One More Day - PLEASE

[BD]

Another bright, sunny, (but not warm) mountain morning.  The first decision is “just one more day” of New Mexico.  So off we go to Capulin Volcano Nat’l Monument, (E on map) via the back road.  The volcano was just another 360 degree view of endless mountains and valleys. 

Must get a little boring on
the uninhabited mesa tops.

However, the road TO the volcano (squiggly line from C - D on map) was awesome.  (I know.  I use that word to much.)  (I also use () too much.)  A narrow 35 mile, 2-lane pave road through virtually uninhabited mountains, canyons and mesa tops turned brilliant green, (again relative to typical olive-drab), by the prior three days of intermittent rains in the area.

Passed antelope, riders on horseback going who knows where, big entrance gates announcing “Triple J-Bar 7 Ranch”, or some such, with a meandering dirt road disappearing off into the pinion covered hills towards an unseen ranch, (think the Cartwright family of “Ponderosa” fame for those old enough to remember).  Oh, for just a couple of thousand acres of that.

The Folsom Hotel

Encountered only a single town, (D on map), which in 1908 was decimated by a flash flood.  The sole active building on the main street of Folsum, (of several abandoned) was a small museum and memorial to Sally Rooke, the local telephone operator who died at her switchboard warning the other valley residents of the approaching disaster.  (The museum was closed, but with a promise to open by calling a number posted on the door and the payment of $1.50)

This night finds us at Clayton Lake NM whose claim to fame is the largest collection of dinosaur footprints in the US.  At the end of a 12-mile drive across featureless grasslands, a sudden drop into a canyon partially filled with a small lake bring us to our small quiet campground.

A short walk from the campsite takes you to the footprints, some of which are easily recognizable as the 3-toed clawed foot of a meat-eater and numerous others (presumably the meat) going in all directions, probably for a very good reason.

It’s now late in the evening and I’ve just been sitting outside looking at the stars which give enough light to see the surrounding hill country.  This is historic cattle country where less than a hundred years ago, real cowboys camped the nights as they drove cows along the nearby Cimarron and Santa Fe trails.  Sitting outside you could close your eyes an almost imagine what it was like, (if you ignore the warm gas heater, hot water shower, and a freshly cooked dinner of salmon patties, boiled potatoes, corn, fruit and the Oreos & milk I had for desert.

Good Night from “home, home on the range”.