’  elevation climb.  My camera is the only piece of camera gear coming with me today.  I saw what the trail looked like and I know there will be no room for a tripod on the rocky trail.  I was on the trail by 800.  I saw three other people coming down the trail as I was going up.  Nobody had gone all the way to the glacier; I will be the first today.  Progressing through the scree I have to pay attention to the close-up underfoot trail as well as the distant trail.  One can easily step on a fist sized rock the wrong way, but one can also lose track of the trail especially when the only real difference between being on trail and off is the size of the rocks.  

Abiquiu Reservoir - Ghost Ranch, mid May 2018

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Now that it is getting warmer we are looking to camp in northern NM.  Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort and Spa are on our agenda for an afternoon of relaxation so our campground search starts there.

I have not been in this area for many years, I remember the Chama River below the highway and Ghost Ranch in the general area but that is it.  My internet search reveals the Abiquiu reservoir and campground as a possibility.

Bisti Badlands, early May 2018

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Dinosaur eggs, Bisti Bandlands

Before we left for this weekend I planned a route using my Garmin taking back roads from Chaco to Bisti.  Looking at the roads with Google earth I felt pretty confident we would make it to our destination with no problems.  The washboard road was in prime condition causing us to fishtail if we did anything over 15 mph.  Five miles into the trip we spotted the turn off to one of the county roads, the shortcut – except - there was a locked gate across the road next to what looked like a house that hadn’t been used in a while…  So much for the shortcut.

Chaco Canyon, early May 2018

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We were enchanted with our visit to Chaco Canyon last year, Nicida and I decided to make another trip catching at least some of the sites we did not see.  Most of the campsites are reservable, I highly suggest you make reservations.  Each afternoon/evening we saw several campers arrive at the Gallo campground to a ‘Campground full’ sign greeting them.  Kind of tough considering it’s a 15+ mile drive on gravel roads enroute to the Chaco site.

Gila Cliff Dwellings, March 2018

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Kids – pay attention.  Enjoy camping time with your family.  Go with them whenever you can.  When you get older and want to camp YOU get to do the work.  My sister and I were fortunate; as we were growing up our family went camping almost every other weekend during the summer.  All we did was come along for the fun.  Mom and dad were planning, cooking, packing, and driving; then putting it all away so we could do it again a couple weeks later.  Living in WI means going pretty much from mid May through September; maybe October.   After that it gets too cold.

Red Rock Balloon Rally, early December 2017

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The weather forecast the entire week leading up to the balloon rally has Gallup with lows in the teens to low 20’s for the weekend.  I am not cancelling this trip; I promised Lori I would help crew her balloon.  My initial plans were to go without electric for my camper, I have batteries and solar so I should be good, right?  Probably, but I am not taking any chances, Nicida is coming along and she was very cold the first time we went camping and it only got down to the upper 30’s.  The fact that I forgot to close one of the overhead vents may have had something to do with that.  I will hook up to the electric so I can have a small, quiet heater running all night if need be.  It actually only got to the upper 20’s each morning, still cold enough that I am glad I brought it along.

Three Rivers Campground, early November 2017

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Camping in November; when I was younger, a long time ago, a buddy of mine and I talked about winter camping but for one reason or another; mainly cold weather, we never made it.  (We lived in WI at the time)  It seems the hard part of camping in NM this time of year is finding an open campground.  I have to admit I almost always go north when exploring NM.  I am not familiar with pretty much anything south of I-40, so here is my opportunity.

Pecos Wilderness, Iron Gate Campground, Early October, 2017

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We are looking for peak fall color!  Rain and winds have been passing through the state this past week; my hopes are not high as I intently study the weather on the three local TV stations.  I didn’t see any fall color when I passed through northern NM on my trip back from WI in mid September so maybe there’s a chance.

El Morro, Sept 2017

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Paso’ por aqui – ‘passed by here’ is what El Morro is a witness to.  We had passed by here late last year on the way to the Zuni pueblo to witness a celebration.  We stopped, then hiked the short trail around the base of tall sandstone outcrop.  We saw inscriptions from the Puebloans, circa 1000.  The etchings are primarily animals or symbols. 

San Antonio Creek, August 11 - 13, 2017

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“Bad weather makes for good photography”.  One of the many statements uttered from my landscape photo instructors.  Bad weather is promised; rain most of the day Friday and Saturday with partial clearing on Sunday.  How much rain, who knows, somewhere over a half in is promised in Jemez Springs.  I’m going higher so I’m expecting more.

Valles Caldera, July 22, 2017

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“Where do you want to hike???”   “I don’t know where do you want to hike???”  Sometimes that’s how our hiking discussions start, other times we already have something in mind.  We put this question to the new hiker in our mini-hiking group, Nicida.  It is a bit unfair to do this because she is relatively new to the area.  Laurie and I have been hiking/exploring for better than the past year always looking for something different.  “How about the Valles Caldera?”  Valles Caldera (VC) it is.

Rio Guadalupe, July 14, 2017

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456 AM comes around early every day for me.  That’s the time I programmed my clock radio to wake me each morning for work.  We want to get an early start on the river so I didn’t change my wake-up time.  This morning I got right up; not the usual lie in bed for an additional 10 to 15 minutes readying my brain for work.  Today we are back to fly fishing, the first time since our weekend on the San Juan this past February; too long.

Chaco Canyon, Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Badlands, Santa Fe National Forest, June 30 - July 1, 2017

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This is my first camping trip with my camper.  I am excited and a bit nervous; do I have everything?, will I remember to turn things on and off at the appropriate time?, will I remember to lock the refrigerator before driving? – no, but the results were not too bad.  Do we have enough food? – more than enough – one issue settled.

Expanding horizons, June 16, 2017

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Up to this point the range of my hikes has been dictated by leaving, hiking and returning home the same day.  I have been looking to expand my hiking area by adding day(s) to my explorations.  I’ve never really been a hotel person when getting out for hiking/photographing or fishing, not that I don’t like hotels, generally they just aren’t located at the trailhead or trout stream of choice.  So for the past period of time I have been looking for a large pickup and an in-bed truck camper.

San Juan River, NM, Feb 10 – 11, 2017

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The ‘Juan’ as my fishing buddies call it ‘is the place to fly fish in New Mexico’.  The San Juan is unlike any NM river I have fished to this point.  My usual fishing ‘rivers’ or ‘streams’ generally don’t qualify as rivers back in the Midwest.  Most of the rivers or streams in the Jemez Mountains and Pecos Wilderness can be forded with ease; many times without even getting feet wet.  The San Juan is different.  Even though it is somewhat cloudy from runoff, the two days we were there I could tell from the color of the water; deep blue/green in places, the river is big and deep.