Two weeks ago, quad friend Walt and I went way back onto Virgin Mesa overlooking Jemez Canyon and Jemez Springs looking for a mystery ruin he’d visited years ago.  ( http://gogittum.com/blog/?cat=104 )  His research indicated that this ruin was named “Quaia-tso-qua.”  The 1st waypoint we tried didn’t work out and we hiked for several miles along the rugged canyon wall.  Spectacular scenery but no ruins.  Later he checked old records and found another waypoint that may lead to the Pot of Gold.  :-)  On that 1st trip, we went to “Walt’s Ruin.”  The new location is at “Walt’s Ruin 2.”  We walked right past it previously.  Also, on the previous trip, we’d parked the quads in really rough country and hiked for miles.  This time we side-hilled farther on an old overgrown logging road and parked in more open country about ½ way between “Walt’s Ruin” and the 7250 ft altitude marker………………..

The difference 2 weeks makes in the high country is amazing.  The Aspen leaves had just begun turning color……….now at the 8200 ft. level, most of the trees were already bare.  As we progressed into slightly lower country we saw more and more of the brilliant yellow leaves.  Aspen leaves are almost perfectly round and have a very thin stem.  In the slightest breeze these leaves will tilt back and forth, giving the tree a shimmering appearance and the popular name, “Quaking Aspen.”……………..

Aspen are a high country tree and at this latitude we seldom see them at elevations of less than 8,000 ft.  Very pretty…………….

There was a tremendous windstorm last week and the chainsaw Walt carries on the front carrier of his quad was put to good use several times on this trip.  Something like this could really give you a headache……………..

The old logging road was indeed grown over, but the rugged little quads walked right thru and we parked on a ridge that was fairly close to (we thought) the ruins………………

As it turned out, for once we were right and after only about ¼ mile we came out onto the distinctive clearing of a ruin………………

I’ll tell ya true - after the 1st one or two, the ruins aren’t all that exciting to me, (seen one, seen ‘em all) but I’m getting more into the history of the places, the culture, the artifacts and so on.  It’s beautiful country, too, and looking for a specific ruin gives a clear focus to the day’s outing and there are always surprises.  Look at the tremendous scenery we found 2 weeks ago.  We’ve already found 2 more in that general area to look for and explore.  No chance of getting bored here.  In 2 weeks I’m moving the home trailer south to the small town of Socorro and can start all over. 

Quaia-tso-qua is built on more of a slope than the others we’ve seen and I could see at least 3 distinct levels in a modified U shape………………

I sent a SPOT Locater message from here and you can clearly see the ruins in the satellite image.  The pale striped area to the right is the huge cliff we walked along 2 weeks ago and Jemez Springs is north on Hwy 4.  From the top of the cliffs down to Hwy 4 is about 1400 feet elevation change……………..

Here, too, there is a great view from the eastern side.  Here, Walt’s excellent shot of The Lar in action clearly shows the edge of Jemez Canyon in the distance………..

As always, there are 1,000’s of potsherds, but here we found some with a different pattern.  I got a bit of an education, too.  I’d thought that the rougher hand molded pots were from an earlier era and the painted ones from a later time.  Walt’s done extensive research and tells me that the rougher pots were utility pots, for storage, etc. and the nicer ones for home use or whatever……………….

………..and again, another.  Please excuse the photography in all these shots.  I’d modified a setting on my camera a bit ago for a special purpose and forgot to re-set it.  All pictures from today were very dark and took extreme editing to make them view-able and they suffered for it…………….

These shards - we left them here - make an interesting story.  It’s tempting to pick some up and bring them home - there are 1,000’s of them everywhere, but it Is illegal according to the Antiquities Act.  I don’t see the harm in a couple of shards, and I’m sure most of us have a few at home, but where do you draw the line ??  At the present time there’s an awful mess in the Blanding, Utah area due to a federal sting that caught many people, many of them prominent citizens, who’ve been systematically locating and looting ruins for decades and have sold 100’s of 1,000’s of dollars worth - even including skeletons - to collectors.  To archaeologists, of course, this is a disaster, with items yanked out of context.  Not good…….which brings to mind another no-no.  Some ruins - notably at Bandelier National Monument and Chaco Canyon and others - have been professionally excavated, documented and restored and are now open to the public.  They are something to see.  Fascinating.  These ruins that we’ve been visiting with the quads - Giant Footprint, Amoxiumqua, Quaia-tso-qua - and others to come are pretty much just mounds of rock and dirt, as you can see in the pictures above.  It is Strictly Illegal for you or I to do Any digging whatsoever.  That’s fine, but here at Quaia-tso-qua, someone in the past has dug out a few corners and to me it gives a much greater insight as to construction, etc and makes it much more real for me.

For myself, illegal or not, I’m glad they did.  There are so many ruins scattered around this country that they’ll not ever all be “properly” excavated so I don’t see a problem with a little bit here.  Then again, once again, where do you draw the line ??  Right or wrong, agree or dis-agree, that’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it.  Here’s a look at a couple of dug out corners…………..

After a good look around, we headed back out and got a major surprise.  A large, rotten old Ponderosa Pine snag had fallen across the road, taking a couple of smaller trees with it - after we’d passed on the way in and it blocked our return.  Walt got to work with his trusty chain saw, and I used Suzy as a skidder to yank the chunks out of the way, (I carry a 20 ft tow strap) but it makes you shiver a bit, too.  What if it came down as we rode by ??……………….

