Heron Lake

June 3^rd, 2018

Leaving Audra, Abiquiu and Georgia we turned north to Heron Lake. The lake is about 100 miles north of Abiquiu, at 7200 feet: about 1,000 feet higher than Abiquiu. Our favorite spot was taken at Heron Lake but we found another suitable site to take its place.

When we left Abiquiu there were dark, heavy clouds hanging to the North, we were hoping the rain would hold off till we arrived and got unhooked and set up. The further North we went, the darker and heavier the clouds became. Then it started to drizzle, and off in the distance there was lightning, and we could hear the ‘rollin’ thunder. All the while the drizzle turned into rain, then pouring rain, and at one point we thought hail was coming – but alas it was just “hard rain”… At this point we held out little hope that we would stay dry through our ‘disconnect’! We did pray for NO dry lightning strikes, for we had heard about the Cimarron, NM fire that was, at this/that moment, burning out of control.

At the turnoff from highway 84, I asked, our ‘higher rain sources’ for a reprieve of rain (for about 30 minutes only – for we knew this area also needed moisture), just so we could get set up. The campground, Willow Creek, is about 10 miles off of highway 84… as we were traveling down the road Patti said: it doesn’t look like “they” listened! But just as we were pulling into the campground, the rain let up to a light drizzle, we could deal with that! We found our spot, unhooked and did the essentials – for by that point our ‘reprieve time’ was up.

The rain was glorious!!! It rained all afternoon, into the night and early the next morning, clearing by mid-day. It was so cool and fresh, with the scent of pine and musky forest everywhere; needless to say we slept like babies that night. The next two days were nice and refreshing – then the temperatures slowly climbed to the mid 80’s, but still tolerable.

One of the things we did not like were the ‘no-see-ums’ (nsu’s). We had not noticed them before, not at Elephant Butte, Cochiti, or Abiquiu… maybe they didn’t ‘hatch-out’ till the 3^rd of June anywhere! We have a bug-screen tent that we haven’t used since last summer soooooo, we put it up right away. We think the mosquitoes and the nsu’s are related, in that they draw your blood and make welts wherever they can find a handy and inconvenient place to make their mark, i.e at the waistline, hairline, ears, and eyes. The bug screen seemed to keep the mosquitoes out but the nsu’s seemed to be able to navigate the holes in the screen. The only deterrent, for the nsu’s, is vanilla mixed with a bit of water and sprayed on our bodies. This solution needs to be reapplied every-so-often, but it is effective

On Tuesday we went to the lake to have a picnic lunch and relax. The wind was blowing quite hard, too bad for the nsu’s, and we had a delightful time, next time, though, we bring our own chairs… for the cement picnic tables are quite hard to sit on for any length of time. Off to one side was a Bonsai Juniper that was twisted by mighty winds that shaped it’s ‘twisted fate’.

As it was a Tuesday, there were not many people on the shore or boats in the water – very peaceful. We saw two whimsical signs; one read “Danger Lake ahead” and the other read “Road Ends in Lake”, maybe that is for the blind campers???

Wednesday we decided to go to El Vado Lake a smaller lake down stream (also fed by the Rio Chama, which is part of the same State Park, and eat at the little café, Stone House, next to the water. Alas, it is only open Thursday – Saturday. On our way out we took some time to visit the overlook for the Rio Chama and spent some time watching an Osprey dive-bombing a Bald Eagle, for what reason we weren’t sure, but a marvelous mid-air show nonetheless (although the pictures did not turn out). After taking in the ‘air show’, the cool breeze and spectacular view, we decided to head up to Chama for the day.

Chama

Chama is about 10-15 miles north and a beautiful drive. The countryside is lush, green, with large Pines, Aspens, Cottonwoods, Oak stands (not your back east oaks though) and rolling hills with cattle and horses grazing along both sides of the highway. There are cabins: some inhabited, some relics, and some very nice ranch houses. The l-o-n-g drive made us hungry so we were in search of an establishment to take care of our hunger pains. LOL.

We went to the High Country Restaurant, to ease our pain. We had eaten there last year, and remembered they served crab cakes, which were delicious. When we sat at the table perusing the menu, we did not see the crab cakes on the menu. We asked the waitress, and she said they were only on the dinner menu, but she would ask the cook/chef if he would make us some anyway? As it turns out… he was willing to make some for us. Yeah! The crab cakes came with an Arugula salad and that is almost the star of the lunch for me. Now that it is summer, I cannot find Arugula anywhere in any store, too late in the year, as it bolts in the heat. I had Patti’s share of Arugula also, yum, yum. We also had coconut shrimp, which was excellent.

Patti, as is almost always the case, reads every billboard in every establishment – “to see what is going on”. She found out that this month was Chama Heritage Month. On Saturday, there would be a draft horse show, which included a timed course pulling a cart and a log-pull. We thought that would be fun and so the plan was to arrive early to get a place to park not too far from the arena, for Patti’s knee.

The other errands we needed to do included laundry, a bit of window shopping, and getting some groceries at the local market. The market is Lowes, not related to the ‘big box’ Lowes. They do have hardware items, and some of everything, that we needed anyway, albeit somewhat higher prices than Safeway or Albertson – no different than any other tourist town!

The “old timey” train which goes from Chama to Antonito, CO, was in full swing for the season and the parking lot was full of cars and the train cars were full of tourists with cameras, hanging over the side taking their mountain photographs. The only time there are more tourists for the train is in the fall when the Aspens do their alchemical change from green to gold, which is beautiful to behold. We headed home with full stomachs, a truck full of all sorts of groceries and clean clothes. We couldn’t wait for Saturday to come and the festival of draft horses to begin.

On most mornings at camp, I would get up early, to beat the heat, and take a walk to the lake and meditate by the water with my “Mystic Merlinite”, so serene and quiet.

