Coyote Creek State Park

Still at Coyote Creek and managed to make it through the 4th. Actually made out like a bandit my camping neighbors left me a whole bunch of goodies steaks hamburgers, deep fried chicken, fresh fish, corn on the cob, and a brand new camping chair. I refused several times, but they insisted. Guess they felt bad for the homeless man in a van :).

Coyote Creeks located at 7700' so the weathers been perfect with a few afternoon showers. The dump station, and campsites across the creek are closed due to flooding. Verizon data signal is all messed up. Over the weekend of the 4th I had only a phone connection, but the rest of the time I had 3g from about 5-6pm until 10 to 11am the next day then nothing again for about 6 hours. Camped with 4 others who had Verizon two couldnt get a signal, and the others were experiencing the same thing I was, so go figure? To many folks on one tower 

Here's a few more pics...

Highway 434 from Angel Fire, NM hardly qualifies as a hwy at times narrows down quite a bit, and has no center line.

 View from my camp.

 Campsite I snagged after the 4th.

Alfa 2000 mw with directional antenna facing towards the Visitor Center. A experiment that worked out great was able to get very quick internet from there wifi, at my site. $39.99 at Amazon, and was delivered directly to my campsite via UPS. That's Service! 

 The only hiking trail at Coyote Creek .75 miles long not my usual distance but scenic atleast.

Views from the trail

One of two beaver ponds.

Coyote creek. Good Day!

Lake Heron to Coyote Creek

Deer outside the Turtle a few days before leaving Heron Lake

My plans to hike Wheeler peak changed after calling the Taos ski village, and finding out RV parking was only available on the weekends due to construction in the parking lot. So ill try to revisit before the summers end.

Left Heron Lake on Tuesday figuring it would give me ample time to get a Campsite up at Eagles Nest State Park before the 4th of July. Well I figured wrong cause Eagles Nest, and its neighbor Cimmaron Canyon were completely full. Apparently folks in the Land of Enchantment take there camping very serious, so I headed south towards Storrie Lake.

 It was then I stumbled across Coyote Creek State Park, and managed to snag the last site, so it been 4 days of generators, and screaming children . Itll all end tomorrow. Managed to get two good meals from the neighbors, so that was a good!

Top of the pass headed east towards Taos

Brazzo's box the cliffs I had been staring at from Lake Heron for several weeks.

New Mexicos version of Slab city. I use to watch a documentary about the area back when I was still living in sticks, and bricks. Interesting to finally see it. Envied there freedom. The documentary is called Off the grid Life on the Mesa. There are several free versions on the net.

At 565 ft high the Rio Grande gorge bridge is the 7th highest bridge in the U.S. The bridge appears in several major films.

Mountain roads part of the southern part of the Enchanted Circle scenic drive.

Turtle down at the Palisades sill down in Cimmaron Canyon. Thanks for visiting! Good Day!

Time to move on!

Still bouncing around between El Vado, and Heron State Parks. On my 7th week now. Weather been fantastic hardly a day above 80. One could spend a whole summer between the two, but I am ready for some new experiences, so waiting on some mail to arrive early next week, then its off to higher elevations. 

The picture above is courtesy of Taos ski valley. Snows almost gone, so plans are to spend a few weeks hiking some of the states highest peaks. Heres a few more Osprey pics I took on my local hikes....

 Ospreys are about 2 ft in length, and can have a wingspan of 6ft. They dive at speeds of 80 mph. Watched the Osprey above took out a large crow for getting to close to its nest.

 and when you take pictures they get pissed!

 Really pissed!

 The hiking path leads right passed there nest, so I try not to bother them, but they've even swooped at me a few times I am pretty sure raptor talons cant feel good.

Good Day!

Rio Chama Trail

 The Rio Chama Trail is a 5.5 mile one way trail connecting Heron State Park to El Vado State Park. The two parks Ive been bouncing  between now for a little over 6 weeks, so its just about time to move on. The trail spans from grasslands on the El Vado side to the ponderosa pines on the Heron side. Heres a few more pics.....

 Down, down, down!

 Looking back at the stairs.

 Suspension bridge 

Not photo of the year, but did manage to stir up some Elk.

 2005 rock slide

 Massive boulder that broke loose actually jumped the trail making a huge hole.

 View from the Mesa with El Vado lake in the background.

Thanks for visiting. Good Day!

Salmon Run Trail

 Salmon Run Trail is a 5 mile (10 mile round trip) located in Heron State Park. Starting at the Heron dam, and ending at the visitor center, or vice versa. No real elevation gain, so the hike is relatively moderate.

 Hilltop looking towards Taos.

 Guess this is where all the tumbleweed ends up. Whole area was packed full of it!

Destination. They also will receive UPS and Fed Ex packages for you here, unless you are unfortunate enough to get the lazy UPS driver, then youll have to drive to the Los Ojos post office.

Man made Ospreys nest up close.

 You can continue your hike for another 3 miles from the visitor center on the east meadow trail which leads to the a lookout to see the source of Heron Lake.

All the water used to fill Lake Heron is run through a series of underground tunnels the longest being the Azotea tunnel running a length of 12.8 miles under the continental divide.

My camp in the trees in the distance from the trail. Thanks for visiting! Good Day!