Also on the way out, Walt spotted an Abert’s Squirrel running up a tree, waved me over and swung over to keep it there.  I pulled in beside him and just about the time I spotted the Squirrel it panicked and either fell or leaped about 20 ft to the ground on the other side of the tree and raced into a heavy thicket of brush and trees.  Not a chance of ever seeing it again.  Too bad - I’d really like to get some good pictures of one.  To my eyes, they’re the prettiest of the Squirrels.

Many of the roads here have been washed out by floods and quite often the channels cross the roads on a diagonal and they must be crossed.  Some are pretty ugly and tho’ I’m getting more comfortable with them, still can’t help thinking about rolling Suzy down the mountain last January.  ( http://gogittum.com/blog/?cat=69 )  These aren’t too bad, but show how they can cross you up……………

The ski goggles are to help keep the dust from the lead quad out of my eyes.  Works good.                      Lar.

Posted: October 12th, 2009 under 09 Santa Fe, 09-10-10 Quaia-tso-qua.
Comments: 1

 Two weeks ago Walt & I went a total of 39 miles round trip down Virgin Mesa and, among many other sights and sites, visited the Amoxiumqua ruins down there.  (  http://gogittum.com/blog/?cat=100  )   Toward the end of that run we went off to the east on a side trail to try to find a little known ruin on the edge of the canyon, but ran out of trail and time, ending at waypoint 820.  (the “820″ flag is hidden under the “Trl E” flag)  GPS map is at the end of this story.

Today, Sept. 27, 2009 we took off again on a dedicated trip to find our missing ruins, called “Quaia-tso-qua.”  We went in to the last waypoint from the previous trip and parked the quads at the “quads” flag on the GPS.  Remember me saying several times previously - “Always mark where you leave the vehicle ??”  It saved us a lot of thrashing around this time, believe me.  We left the quads in heavy brush after running completely out of trail.  The quads are real work-horses, but can take you only so far……………

So, OK, we got onto our hind legs and started cross country.  No trails.  Right away it got very rough and we quickly warmed up.  Very quickly.  In this picture, the line of mountain in top left is the far side of Jemez Canyon, with Jemez Springs below.  The closer ridge, barely showing at upper right is the near side of the canyon - our destination……..part of it.  We had an old GPS waypoint that we “thought” was close to Quaia-tso-qua, so we headed for it.  Straight to the edge of the canyon, then a mile south on the rim……………

Some areas opened up and were fairly easy going and in one of those stretches we found another of the many ancient single family dwellings.  Archaeologists have marked many of them with white tape for further study.  (we found several of these today)……………

As I mentioned in the Amoxiumqua page, when one of the women died, her neighbors broke all her bowls, so her spirit wouldn’t be trapped in them.  True to form, there were 1,000’s of potsherds here, and some were from very large pots.  Look at the radius of these pieces and the thickness of the handle piece on the left…………..

We left them where they lay.  Much farther on we came to the edge of the canyon.  I approached eagerly but carefully and it was starting to look great……………

Then, I carefully stepped out onto a promontory with camera ready……………

………..and the view looking north to Jemez Springs nearly took my breath away.  Magnificent.  It’s 1,400 feet down to the canyon floor.  This area is all volcanic and there are many hot springs down in the canyon.  Massive Valles Caldera shows to the north in upper center and right of this pic.  It’s the 9,000 ft high, 14 mile wide crater left from the tremendous explosions (2 of them) of a 25,000 ft mountain 1.6 and 1.2 million years ago……………

Then a look downstream, to the south…………..

But……..we had ruins to find.  Not as easy as you might think in country like this.  We hiked about a mile south along the edge of the canyon, with no joy…………..

Then retraced our steps along a little different route and continued an additional mile north, then split up and zig-zagged over a large distance.  No ruins.  Walt later found an old GPS program that showed a different location.  Looks like we walked right past it.  The flag marked “Quad” is where we parked the quads, “Walt’s Ruin” is where we originally thought the ruins were at and Walt’s Ruin 2 is the new location, so we’ll try there next time……………….

We came back out considerably north of the quads and while bushwhacking south ran across an old “road” that’s pretty badly grown over.  It’s at “Trl E” and may give us a way to get farther in on the quads next time.  We’d have found the quads OK, but the GPS fix made it much faster and easier.  I figure we hiked around 5 miles today and ran 25 miles on the quads, some of them very tough miles………..and ol’ Lar was beat, whupped, thrashed, worn out……..and was very glad to get back to the truck.  I’m pretty well acclimated to the altitude now, but not in shape yet for heavy hiking.  We both have plans for next weekend, so will try for the Missing Ruins again in 2 weeks.  Wish us luck.                        Lar.

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

Posted: September 29th, 2009 under 09 Santa Fe, 09-9-27 Missing Ruins.
Comments: none

March 30, 2009 - Finally got to Blythe this morning and moved the VW, “Der Bug,” to storage.  Then hooked up the truck, 4Runner and quad for the trip home.  It makes quite a procession……………….

…….and a lot of pedestrians did double takes as I went by.  So far we’ve come 150 miles and camped for the night.  530 more miles to go tomorrow,then hafta go back for Der Bug.  The guy in Lake Havasu City is jerking me around on buying the VW, so bypassed him and hit the road.

