Not much to report today. There was a lot of standing water where there shouldn't have been any. That was evidence of the tremendous amount of rain that has been dumped in this area in the last 3 weeks. I think Jenny read that this park has the official state Bison herd. This one was wading in a muddy pond at the visitors center.
After driving into town to buy groceries we have determined that Tucumcari has but one claim to fame. The old "Route 66" is its main street. The businesses appear to in a 60s time warp. K-mart is the big department store. Nuff said. We are in a KOA. Jenny called her dad.
Since this was going to be our only full day here, we hit the ground running. The big hike today was an 8 miler on a sandstone ridge 500 feet above the edge of the lava field. This was an out and back that turned around at an overlook that gave us a view of New Mexico's largest arch. Tomorrow we continue the march eastward.
Jenny tells me that Malpais means "bad country or bad land". We are in New Mexico near Grants off of I 40. There is a huge lava bed near here and we are sure that is why this area is El Malpais. We are in a free BLM campground. If you use your imagination you will probably guess what amenities there are in a free BLM campground. A place to park, a pit toilet, and a picnic table. Luckily it's fairly cool otherwise this probably wouldn't work. There are some things to see and some hikes to take so we will stay here 2 nights. I climbed up above our camp and took this pic.
I found a bike trail not far from this campground that was rated intermediate. It was a 9 mile loop. Jenny drove me to the trailhead and off I went. Of the 9 miles, 4 1/2 was up hill. Since there is very little oxygen up here and I have sea level lungs I thought that my heart might explode. It was a thigh burning climb but it was one hell of an exciting descent back to the trailhead. We went into town and ate lunch and then rode our bikes along a trail that parallels the Animas river. The trail is very well done. Outdoor recreation, in all its forms, is a big part of Life in Durango. We're outta here tomorrow. We'll end up probably in New Mexico.
We did today's drive disconnected. There were a couple of pretty high passes we had to climb over and I just didn't want to stress the MP. Pat, we have made the turn. We should be home in about 2 weeks. We will go through Charlotte and see Seth's new house on the way. We will be here for probably 2 nights. Durango is the terminus of the Silverton - Durango narrow gage RR. The city is a pretty big tourist destination and we walked around some today absorbing it's ambience. Here are some pics I took on the drive.
I did my inner-canyon hike? Scramble? Climb? This morning. I rode my bike to the visitors center and got my permit at 8:15. They only allow 15 people/day to be in the canyon. I was the first to show up so I was solo for all of the descent and most of the climb out. The route (can't call it a trail) followed an avalanche chute or a rock slide most of the way down. There was one section the NPS provided a chain to hold onto because there was no way to stay upright without it. I finally made it to the river in 1 1/2 hours and was awestruck by the beauty of the river and the inner gorge. I explored for about an hour and then headed back up. Jenny was right to pass up this one. There were 3 young couples descending as I climbed up and I sensed no joy emanating from the females. Live and learn.
