Diablo got us off to a great start on our summer adventure. His new sidekick Angelica is on her inaugural trip as our toad (our tow vehicle). For the first leg of our trip we didn’t have far to go. We headed down the mountain and to the Angel Fire Members’ RV Park. We thought that would be a great first night to make sure everything was de-winterized and in good working order. Plus the price was right, it’s free for members. (Guests of members pay a small nightly fee and you can stay up to 14 days in the summer months.) One of the little boys staying in the trailer next to us was only too happy to assist Will in pressing buttons the next morning to get us ready to leave.
We headed out to Bluewater State Park in Prewitt, NM. Which is between Grants and Gallup. It’s a good size park with numerous camping spots. They also allow camping right on the beach and there were numerous people out with boats and fishing rods. We took a short hike in the park called the Canyonside trail. It’s only about 1.5 miles and you descend into a small canyon and cross the creek a few times before ascending back up.
Got up the next morning and headed toward Gallup to hike a trail at the Red Rock Park This park is managed by the city of Gallup and has 2 nice hikes, a couple of campgrounds, a convention center, and rodeo grounds. We really liked how the park was nestled amongst the huge red rock cliffs. It is really picturesque. We had both heard about the park and seen pictures of the hot air balloon event that they do annually in December, but neither of us had been there before. We did the Pyramid Hike , which is about 3.5 miles out and back. There are some amazing views of the surrounding area including the Church Rock formation. You gain about 1,400 ft in elevation in less than 1.75 miles, so I, as usual, was huffing the whole way up. There is no shade, but at least going up we had a nice breeze to help keep us slightly cooler.
At the top of the Pyramid
We made it back to camp before the afternoon rain shower. And typical New Mexican weather, the rain went away and the sun came back out. We took a nice walk after it cleared up to the dam overlook for some nice views of the lake. Although, the park is a little out of the way, it made a nice spot to do some exploring in the Grants/Gallup area.
We left New Mexico and headed to Colorado. We had a site at the McPhee Reservoir Area. Like most times booking online it’s a crap shoot when picking a site for an unfamiliar area. We chose a pull-through site that turned out to be more of a pull-over site. The picnic table area is nice, but the area to park your rig was very narrow. So, we opted to leave one of our slides in as it would have been in the roadway. The park has a nice viewpoint which gives you 360 degree views of the surrounding peaks.
The next morning, we were off to hike the Sand Canyon trail about 18 miles south of were we were staying in the Canyon of the Ancients National Monument. The trail is 6 miles one way, so we only went up about 3 miles, which allows you to see a majority of the ruins. Most of the ruins are closer to the Southern trailhead. So, if you’re not doing the entire trail, I would start off the County Road G trailhead. Be sure and take some of the spur trails, they get you closer to the ruins and others provide a better view of the canyon that you’re hiking along. Luckily, for us it was partly cloudy the entire day, which provided us some relief again from the sun.
At the trailhead , there is a sign advertising the Sutcliffe Winery just down the road. Well, don’t mind if we do. The winery has a nice patio area and has nice views of the vineyard and the McElmo Canyon. It’s owed by John Sutcliffe who is a chef from Wales. We were told that the owner helped set-up Tavern on the Green in NYC back in the 70’s. It was a great place to kick back and relax after our long hike. There is much more to see and do in the Dolores/Cortez Colorado area. Maybe next time we’ll stay a little longer and explore some more.
The menacing clouds that were hanging around, unleashed their wrath that night and we awoke to a cloud/rainy day. Well, we were headed out anyway to Moab, Utah.