Wind was calm this morning, but started picking up as I went thru Phoenix and headed toward Blythe.  Now, on the way back, coming up the Colorado River with all this stuff behind me was fine and it all tows well, but the wind was getting blustery and was a crosswind.  Gotta really pay attention to steering with a high rig like mine when it’s windy.  If it really blows tomorrow, that would make it the 3rd storm in a week, since I started this move.  This is trip 3 of 4.  Gotta get rid of some toys.                   Lar.

March 31, 2009……………the tale continues…………….This morning I left the campground in Kingman, AZ at 8:30 AM and hit the road - I-40 - for the long run east to Santa Fe.  I was pretty nervous about the whole thing, because I wasn’t completely sure of the legality of my double tow.  Snuck out of CA real quick, then up to Kingman last night.  Now, over 500 miles to go, and any State Trooper in AZ or NM could stop me cold.  I had posted the question on a trucker’s forum the other day and a bunch of them said, “ah hell, just hook up and go for it.”  Yah, sure - they’re not paying the ticket.  I tried very hard to find a trailer to put 4Runner and quad on with no joy………so hooked up and went for it.  On the whole trip, I held the speed down - 65 in 75mph zones - and made sure to use turn signals and all.  Having the 4Runner brakes tied into the Dodge’s braking system is a joy.  You feel absolutely nothing back there.

I didn’t get far before I got a taste of tension.  Barely out of Kingman, about 20 miles, and there was a cop just finished writing a ticket and getting back into his car.  He looked up at me as I went by and my stomach sucked up tight.  “HoooooBoy, here we go, Lar,” I thought to myself and watched the rear view like a hawk.  Sure enuf, in just seconds here he came, coming like a bat outa hell……….and roared right on past me.  Sheeeesh………..I’d sucked up about a foot of upholstery and the truck wobbled some as the tension drained and relief nailed me.  Saw several more Arizona Highway Patrol cars, 2 with radar guns out, and all watched me go by, but none bothered me.  Phee-eew.  Now came New Mexico.  Would I get away with it here ??

20 miles into NM, just before Gallup, I found out - there was a Highway Patrolman sitting on the side of the road with the radar gun going.  No problem.  Then 2 more.  No problem.  “Migawd, I might actually make it,” I thought.  Then hit rush hour traffic in Albu-Quirky and No One wanted a long RV in front of them, so had to pull the old chicken game with the big ol’ Diesel Dodge and its’ long tow.  Just turn on the signal, make sure your victim has room to move a bit, then ease on over.  They may cuss some and give you the finger, but they do move.

Coming north on I-25 a gusty crosswind started up and gave ol’ tired Lar some minor fits.  Make a quick move on the truck’s steering wheel and in the rear view I could watch the quad whip back and forth……….and see other traffic scatter.  Not good, and especially don’t want a cop to see it.  Gotta be very smooth and careful.  Stressful, it is.  Altogether it took just about 11½ driving hours to go 675 miles.  No fooling around there.

Pulled into the campground in Santa Fe a little after 5:00 PM and started un-hooking everything.  Quite a job………………

Between the camper, 4Runner and quad, there’s just about as much weight as in the 30ft Sprinter home trailer behind the 4Runner in this pic.   The big Cummins diesel handles it fine.  Man, I love that truck.

There isn’t a decent Mexican restaurant in all of Blythe and I badly needed a fix, so just now got home from a huge feed of enchiladas, rellenos and posole from the great little place next door.  It’s nice when you walk into a place after 8 months and they go, “hey, Larry, when did you get back ??”………and give a big hug.  Yup…………Santa Fe’s da place.  Nice to be home.                        Lar.

P.S.  That was trip 3………now still gotta go back for Der Bug.  Anyone want to buy a car long distance ?? 

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

Posted: September 29th, 2009 under 09 Santa Fe, 09-3-30 Road Train.
Comments: none

I’m not too crazy about the snow and ice all winter in Santa Fe, so on Monday, Sept 21 I headed south in the Diesel Dodge to look for a winter home.  Might’s well make a sightseeing trip out of it, too, eh ??  After taking care of some business in ABQ (Albuquerque) I headed west to Grants, NM and took Hwy 117 south past El Malpais lava fields.  ( http://gogittum.com/blog/?cat=20 )  Very interesting scenery and I soon saw - I thought - a ruin back against a cliff.  Yup, a ruin it is, but I’m unsure just who built it.  This part looks to be in Very good shape, much better than most and windows and door are very square, so was it built later by settlers ??  Wonderful rock work if it was.  The back was demolished, more in line with what I expect from the older ruins, so maybe the Old Ones after all ?? ……………..

The ride down to the old town of Quemado was very nice, very scenic, the paved road a little rough and NO traffic.  Just an occasional car.  Dinner at the “Shakes, Steaks and Hot Cakes” restaurant in Quemado was a trip back in time.  A hamburger with 1/2 lb of burger, cheese, green chili, tomatoes, lettuce, purple onion and about 3″ thick, along with a bucket full of fries was just $7.95 - in this day and age.  I may have eaten 1/2 of it.  :-(  Maybe.

