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!

Heron Lake State Park

Very quiet (with one exception) is about all I can say about Heron State Park even memorial day weekend there was only 5 of us camped in this campground. 

My first campsite was over run by Hobie Catamaraner's (not sure if thats a word), which was a boat club. They even started camping in my site, so rather then show off my ninja skillz, and cat like reflexes I turned the key, and moved two campgrounds over. Turned out a to be a much better camping spot.

There's 7 or 8 different campgrounds at Heron Lake, and primitive beach camping on the shore. Been pretty muddy though. Verizon cell service is best on the south shore of the lake in the campgrounds across the dam I been using a booster, but others in the area are getting along fine without it. Heres a few more pics of the area........

On Easter 2011 a plane crashed into the lake. Only pieces of the plane, pilot were recovered, but 23 kilos of cocaine were found floating. Supposedly a drug runner for the mexican mafia was the pilot he was flying out of Prescott AZ. Theres still rumored to be cocaine at the bottom of the lake about 150 ft down 

 Rio from the dam. Another Osprey nest in the upper right.

 Rio Chama withe heron reservoir draining into it.

 Chama Canyon

Thanks for visiting! Good Day!

Osprey

 A pretty common sight in northern New Mexico are these man made birds nest placed on the top of telephone poles. They must like them cause everyone I've seen has been occupied.

 I've moved from El Vado Lake to Heron Lake, and plan on bouncing between the two until mid June. Hoping the snow will be melted up on Wheelers Peak by then, so I can make an attempt at the 16 mile trek, and see NM from its highest peak. Here's a few more pics from El Vado....

If anyone know some good free camping around the Taos area shoot me an email, or a comment below. Thanks for visiting, and Good Day!

El Vado Lake State Park

 Someone told me that its a long a drive to anywhere you wanna go in New Mexico, and I am beginning to understand what they meant. El Vado lake is located about 120 miles north of Santa Fe, so I stocked up on a good 4 weeks worth of rations.

Heron State Park is the neighboring park. Located only 5 miles from here, but around a 25 mile drive, so I'll be bouncing between the two until supplies run out. Here's a map and some more pics...

 Web pic courtesy of NM State Parks. Little blurry, but download it if needed. The main campground is located around the park office, and pinion beach offers some very nice remote sites not far from the showers.

Primitive camping can be found at Sandy Cove, Hangroves point, and on the Peninsula. All of the primitive is currently closed due to low water levels.

Ideally if one was to do this on a budget they could spend the whole summer bouncing between the two. Better yet if the peninsula was open the 2 parks appear to butt up to one another right there, which would make bouncing between them a simple task. Ill investigate further when I reach Heron. 

One of the campsites on pinion beach.

75 today snowed earlier in the week. Camphost invited me over for homemade chili, bread, and cocktails, so turned out to be a good snow day.

 Goose

 Geese

 Tons of deer encounter them everyday.

My view in the main park. Walking distance to the hot showers. Only had 4 campers in the 2 weeks I've  been here. Thanks for visiting! Good day!

Wilson Yagi Antenna Review

 Purchased this Yagi antenna in February, so I could stay connected in very remote locations, so far Ive only had to use it two occasions. Here at El Vado Lake I got a fading in and out between 3G and 1X signal, which wasn't unreliable at all.

After hooking up the Yagi managed  to pull in a solid 3 bars of 4G! It was a little under $100 for all the fittings, antenna, and cable already owned the wilson 4g booster.

 In the lower position not sure how it would hold up in the winds in the higher position, both worked great.

Used a flag pole holder to hold the antenna. Will be looking for something a little more stable in the future. Wouldn't trust it in the high position in high wind.

The antenna  is mounted on a 1 inch wooden dowel. The yagi is a directional antenna so to find the tower I downloaded a app called Open Signal in the app store, which points right to the tower.

Here's a link to a page I created with  all the components needed for the system.

Click Here

Thanks for visiting. Good Day!