woodwizard
Observer
View attachment 21278Jeff and I left Aztec NM after work on Friday. We’d decided not to return to Durango as we had brought all of our equipment with us. Our target for Friday night was the San Antonio campground in the Santa Fe National Forest, west of Los Alamos. The entire day had been cloudy with high over cast skies. In the evening, as we were heading south on 550, the clouds had organized into a wall of water, lighting flashes and deafing thunder. The thunderstorm was behind us by the time we reached Cuba, our turn off east through the San Pedro Mountains. Eventually, in the steady drizzle, the road narrowed and the pavement ended as it twisted through the ascending mountain valleys leaving us flinging mud everywhere. Around one of the corners there was a stopped group of vehicles trying to assist a small 2 wheel drive car caught in the thick, slick mud. When I applied the brakes the truck decided it didn’t want anything to do with stopping and continued to slide straight toward an unprotected drop off into a meadow. All I could see was the horrid look, followed by great relief, on the face of one of the helpers as we slid in slow motion straight for the edge and came to rest with the front passenger tire dangling over the precipice. A quick tug from a large Dodge dually in the group got all our wheels back in the mud and off we went, slip-sliding to San Antonio campground.View attachment 21279
View attachment 21275 View attachment 21276Being in close proximity to Los Alamos, San Antonio campground was over run with RV’s, campers, kids, barking dogs and full to the limit. Guarding the entrance, the campground host kindly let us in and allowed us to cook in her area and camp in the clearing behind her 5th Wheel. By 9:00PM she locked the gate into the campground- no one could come or go. During our brief conversation, she let us know of a hot spring nearby- the San Antonio Hot Spring. Before the rush the next morning, Jeff and I were up and gone. The dirt road to the hot spring was clearly marked and easy to find. 5 miles later we were sitting in a small parking area for the springs. The steam wafting through the ponderosa pines marked the 300 yard trail up the hill to a small, shallow, crystal clear pool with hand stacked rock walls that over flowed, cascading to smaller lower pools. The temperature was perfectly warm in the crisp morning shade. The view across the narrow tree covered canyon to the sun lit cliffs was expansive. After a quick splash, we cleaned the area of beer cans and wine bottles from the previous night’s party then retreated back to the truck. Chasing the wild turkeys out of our path as we exited, I was parking the truck in Los Alamos a short time later outside of the Black Hole.View attachment 21277
View attachment 21275 View attachment 21276Being in close proximity to Los Alamos, San Antonio campground was over run with RV’s, campers, kids, barking dogs and full to the limit. Guarding the entrance, the campground host kindly let us in and allowed us to cook in her area and camp in the clearing behind her 5th Wheel. By 9:00PM she locked the gate into the campground- no one could come or go. During our brief conversation, she let us know of a hot spring nearby- the San Antonio Hot Spring. Before the rush the next morning, Jeff and I were up and gone. The dirt road to the hot spring was clearly marked and easy to find. 5 miles later we were sitting in a small parking area for the springs. The steam wafting through the ponderosa pines marked the 300 yard trail up the hill to a small, shallow, crystal clear pool with hand stacked rock walls that over flowed, cascading to smaller lower pools. The temperature was perfectly warm in the crisp morning shade. The view across the narrow tree covered canyon to the sun lit cliffs was expansive. After a quick splash, we cleaned the area of beer cans and wine bottles from the previous night’s party then retreated back to the truck. Chasing the wild turkeys out of our path as we exited, I was parking the truck in Los Alamos a short time later outside of the Black Hole.View attachment 21277