>From Quemado south was a very pleasant run on a very good road with no traffic and scattered small communities of small ranches and retirement homes.  I dunno about retiring here.  It’s very nice, very scenic, but very remote and a long, hard journey to major facilities.  Country is moderately mountainous, but not as rugged as that around Santa Fe.  Miles of off road trails.  Down Hwy 32 toward Apache Creek there were huge fields of flowers, apparently some kind of daisy and the late afternoon sun really lit them up.  Very pretty and High Tension Lar was already un-winding……………..

I spent Monday night boondocking (camping out with no utilities) at the little town of Reserve, NM, hidden in the trees beside the town baseball diamond.  It got down to 34° outside and in the morning was 42° in the camper.  Brrr.  The battery in the camper is very limited and I save it for the morning when I Really want the heat.  It’s lotsa fun jumping out into a freezing morning in my warmies to start the truck engine to give power to run the furnace………not.

Mostly lower mountains and valleys….kinda rough lower country and a nice drive all the way down from Grants to Silver City.  Here is a look at the area south of Reserve………….

Coming down Hwy 180, a look into the huge basin containing the little town of Alma, NM, out of sight here.  The road to the old mining district of Mogollon (pronounce it “muggy-own”) was closed due to major repair work, so I didn’t get up there this time, but my time will come…………..

A few miles south of Alma is the very nice little community of Glenwood.  5 miles up Whitewater Creek is the canyon where they built a town 130 years ago to process gold ore from up-canyon.  It’s a vertical canyon - almost a slot canyon so they went to a lot of work to build their necessary flumes and catwalks - and that’s what it’s called now - The Catwalk.  The trail starts right off getting serious…………….

Around the corner and up a bit it gets Real serious.  Those old-timers were amazing - they built all their stuff by hand.  Even with modern equipment this new catwalk must have been difficult to build.  I’d like to - and will - see this during the spring time floods……….

The trail was very rugged, very scenic and very well built……………..

Lots of waterfalls - really an idyllic place.  This is part of the Gila (HEE-lah) National Wilderness and there are 100’s of miles of trails in these mountains.  I climbed quietly and carefully down to the creek - very carefully watching for Rattlesnakes - and wasn’t surprised to see many trout in the clear water.  I didn’t see any of great size, but those’re smarter and shy-er……….I’m sure they’re there………………

You can see much evidence of the old timer’s efforts all along the way, as these timbers………….

……….and concrete supports.  A modern footbridge is behind them…………….

Who-ever built that footbridge didn’t worry too much about structure analysis - you could drive a tank across that thing…………..

Up near the end of the 1.1 mile hike was a suspension bridge; again a very rugged assembly…………..

For much of the way, the creek is buried under huge boulders.  I’d hate to be underneath when one of those comes down…………….

Then the end is kind of an anti-climax.  It just………ends.  Boom.  Go back a bit and a ford across the creek takes you on a Very rough trail back into the mountains, but the good trail just has a steel bar across it and - That’s All, Folks…………….

I spent last night in an extremely nice campground in Silver City, NM - one of the prettiest I’ve seen anywhere on my travels.  Here’s a quick look at a tiny piece of it……………

Last night, with the door open, I’ve already seen a dozen kinds of birds, and, of all things, a Jack Rabbit.  Didn’t expect him.  Silver City is pretty high - 6100 ft - and I’m told it gets fairly cold, with freezing nights from Nov. to March but almost no snow.  From what I’ve seen and heard so far, no thunderstorms either and man, am I getting sick of thunderstorms every day.   Cold I can live with……….snow I absolutely hate.

Silver City has a long Old West history, too, with Apache Chief Geronimo born about 40 miles north of here, Billy the Kid grew up here, Judge Roy Bean was here for a time, and so on and on and on.  The mining really got going in the 1870’s.  The back country is filled with stuff I like to do, scenery is great………..and season rate in this RV park is only $330.00 a month + electric.  Wifi is slow, but that can be lived with.  I think I’ve found my winter home.                            Lar.

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

Posted: September 23rd, 2009 under 09 Santa Fe, 09-9-22 Scouting Trip.
Comments: none

Well, it were an awful go-round.  2 years ago I spent quite a bit of time and energy in Der Bug trying to find the sinkhole out in the Caja del Rio that I’d read about on a jeep-ing website.  I made several trips with no joy…….on one of them climbing into the mountain tops and looking down, then later crawling thru the brush and canyons looking up.  Last year I was gone most of the year, so now that I’m back in Santa Fe for a while I got back into search mode and got serious about the whole thing.  The web site had a rough map showing approximate location……………

>From this I extrapolated positions and transferred them to GPS.   On May 18 I came out here on Suzy the quad and really went after it.  Went as far as I could on the trail……..almost - it got to the point of silly, so I parked it and started hiking.  Up thru heavy Juniper scrub, jagged volcanic rock, steep hills, and no joy.  Man, was I frustrated.  The web page builder - Glenn - had included a picture of his group around the hole and mentioned that it was about 20 feet across and 100 feet deep.  The guys here give an idea of scale.  I think Glenn was pretty accurate…………….

