Just 2 weeks after my 1st trip with Walt down Holiday Mesa to Giant Footprint, we were at it again - this time down adjacent Virgin Mesa to the huge “Amoxiumqua” ruins (google it) and some of the many old logging camps in the area - not to mention some very great scenery.  I drove up in the Diesel Dodge the night before, towing Suzy and camped on the mesa so’s to have an early, easy start in the morning.  Nice……………..

…………and a nice view out the back door, too.  Ahhhhh………………

We met and started at the same place, but took a left turn soon after the start.  Even tho’ they’re adjacent, Virgin Mesa seems to me to be a little flatter, a little less rocky and more brushy.  I took many waypoints on the GPS today and had to spread the map way out to be able to see between them.  Regular panorama programs in the computer didn’t want to handle them, so I put 3 pages together in Paint as a rough pano to give an idea of where we went for the day.  It was a dandy - Walt knows this country the way you or I know a familiar neighborhood.  See if you can follow our route on this map.  Numbers are in sequence as we traveled.  Closer together flags are where the road was very faint and twisty and/or had many branches to choose from.  Waypoint 793 is on Holiday Mesa from 2 weeks ago.  Altogether we covered 39 miles today and rough miles many of them were……………

The road was pretty rough and washed out at 1st and by the end of the day I was sick of deep, diagonal washouts to claw thru on the quad.  I’m going to see about heavier springs on the back of Suzy to ease this task………….

………..and there were many large puddles along the way.  The almost daily thunderstorms dump a lot of water in a hurry.  We weren’t able to go around all of them, as here, but the quads handled the water just fine…………..

We went for miles across the mesa and for miles there was a huge burn that left the land pretty empty, but still there were flowers everywhere.  Then, down a side trail to the east and we started getting vegetation on the right…………….

A mile or 2 of this and the road………..ended.  Did it ever.  Walt stopped and walked away, with me following.  Suddenly it just dropped.  No warning, no slope, it was like an axe had just chopped it off.  A vertical drop of 100’s of feet.  Very colorful……………

Lower down were dozens of the sharp edged hoodoos similar to what we’d seen 2 weeks ago near La Cueva.  Strange formations that look as if they’re growing from the cliff like amoebas.  Very unique, very pretty………………

Then we walked around the cliff to the south and looked back at our arrival point in the middle of the red section near the upper left……………

With more hoodoos below……………

A look to the southeast now shows the small community of Jemez Springs several miles away and 1500 feet lower down.  Soda dam is where the road - Hwy 4 - disappears into the canyon at high center……………..

Back to the main road, a short distance farther south, left a short distance again and we came to the ruins of a 100 year old logging camp………………

The Pine logs rot quickly with no maintenance and there were many cabins, workshops, bunkhouses and the like scattered for a long way thru the brush.  There were several of these camps during the course of the day’s travel.   Lots of knick knacks, including this old soldered canned milk can.  Bad for your health, that…………..

Looking around, a sudden movement near my feet caught my eye and I chased the varmint down.  A tiny, baby Horned Lizard, more commonly called a Horny Toad…………

Cute little guy and I was very careful not to injure it.  If it’d only stayed still we wouldn’t have had a prayer of seeing it……………….

Several years ago I caught a full grown Horned Lizard near Big Bear in California.  Here’s what this little guy will grow up to be…………….

In many places on the mesa you’ll see piles of rock and dirt that mark ancient single family residences that were abandoned over 400 years ago…………..

There are dozens of them.  One, near the logging camp, was in far better condition than most.  I have no idea what makes the difference……………….

Down yet another side trail and we came to the ruins of “Amoxiumqua,” a very large pueblo that is heavily overgrown, much like Giant Footprint 2 weeks ago.  This one is a completely different shape and layout, tho’…………..

I pushed the button of the Spot Locater for a location check and it gave this picture on Google Earth……………..

Zoom in on it and look just below the green location arrow.  That’s Amoxiumqua.  It’s huge.  (I’m having an awful time locking that name in my alleged brain)……………..

The volcanic Tuff, formed of compressed volcanic ash that you see in the formations all over here, is also the ground under us.  It looks and feels like rock but is much softer.  When the old-timers came thru building roads with their bulldozers, the grousers (cleats) on the tracks dug into that Tuff.  Looks strange, eh ??…………….

Far to the south now, we came to a storage cave, still partly walled in, and made of that same Tuff………………

Just a little farther and we came to the end of this branch of the trail.  That’s Virgin Canyon beside us, Holiday Mesa to the right and in the “U” in the distance is the little community and old mill in Gilman that we saw 2 weeks ago.  Beautiful views……………

A big juvenile Turkey Vulture soared over us, back and forth.  Impressive - these are big birds……………..

Walt’s looking for another large, almost unknown ruin now and we went far back into the wilderness on faint trails over very rough country…………….

We did find an old cave that had been a family’s home.  (see the smoke on the ceiling and the outlet for the smoke ??)…………….

In the end it was just too far and it was getting too late, so we headed back to the trucks - over 2 hours away on a direct run.  We’re going to go back in 2 weeks and focus just on those ruins.  Walt has since sent me pictures he’s taken there in the past and they look like the best yet.  What a place.                     Lar.

–
Larry Bourne
Santa Fe, NM
www.gogittum.com
www.gogittum.com/blog

Posted: September 16th, 2009 under 09 Santa Fe, 09-9-12 Virgin Mesa.
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