I moved into my 30 ft Travel Trailer 3 weeks ago, and it turns out my next door neighbor has been here for many years and is a part time trip and fishing guide for a local company. When I told him about the great time I’d had last weekend coming down the rim of Cochiti Canyon, he told me of a road that goes up the bottom of the canyon, following the stream; and also about other canyons in that area. Good Deal, so yesterday, Saturday, May 3, 2008, I set off in the Diesel Dodge, but this time with Der Bug in tow. Dropped the truck off at the store in Cochiti Lake Village, and headed uphill in Der Bug.

Remember last week near the end of the canyon, where I mentioned the neat little farm far below ?? This time the road took me straight up thru it, and it turns out to be a nice little apple orchard. Cochiti Canyon isn’t the notch to the left, it’s behind the fold to the right of center……………

Thru the orchard, and on to an unexpected, and unpleasant surprise……………

What a revolting development ! ! ! Neighbor Don had told me to also check out the next canyon south - Bland Canyon - so maybe all is not lost. Backtrack a bit, turn left, and soon I was at the entrance to Bland Canyon. Nothing “bland” about this’n……it turned into a heck of an adventure…………

Very soon I was seeing the big lava formations on both sides. Red rock to the right…………….

………..and a big burn to the left……………

Remember my on-going quest for pictures of an Abert’s Squirrel at Bandelier ?? I was headed up this road when I saw an animal galloping down the road toward me. What is it ?? Thing looked as big as a Rabbit, galloped like a Marmot, but didn’t quite fit either. Was I surprised to see that it was an elusive Abert’s Squirrel. Jammed on the brakes, pulled the emergency, killed the engine and waited. It came within about 100 ft, then veered into the trees and kept going on past me………way past me, so I jumped out with the camera and started paralleling it on the road. Finally it stopped in some brush and looked me over. I very quietly and carefully - tho’ in plain sight - eased up on it and got a shot. Lookit those ears……………..

Not good enuf for picky Lar, so I eased around a bit for a better angle and it took off again. Scheiss ! ! ! Off I went again, and got 1 more shot, then it spooked for real and went up a tree. I went round and round that tree, but never did see it again. Here’s a little better pic, but still not what I want………………

Those have got to be the prettiest - and spookiest - Squirrels out there.

About 6 miles up the canyon is the old ghost town of Bland, NM, but there’s a gate there, and no admittance. I’d met a man with his teen aged son and daughter on the road - all 3 on motorbikes - and they’d told me to turn right at the gate and go up the hill. Once on top there’s a viewpoint where you can look down on the old hotel. OK, sounds good, so I did as they’d said, but goofed on directions. Never did see a viewpoint, tho’ I went for miles. I got distracted, and had a big grin on my face, and did Der Bug ever shine ! ! ! This turned out to be the toughest road I’ve ever been on, and for sure the toughest I’ve ever tried in the VW. This “road” started up, and got rougher……………….

Then it got much steeper and Very Much rougher……………..

………..and rougher……………

Near the top it got silly, and I thought, “No Way, Jose ! ! !” The laugh was on me. Der Bug grinned at the hill, dug in it’s claws and went up over the culvert, thru the washouts, over the rocks, and in 2 places went over humps on 3 wheels, with 1 wheel in the air. Couldn’t get out to take a pic cause it was too far down to get out……………

This was an absolute rush and I was grinning like an idiot. At the crux of the climb we wallowed thru a series of huge washouts and in a couple of places the front end would go up into space, then teeter over and spin the wheels, then claw on up over the next one. What Fun ! ! ! What a Car ! ! !…………….

What a reward. Here’s the canyon I’d just come up, where I’d seen the Squirrel…………………

OK, where’s this viewpoint they’d talked about ?? I kept on going, but now I was on the ridge looking down into Medio Dia Canyon. This is a rugged piece of real estate…………..

A lot of brush and timber, but good views thru them……………..

And still more vistas, but no viewpoint…………….

I finally hit a pitch that was so steep and so rocky, with a hump to climb over that even Der Bug couldn’t do it - the carburetors flooded out, and I was stopped. If I’d spent the extra money when I built the car and bought fuel injection we could have done it. Sighhhhh…………….

When I was clambering around looking for a solution, a spot of color caught my eye……………..

OK, OK, bite the bullet and start back down. It were getting late in the day anyway………………

On the way out, the views were different, and the canyon walls so high that even the wide angle lens couldn’t capture it all, so I tried a couple of vertical panorama shots. Here’s an example. This is a 3 shot wide angle pano……………….

And this is a 5 shot, not quite so wide angle. Which do you like better ?? I think I like the 1st……….that wide angle lens is great……………….

What ?? Oh, Yah, the viewpoint at Bland……….when I got back down off the mountain some people told me that I should’ve stopped about ¼ mile past the top of the big climb, parked, and hiked up onto the ridge. That would look down at the old ghost town. OK, next time.

So, even the disappointment at the beginning was more than compensated for by a great adventure day. What Fun ! ! ! Lar.

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

Posted: May 4th, 2008 under 08 New Mexico, 08-5-3 Bland Canyon.
Comments: 1