This picture is a little deceptive, tho’.  Makes it look like flat ground, and that is in very short supply in this area.  Finally, I emailed Glenn and asked for help.  He didn’t have co-ordinates, so emailed his club members asking if anyone had GPS co-ordinates.  His friend, Robert, came thru and Glenn forwarded the numbers to me.  Very nice of him.  Now, I entered those numbers into my Garmin GPS topo map and transferred them to the GPSmap60CSx that I bought recently to replace my broken old faithful eTrex Legend.  The 60 is a terrific, powerful, versatile tool and makes a big difference.  Here’s the new map, showing my search from May 18 with the sinkhole estimate, and also with the “Sink Proper” using Robert’s numbers.  You can see that I never got within about 1/2 mile on my previous search.  For those not familiar with these toys, the little bar in lower right with 0.2 mi. above it shows that that bar is 0.2 miles long on the screen.  I was at least 2 bar lengths off……………..

I had parked Suzy at the flag marked 673 and started walking - on both trips.  Always - ALways - mark the location where you park your vehicle.  You may not be able to find it again.  On the Colorado Peak climb ( http://gogittum.com/blog/?cat=37 ) in ‘07 I marked the location of Der Bug down in the Junipers and STill had an awful time finding it.  Went past it 3 times, within 100 feet and couldn’t see it.  Anyway, 2 years ago I had climbed to the top of the Twin Hills to look down.  Now, the GPS told me it was almost straight toward the peak from below.  Does it look like anything is there to you ??……………

This country is deceptive.  A little way in from the left side you can see a big spur of rock sticking up like a huge wart.  I started up the draw right in the center here and the GPS told me it was above and to the right, about 800 feet or a little more and, figuring the contour lines to be 120 feet apart, it’s about 300 feet higher……………….

Uh…….it’s not quite that simple.  Did I mention that this is rugged country ??  Doesn’t look like it, even on Google Earth.  This is the track from the SPOT Locater on the May 18 trip - an actual satellite photo, showing that I looked all over the wrong places.  Twin Hills are at upper left about 1/4 of the way in.  Look straight down and slightly left of the peak and you’ll see a little crease.  That’s “about” where the sink hole is……………….

The reality on the ground is a little different.  I went seemingly forever up thru and over this mess.  The tangled Juniper claws at you like fish hooks………..

Then checked the GPS again and shook my head.  I was STill 600 feet away and at least 150 feet below it.  600 feet doesn’t sound like much, but keep in mind that it’s 2 football fields - on the flat.  This is very steep and rough.  In hindsight, it’d be much easier to work down from the road above, but at the time I didn’t think it’d be that far up……………..

HooBoy.  Keep at ‘er, Lar.  It’s gotta be there.  A little farther and it looks like there may be a hollow up there.  Picture a toy mountain made of clay.  Then press a depression into it with your thumb.  That’s what I’m looking for here…………….

OK, I got up into that miserable hollow and 1st, it wasn’t flat, and 2nd, there was no &*%$^# sinkhole up here.  The GPS said I was practically standing on it (in it ??) - within about 50 feet or so, so I climbed up onto an outcropping to look around…………..

Yup, we’ve come a long way up, all right.  Santa Fe is in the right 2/3 of this shot and back toward the mountains……………..

Frustration ! ! !  No Sinkhole ! ! !  Turned a full circle and happened to glance down and noticed a shadow……..SHadow ???.  Omigawd……………

It was a little more than 50 feet, more like about 75, but I was right on top of it.  The way it looked with the guys around it, I thought it was level ground.  Nope.  This is one big hole and very dangerous.  I eased up to the edge, laid my hat and glasses to one side and slid out on the rocks on the left side as far as I dared.  Fall in here and you would not ever be found.  If the fall didn’t kill you, there’s no possible way to climb out and it’s pitch black down there.  If someone did happen along, they wouldn’t be able to see you down there.  Be careful……………

100 feet deep ??  I dunno, but I have no trouble believing it.  Toss a rock in and it takes a bit to hit bottom.  Did I ever feel great, and all over finding a hole in the ground.  Don’t take much to entertain me, does it ??……………..

>From here, the direct line back to Suzy wasn’t all that bad and the return trip was very fast.  This is only 14 miles from home and the entire jaunt took just 2 hours and 10 minutes.  Left at 10:30 AM and was home by 12:40 PM, loaded the camper and went to pick up the boat by 1:40 and was (am) at Conchas Lake, east of Las Vegas, NM, by 4:30.  In the morning I’ll launch and go sight-seeing and maybe do a little fishing.  That story coming up soon.                         Lar.

Posted: September 19th, 2009 under 09 Santa Fe, 09-6-1 Sinkhole Found.
Comments: none

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.
Comments: none

A friend and I got together today for a ride on the quads out to the “Giant Footprint” ruins near La Cueva, (Koo-AYva) on the southwest side of Valles (VAh-Yayz) Caldera, high in the Jemez (Hay-MAyz) Mountains.  Walt has been exploring and studying these mountains and mesas and their histories for over 30 years and is an encyclopedia of information.  It made for a fascinating trip and when we’d stop at a tiny junction of 2 dirt tracks and he’d say, “this is where the abc road meets the xyz road that we’re on now,” and it would be there on the topo map. I could only shake my head.  He really knows this country……and couldn’t resist hamming it up a bit………………

I didn’t get to see him like that very often.  Usually he was far ahead, leading the way and this is the view I had.  I did hold back a way, mostly to let his dust settle.  It gets in the eyes and is irritating.  This road wasn’t the usual ruts - these are solid rock and very rough……………..

Rough enuf that someone who’d gone to a huge amount of work cutting a load of firewood lost ½ of it coming out.  We found many piles like this and many, many single chunks.  How could the guy not have noticed ??……………..

