"Bill's Excellent Adventure!"

5/3/07 Thurs. - Drove to the Santa Fe National Forest this afternoon...or should I say "experienced" the Forest? "Awesome " may describe the beauty of the drive. It is about 65 miles from my hotel heading north. It's actually about parallel to Santa Fe, which is only about 55 miles north. The drive was incredibly beautiful. I took a ton of pics so check out the slide show once I post it later this evening.

For my memory, I took I-25N about 10 miles. Took NM550N about 20 miles, then NM4N about 30+ miles through another Indian Reservation called Jemez and Jemez Springs Pueblo. Elevation changed from Jemez at about 6600 ft to Jemez Falls Campground at 8000 ft. Temperature changed considerably. It was about 64 at 8000 ft about 5 pm and 30 minutes later it was about 72+ at 6000 ft.

Spent about 15 minutes talking to a park volunteer, Don (77 yrs young I might add) at the Jemez Falls campgrounds. They get on average 15-20 inches of rain and about 35-40 inches of snow each year. At that altitude, there are tall pines and beautiful mountain scenes. Every turn almost presents a breathtaking view. I asked a bout bears and he says they have only had one Bear sighting at his camp since 2000 and that was when a bear wondered into the area after a deer had become road kill and was quickly chased out by the presence of people.

This drive today, and standing amongst the tall pines and their fragrance, took me back to my youth at Philmont Scout Ranch in NE NM. ; It's amazing how such experiences are brought to life after all these many years some 48 years ago.

All camping in the national forest for tent camping is primitive save access to drinking water and outhouses. Don pointed out the best sites on his map. Tent sites are $10/night with a max of 14 days. If you wanted to, with so many campgrounds, you could probably stay here all summer camping moving from on ground to another.

I would have to say I had a "spiritual experience" today and a clarity of vision. As of right now, I really don't care if I never leave this place. Affording it may be another issue, as these mountains have become valued real estate now. I'll give this some thought, but I am now thinking of staying in this hotel for one week and camp the other two. If it's working out, I may extend my stay here longer and enjoy this beauty. I think the first week I'll try to camp at a location at a lower altitude to hopefully stay a little warmer at night. Found a real nice spot along a creek with Salmon I understand. I'll need to reconfigure my camping for primitive as I am all set up for an electric site and get some fishing equipment together.

Talk to ya later...eating dinner and then I will process my pics.