Four Corners Oct 2010

[James86004]

My daughter had a week long fall break in October, so we took the opportunity to visit several places around the Four Corners.

This was our 3rd or 4th attempt at visiting Chaco Canyon. We have tried 3 or 4 times before on spring breaks in March, but the weather was always either in the 20s or the 90s. This time, we had the Dormobile, which makes camping in the 20s or 90s much more palatable, so we went for it.

We spent 9 nights straight camping, which is a new record for us. Probably not a big deal on this forum, but we have a lot of friends who think we are nuts.

A big thanks goes out to Jeffery Scott for loaning us his Engel 60. It made a big difference in the comfort level on this trip, and as soon as we returned, we started looking for one of our own.

 

[James86004]

Day 1

The Dormobile, with its 95 hp, is not very fun on the Interstate, so we sought to minimize travel on it. The long leg was the 90 miles from Tucson to Willcox. From there, we headed north on Ft. Grant Road to Apple Annie's Produce Farm.

After getting some fresh veggies for our trip, the plan was to get to someplace near Reserve, New Mexico to camp. Idiocy got in the way of that. Right before we left Tucson, I was checking the fluids, and I noticed the rubber seal on the radiator cap was cracked. I made a mental note to get a new cap and then totally forgot about it. As we were climbing the steep grades along AZ 78 near the New Mexico border, the engine started missing and I saw to my horror the temperature gauge was well into the red. I pulled over to let it cool off. Fortunately, we were only a mile from Blackjack Campground in the Apache National Forest, so we just had to climb a few more feet before rolling downhill into our campsite.

 

[James86004]

Day 2, up to El Malpais

In the morning, we topped off the radiator with some of our drinking water and headed north. Reserve, NM is a place dear to my heart. A few years ago, we stopped for gas there. Not only was it a place where you did not have to pay first to pump your gas, but when you went inside to pay, they asked, "How much did you put it?" They did not have one of those displays inside to tell them. Times have changed and now they have pay at the pump, but it is still a nice place.

Our next stop was El Malpais National Monument. We visited La Ventana Arch:

El Malpais is basically a huge volcanic field. There is a section where the lava flows ran up against sandstone cliffs, and the overlook is spectacular.

That night, we drove to Coal Mine Campground northeast of Grants. It was surprisingly nice, I would recommend it if you need a place to stay in the area.

 

[Abel Villesca]

Subscribed! :lurk:

 

[James86004]

Day 3, Junior Ranger Express

We got up extra early so I could go to the auto parts store to find a radiator cap. If there was a real auto parts store in Grants, I didn't find it. I had to be content with Checker. I walked in and was greeted by the clerk. I said, "I need a radiator cap". The clerk proudly stated, "We have caps for any vehicle!" "How about a 1968 Land Rover?" "Oh."

He looks it up in the computer, and 1968 Land Rover is there, it even has the 2.6 liter engine option. No radiator cap is listed. It is a common cap, so I start naming off contemporary cars. He finally takes my old cap, disappears in the back, and comes back with the correct replacement. This always irritates me about Checker, they really are not car guys working there.

Off we go to the El Malpais Information Center to pick up a Junior Ranger Packet. They have a very cool 3D map showing all the different lava layers. The Continental Divide goes through all this volcanic activity, so perhaps North America is cracking in the middle? Since we saw quite a bit of the place on the way in yesterday, Grace has her packet filled out in no time. The Rangers made a big deal out of her earning her badge, bringing everyone outside for her oath.

Next stop was El Morro National Monument, just up the road.

El Morro is bluff with a natural bowl of water at its base. It is the only reliable source of water for miles around, so it was a major stopping point for travelers from prehistoric times up through the Spanish period and later for the explorers and wagon trains heading from the east to California.

This was the second National Monument proclaimed by Theodore Roosevelt, which he did to protect the thousands of inscriptions carved in the bluff.

One inscription in particular caught our eye.

A E Bailey was America Bailey. She was a member of an emigrant party that was on their way to California in 1858 along Beale's Wagon Road. Later, when they were trying to cross the Colorado River and continue on the Mojave Road, they were attacked by Mojave Indians and lost almost everything. The story of that attack is told in Dennis Casebier's Mojave Road Guide, so it was interesting to make another connection with that book and that road way out here in New Mexico.

Grace earned another Junior Ranger badge. This one took a lot more work, but she persevered and got it. They didn't make as big of a deal about it, so we didn't bother with a picture.

It was getting late in the day now, and we wanted to get to Chaco before dark to get a campsite. We made it with a half hour to spare.

We were very lucky, we had a choice of two campsites. The next day the campground was totally full at 2 pm, so I am glad we did not wait a day.

 

[DurangoSteve]

Nice trip, nice write-up and pics, and a great gift to be able to share it with your daughter. She will remember it forever.

 

[mtsport03]

Great stuff, looking forward to the rest. We once spent a night in Reserve and I throughly enjoyed it as well. Had some very good green chile enchiladas at Ella's Cafe.

 

[James86004]

Sorry about the hiatus, had another trip to go on!

Back to Chaco, the obligatory picture of our campsite with the ruin in the background:

The campground host, Dale, had one of those Jeep Liberty's with the diesel engine - it sounded way cool. He also had a really nice telescope which he opened up for stargazing.

We stopped at the Visitor's Yurt to get a Junior Ranger packet and decide where to go.

When I was a little boy, living in Tokyo, someone gave me a National Geographic book on astronomy. In it was a photo of a supernova pictograph located in the "southwestern United States". It may represent the 1054 supernova, which was the brightest one seen in recorded history. Well, that pictograph is at Chaco and I declared we had to go see it. So my wife and 9-year-old hiked the 4 miles out there.

The Park Service didn't update the mileage on their map when they rerouted the trail. We ended up hiking a mile further than planned, which was a problem since my wife was getting blisters. We got there, and saw what I never thought I would see.

What I didn't know before, was the faint circular painting on the lower rock face is thought to be Halley's Comet, which appeared in the sky a few years after the supernova.

Next we hiked to the top of the mesa, where the Penasco Blanco ruin is. From here you can look back across the whole canyon.

The hike back was long. My wife was limping from her blister, the storm clouds were forming, and we were cursing the Park Service for rerouting the trail. Just as we climbed into the Dormobile, the skies opened up and gave us a rare October rain. So much for our plans for grilling sausages for dinner.

That night, Grace read all the trail guides for all the ruins. The next day, she was our tour guide.

The Pueblo Bonito ruin is impressively huge. It compares favorably to the contemporary ruins of Old Sarum on Salisbury Plain in England.

The windows in the corners of walls are interesting. The sunlight comes in at a solstice or equinox and hits the far wall in interesting places. There are lots of calendar features like this here.

The famous curving doors. They are just Grace's size, and she is 4'8".

An original ceiling. There is something very cool about looking at 900 year old wood.

 

[camit34]

Great trip!

 

[shellb]

Thanks for sharing with us. I hope to take my daughter on similar trips some day.

 

[stolenheron]

so jealous. havent been to the 4 corners/southwest in probably 7 years. i'd kill to get my rover out there for a similar trip, but i'd probably spend some time in CO too.

 

[KaiserM715]

I will bring this one back from the dead. I would like to see the rest of the trip!!