The scenery in these 2 shots is fairly typical of the mesas.  Rocky and un-even but fairly flat until you get to the canyon edges.  The small Ponderosa and (I think) Black Pine are very thick and in some areas the Ponderosa (Yellow Pine, Bull Pine) Pine are very large - 1½ to 2+ ft thick.  The clear, crisp air is filled with the sweet perfume of these trees.  Fresh and great.  It wasn’t long - only about 6 or 8 miles before Walt pulled off to one side and showed me the 1st of the ruins.  This area hasn’t been excavated and restored like such as Bandelier and this is very typical of the 500 year old ruins we found.  These were quite extensive, but the best was yet to come…………….

At the edges of the canyons, some areas are more rugged and rocky.  These sculpted rocks (see the face ??) are formed of Tuff, the compressed ash from the giant volcano - originally 25,000 ft high and now just 9,000 ft - that exploded 1.6 and again 1.2 million years ago to form 14 mile wide Valles Caldera……………

A little farther along, climb up onto the ridge and look north in the huge canyon.  It’s a long way down……………

Turn and look south.  We’re on Holiday Mesa now, looking into Virgin Canyon.  This is about 45 miles west of Santa Fe as the crow flies, but nearly double that by road………………

Walt is one of the few people I’ve ever ridden with who rides at my speed - slow - and it worked very well.  Slowpoke Lar had lots of time to take pictures, climb rocks and generally just look around and I like that.  Usually I’m roaring along just trying to keep up.  As we headed farther south I glanced to my right thru the trees and saw what looked like an artificial, plastic cliff face.  This is common in this country and sometimes looks like it’s been carved by hand……………..

Cool.  I zoomed off thru the trees on the fairly open ground and came to the canyon edge.  This is much smaller Cebollita (Say-boh-YEE-tah) Canyon, but smaller is relative.  This is extremely rugged, rough country and it would be almost impossible to go cross country on foot………or even down the canyon.  That brush at the bottom is just about impenetrable and the whole country is full of Rattlesnakes, tho’ we didn’t see any today………………

Now, far to the south we came to the end of Holiday Mesa………and it’s a loooong way down.  I love it and never tire of it - this is terrific……………..

Looking up and to the south again, the small, almost abandoned community of Gilman shows in the distance.  Over a century ago and up until the 1920’s and 30’s, this was the site of a very large sawmill and roads and train tracks came up these canyons to haul the timber to the mill.  Those old-timers worked incredibly hard………….

A closer look shows the big concrete slab the old mill rested upon.  This side of it there was a large sorting pond to float the logs into position.  Highway 4, from our starting point at La Cueva goes thru just a few miles south…………..

Having a guide who really knows this country was a real pleasure.  Walt brought us up an alternate route on the way back and showed me the extensive ruins of the “Giant’s Footprint” that were abandoned in about 1620 or so.  There were about 3000 rooms here, but for the most part all that can be seen now are huge piles of stones and rubble…………..

They go for a long way.  Look closely here and you can see the divisions of individual rooms and where the main building curves off to the left……………..

This is more or less the same approximate layout as the excavated and partly restored pueblo ruins at Bandelier National Monument…….but Giant’s Footprint is much larger and more varied.  Both ruins were apparently 3 or 4 stories high when built - originally around 1200 AD.  This picture is from 2007 at Bandelier National Monument……………….

It was apparently a tradition among the ”Old Ones,” the ancient Puebloans, that when a woman died, her pottery was broken to prevent her spirit being trapped inside.  The ground here is littered with the sherds.  This is a recognized archeological site and it is illegal to take anything with you……………

  

 We found a section of old wall that someone has apparently partly excavated - a strictly illegal practice that does give a better idea of the place…………….

Also, some of the original timbers, still showing the cut marks of the razor sharp obsidian tools used to work them…………….

>From here, it was a long run back to our starting point and the weather was deteriorating fast into thunderstorms.  As I loaded Suzy into her trailer and Walt loaded his quad into his Toyota pickup, it started to rain, so we headed out quickly, but the adventure wasn’t yet over.  A few miles farther on, Walt pulled off to the side by a guard rail and a precipice looking to the northeast toward La Cueva and the southwest rim of Valles Caldera.  Right below us was another, smaller set of “Tent Rocks” similar to the tourist attraction west of Cochiti (Coachee-Tee) Lake.  ( http://gogittum.com/blog/?cat=98 )  What a view, rain and all……………..

Carefully - very carefully - stepping out to the edge, this is an amazing, jagged formation………………

Homeward bound, across Valles Caldera and starting down the steep, twisting grade from the 9,000 ft at the top to the 7,000 ft at Los Alamos, it had hailed just before and there was an inch of grainy ice on the road.  Interesting driving.  Farther down, with a deep canyon to the right, the narrow road was a river of mud and the rain was pounding……………

Farther down, rocks had been added to the mix and driving was treacherous.  The roar of rain on the roof of the 4Runner was incredible.  You can see the slanting rain in this picture.  The blasting, buffeting wind was no help……………..

Even thunderstorms have their beauty, tho’, and past Bandelier on the downhill grade to the Rio Grande River, the setting sun slanted under the black clouds to illuminate a mesa……………..