I walk down to a part of the lake that is not inhabited by sunbathers, kayakers, paddle-boarders or fisher-people (with or without boats). There are no picnic tables or boat ramps… only Osprey, Turkey Vultures, ducks, fish jumping in and out of the water and deer being flushed out by yours truly. The beach is full of beautiful driftwood. If we only had a house and yard… it would be full of all kinds of driftwood for our gardens. The driftwood is sun-bleached, smooth to the touch and with the most magnificent shapes to show off any flower that resides by it. Someday soon we will have a house: where (?), still undecided.

Coming back from my walk I found this huge Juniper or Western Cedar, and I wondered how long this tree has stood the test of time and drought. If you look closely you will see my staff resting by the trunk of the tree…

One morning I took a different walk toward the marina (a term I use loosely), and found some wonderful cliffs, a black bird and a duck, can someone tell me the name of this waterfowl? This walk was more of a hike than a walk with Ponderosas, small mountains to climb and all right along the river, gorgeous! AND, of course this evening there was an incredible sunset overlooking the lake. Enjoy!

The next day we decided to take a drive around Las Brazos, an area between Tierra Amarilla and Chama to see if there was any land or houses for sale that appealed to us. Most of this area is summer or vacation property, not many full-time residents. It is a lot like Colorado with its Pines, Aspens and Oak trees and streams running hither-and-yon, although this area is in a several year drought, much like the rest of the West. We found several ‘possibilities’ and Patti diligently took phone numbers and descriptions of the properties. Later, when Patti looked them up on the Internet, a lot were over-priced for what they offered yet some had possibility. We were debating between getting just land and parking our travel trailer, Rosalita, on it for the summer… or getting a small house already built. There, of course, were advantages and disadvantages to both. Either way, it would only be a summer house; for the winters here are too cold with the possibility of snow – we would still head south for the winters. We have thought about buying a house in southern Arizona also, that would strictly be a winter location and head north when the heat became unbearable (like February) LOL. Later in the week we will make some calls to see some of the properties that appeal to us.

Chama Heritage Days

Up early to drive to the Heritage Days – so we could get a good parking spot and a good seat in the stands (shady stands). I walked around with my camera and took pictures of the draft horses in and around the arena. Some were warming up with their handlers, others were giving kids a ride (in carriages), and others were freely running around in their corrals throwing their heads and tails up trying to make an impression on other sweet young draft thing.

We found out that this was the first ever “Chama Heritage Days”, so we did not know what to expect. At the other end of Gallegos Park was an authentic chuck wagon, not a relic or replica, but a restored food cart. The chuck wagon was working on this day also, for they were cooking brisket, beans, corn AND roasting jalapenos. We thought we would support the program and went to pay for lunch, but it was all provided by the festival, no money required or needed. It was very good.

There were also different horse-drawn buggies (although not for draft horses) some authentic and some replicas. One of the authentic buggies was actually used in the movie, “Young Guns II”, which was filmed in and around Abiquiu.

There was also a stagecoach, which was a replica, but looked, for all the world, like the real deal to my untrained eye.

It was time for the ‘show’ to begin… I looked back at the stands and saw that it was very well attended…LOL. It is the first year after all!

While I was exploring the park and taking pictures of the buggies, a small girl, (about 4), was calling to me, “Hey Lady, Hey Lady, Hey Lady…” When I said yes, she said she wanted to ride on a horse. I told her I didn’t have a horse, only a camera. She kept repeating and asking me for a ride on a horse. She would not take “no” for an answer. So I left and continued to take more pictures, this time of the draft horses in the arena. Later Patti told me when I left the child started crying and crying, saying she wanted to ride a horse, and she wouldn’t stop crying, so her mother took her inside.

As I was wandered around taking photos I heard the woman (presumably in charge), saying to other kids who were also asking for rides, that they couldn’t ride the horses, but that they could have a ride in a wagon later. I left, after hearing this and went to the house where the little girl lived and asked her mother to come out. She did and the little girl followed her mom out, this time the girl was dressed in a princess dress, complete with princess shoes, a veil and a wand. It was so cute. I told her mom that they were giving kids rides in wagons later, so she should go and find out the time etc. All little princesses need to have a ride in a horse-drawn carriage, actually all girls, little or big!

 

Draft horses are some of the most magnificent animals on this planet, outside of Dragons, of course. So huge and yet they carry themselves so regally, although I would not like to get in the way of one running behind me. I understand they have a very gentle soul, which was apparent when I saw a young man and small boy just barely holding on to a team waiting to be hooked to a wagon.

As you can imagine, there is not much call for draft horses to work the fields or to drag in huge trees to be made into houses or barns anymore; so there were not a lot of them in the contest. What they did allow was inexperienced people a chance to drive the horses around the arena, with a very experienced driver. Therefore people could get the feel of the power of the beasts in front of them. I thought that was so kind and caring, for I’m sure there were many people who have not even seen a draft horse in person, let alone drive a team of these magnificent creatures!!!

Patti and I stayed for several hours and then, since the ‘show’ was progressing slowly, we left for it was getting really, really hot – topped out at 90 degrees today. The dust was also getting to us, and affecting Patti’s allergies. On our way out of the park we found our “Tiny House” – and on a separate street we found a ‘stone kiva’ but actually we didn’t know what it was, but it made for a great picture. I couldn’t wait to get home to see the prize-winning photos I took today!

Well, the time draws nigh for leaving and heading back to Cochiti where we will camp for a couple of days so I can have my gaping hole in my mouth inspected by the dentist, before we head north to Navajo Lake State Park in NM. Oh, all is well with my missing tooth – gums are healing well and the bone graft has taken effect, we shall see in another 3 months…

Navajo Lake, here we come…