Around another curve and a brilliant double rainbow appeared.  Note the reversed colors on the 2nd rainbow.  This made for a very pretty drive in the slackening rain………………

A great trip and return home from vacation and I thank you, Walt, for a great adventure and education. We only drove the quads a total of about 30 miles, but it was plenty.   I’d planned on a run up to the Puyés Cliffs ruins the next day, but I’m not re-acclimatized to the elevation yet and still out of shape from 2 months on the road.  Monday morning I was about as tough as a wet dishrag and there was no question of going anywhere - just laid around all day.  :-)                       Lar.

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

Posted: September 2nd, 2009 under 09 Santa Fe, 09-8-30 Giant Footprint.
Comments: 1

This was a really full day and pore ol’ Lar is about beat…….but it was worth it.  Lake Powell is fantastic ! ! !  I’m just going to put a few shots up for now - but took over 400 today.  Perty close to a record.

Lake Powell twists and turns thru its’ canyon, then smaller canyons go off to the sides.  This is the GPS picture of
part of the Escalante River Canyon, about 50 miles south of Bullfrog and it really twists and turns……………

Right after this, I turned into Davis Gulch and what a ride.  The channel is very narrow in spots and the rock is very colorful……………

Another boat will give an idea of scale……………..

Then it was play time.  Dustbuster isn’t a real hot rod - it cruises at just 22 mph, but going thru these turns at that speed felt like the Indy 500.  Here I’m in a hard left to go into that channel, then will make a hard right around that corner.  Yahooooo…………….

Farther up it narrowed down and closed in till it was like going thru a huge long cave.  A lady and her grand-daughter had found a fairly level spot and had set up camp for a few days.  Nice people and nice to talk to…………….

Farther on around, a quick look back…………..

Then a look ahead at some great formations………………..

Just a few more bends and I ran out of river, so beached the boat and went for a short walk……………..

This was neat but it was very muddy, so I headed on back out…………….

……..and got into some more hard turns.  Yup, we’re going around that rock bluff at center right and in front of the gravel slope - at full speed.  Steer the boat with one hand and take pics with the other.  I was grinning so hard my jaws were aching………………

This was great, and I loved it, but Tempus Fidgets and it were getting a little late, so I headed back out to the main lake and headed back toward Bullfrog Basin - 50 miles away.  Yah, I covered some ground (water) today.  Big time.  On the way down I’d passed Iceberg Canyon but passed on it to get to the Escalante.  Now, on the way home I looked at it again, and finally thought, “Ah, why not ??  I’m here, and it won’t take much for a quick look.  Am I ever glad I did.  This was very definitely the “best for last.”  Iceberg Canyon is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.  The pictures don’t do it justice.  You need to feel the scale of the place.  Beautiful.  Here we’re starting into the main canyon with another boat ahead of me……………..

In the main lake, water averaged around 300 ft deep.  In the side canyons about 160 ft deep.  These were major canyons before they were flooded.  Looking down a side canyon.  It makes a hard left in front of that green patch and goes much farther……………….

The end of the main branch of Iceberg Canyon.  Water at that tree was 24 ft deep……………..

Going back out gives a whole different perspective.  The cliffs are huge………………

A couple of Bass fishermen in their small boat under the Hole in the Rock.  I saw many Bass in the shallows at the heads of the canyons.  Fishing must be good…………….

This is just a tiny look at a couple of the many side canyons and shows nothing of the main lake at all, but a good look at all would need 100’s of pictures.  Just not practical, so this’s my quick peek at a tremendous place.  I’d love to spend a week on one of the big houseboats for rent here…….with a runabout in tow, of course. 

After a day like this, the launch ramp wasn’t as crowded as I expected, but it’s a loooong way up there to get the truck.  I measured it with the truck’s odometer and that ramp is 0.3 miles down and it’s steep.  I carried all the electronics and camera gear with me.  Don’t trust nobody around that stuff.  Oh, my aching back.  Grumble grumble……………

Now, in the gov’t campground, I’m watching a steady parade of pickups and boats pouring in and it’s made me realize that it’s Friday night.  Forgot about that……..and tomorrow is almost certainly going to be a madhouse at the launch ramp.  S’OK, I’ll go back up to Hite at the north end of Lake Powell tomorrow and I think I found a semi-private launch that’s not well known, thanks to a fella I talked to on the way in.  Then head for home.  Today was Very satisfying.  Gotta love this place.                    Lar.

x

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

Posted: May 17th, 2009 under 09 Santa Fe, 09-5-8 Lake Powell.
Comments: 1

This is why I didn’t stop for pictures yesterday……….can’t stop once I start.  Every thing you see along these roads is different, sorta, and the same, sorta.  Drive thru it and take pictures.  Come back an hour later, the light’s a little different and start all over.  Highway 95, from Blanding, UT across past Natural Bridges and Lake Powell, thru Capitol Reef to Torrey, UT is something like 250 miles, I think, and I’ll match that scenery against anything on earth.   This is just west of Blanding, approaching Comb Ridge……………

There are canyons…………

and mesas.  (this one looks like a cardboard prop, doesn’t it ??)……………..

Past Hite to the top (north) end of Lake Powell.  Notice the cliffs at center right……………

……and a wee problem with the boat trailer.  Good thing I have a spare.  The tire had plenty of tread, but de-laminated.  I don’t owe those tires anything - they’ve gone a long, hard road in the last few years.  (I bought - got ripped off for - 2 new tires in Bullfrog)……………

The Dirty Devil River, just above its’ meeting with the Lake.  Taken from the Hwy 95 bridge………….

Past the Dirty Devil River, the highway climbs steeply to the top of the cliffs and there’s a magnificent overlook up there.  Dirty Devil River empties into Lake Powell’s extreme top end at upper right…………

From Hwy 95, it’s about 40 miles south on Hwy 276 to Bullfrog.  You’ll be forced to endure scenery like this……………..

………..and this, thru the Henry Mountains.  I could easily spend a month on this trip……………

Until you reach the recreation area at Bullfrog Bay - the black arrow on the GPS………………

To the right of the arrow you’ll see Aztec Rapids, and to the right of that the number of Hwy 276.  It was just to the left of the 2 in that number where I took this picture of a boat in the canyon last July……………..

This is the big attraction for me, along with spectacular scenery and just loving being on the boat.  I want to do that with my boat very badly and will start tomorrow, wind permitting.  North of Aztec Rapids you can see several narrow canyons, and to the south, off the map, are many more, and those are the ones I’ll start with tomorrow.  The huge Escalante Canyon and the San Juan River will be the focus points and many in between.  Day after, I’ll head north.

It’s cooled now from the mid-90’s to high 80’s, the wind is blowing thru the open windows of the camper and it sure feels nice.  Ahhhhh…………                     Lar.

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

Posted: May 17th, 2009 under 09 Santa Fe, 09-5-7 To Lake Powell.
Comments: none

Last year I got to exploring out on the Caja del Rio plateau, about 6 miles west of Santa Fe in Der Bug.  On the map I’d spotted an overlook across the White Rock Canyon of the Rio Grande River to see the huge Frijoles (fr-r-r-ee-HOH-lays) Canyon (refried beans canyon) in Bandelier National Monument, home of extensive ancient Indian Pueblos, up to 1,000 years old.  I’ve talked about Bandelier quite a bit in the past.  If you go to the left - east - as you come down the hill into Bandelier, there’s a trail leading down canyon from the lower parking area, following Frijoles Creek down to the Rio Grande River.  ( http://gogittum.com/blog/?cat=41 )

 When I took Der Bug out onto Caja del Rio, I got as far as a steep, rocky grade far short of my goal, and couldn’t go farther.  At that time, the dual Weber carburettors on Der Bug were out of whack and the car had no power and would die on a steep hill.  I’m sure the car could do it now, with the freshly rebuilt carbs, but being alone don’t want to chance getting stuck…………so the mighty Quad comes to the rescue.  On the way in, I passed Montoso Peak, only about 700 ft high, but there’s really 5 peaks here, so last year I climbed all 5, just to say I’d done it.  You can see 3 in this picture.  What a view from up there……………

Continuing on, the Jemez (hay-MAYZ) Mountains are clearly visible on the other side of the Rio Grande.  Road is getting rougher……………….

Farther on, we come to the edge of a ridge and the road goes phooey in a hurry.  This is where I “almost” got Der Bug stuck last year……………

This is far steeper than it looks here, and those ledges are very difficult for Der Bug.  Designed for such stuff, Suzy the quad walks right on down……and right back out again………….

Around the next corner it was much steeper and caution was needed, even on Suzy.  You can see the extension of the road far below and a smaller ridge that must be climbed to reach the main canyon on the other side………………

On the other side of that ridge the main canyon finally comes into view.  It’s huge.  The white spots in the center and right distance are some of the facilities at Los Alamos National Laboratories - home of the atomic bomb in WWII……………..

I pulled Suzy out onto a great Juniper covered hump and the trail petered out, so started walking.  It didn’t take very far to come onto a tremendous view of Frijoles Canyon.  This is spectacular.  What a sight……………..

Walking - carefully - out to the edge, it’s a looooong way down, baby.  Book says the canyon here is 1,000 ft deep, but I doubt it’s that much.  Looks to me to be more like 700 or so…….but still wouldn’t like to slip.  Most of the canyon is steep - this portion is vertical………………..

A look up-stream shows Los Alamos - you can see one of the huge tracking antennas at upper left - and to the right, out on the point is the bedroom community of White Rock…………….

A look downstream shows where the canyon ends at La Bajada, ( http://gogittum.com/blog/?cat=57 ) the great dropoff to the flatlands below on the way to Albu-Quirky far in the distance………………..

Finding another “road” (actually, I found many roads that need to be explored :-) I went south a ways on the ridge and got a look a little farther up the canyon, and could see the trail I’d been on 2 years ago.  The falls are hidden by a shoulder of rock on the right side of the canyon……………….

This was a easy, enjoyable 1 hour ride each way on Suzy, compared to beating myself to death in Der Bug or beating up and scratching the 4Runner……tho’ the Runner could easily make the trip.  Having Suzy available makes a big difference, and there’s much more exploring to be done out there.  What amazes me is that this afternoon traffic on Cerrillos Rd in Santa Fe, coming home, was plugged solid.  Out on the Caja, just 6 miles away, after riding a total of 23 miles round trip, I didn’t see another person all day.  Not one.  Yes, I like that.  :-)  (and it do make me glad I’ve got the SPOT)                    Lar.

    –

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

Posted: May 17th, 2009 under 09 Santa Fe, 09-5-16 Frijoles Overlook.
Comments: none