Jemez Mountains - Forest Service Road 376 (South) Boondocking

[By Greg]  Last weekend we drove up to the Jemez mountains to check out campgrounds. We had a great time looking at Jemez Falls CG, Redondo CG, San Antonio CG (some electric/water hookups), Fenton Lake CG (some electric sites).  They all look great this year with all the rain in New Mexico.

We turned south (off hwy 126 about 4 miles west from  La Cueva) onto FS 376. There were hundreds of boondockers on the east side of the road for a long ways.

There was a trail motor bike rally of some sort going on and a lot of the RV campers were related to that.

It looks like an excellent place to boondock in the warm months.

Here is a coordinate of just one of the areas where we saw RVs, but they were all along the east side of the road: 35.866395, -106.695532.

We saw a few boondockers on the north side along FS 144 also, but not as many.

The wonderful San Antonio Hot Springs are along the north side of FS 376 [GPS: 35.939776, -106.643482].

I've heard you can take FS 144 and then climb/hike down a cliffyish area to FS 376 and then up to the hot springs in order to avoid the really bad road condition of FS 376.  (You need a high clearance 4x4 to get to the hot spring on FS 376.)  I plan to explore this possibility in the near future. (See future post.)

I had my Mom and Dad in the back with us and everyone started freaking out when the FS 144 started getting rough so I didn't get to explore as far as I wanted to determine if access to San Antonio Hot Springs is possible, as I had heard.  I will have to try again by myself.

Google Map Photos of San Antonio Hot Springs not correct - fix this.

Pagosa Springs Colorado 4th of July

(By Karen) Thursday right after work, we headed north to Pagosa Springs, Colorado. It only takes a little more than three hours to drive there from our home in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Our plan was to boondock in the Turkey Springs area off of Williams Creek Road. We arrived after dark to the parking lot with signage about Turkey Springs. We were very surprised when the road was block and a large sign announced that it was a mountain bike trail. We stood there and looked at each other. When the heck did Turkey Springs become mountain bikes only? It turned out that we should have driven just a little further to a second entrance that is the actual Turkey Springs Road. We missed it in the dark. We didn't discover our mistake until Sunday. Oh well - next time.  

While sitting in the dark staring at the blocked road, we debated whether to continue up towards Williams Creek Reservoir to other boondocking spots or head back downtown and find a place to stealth camp. We decided to overnight at the Visitor Center. The parking lot was full when we arrived, but one by one the cars and campers left. They were just parking to attend the nearby carnival. We walked around downtown and then had a pleasant, undisturbed sleep. We woke up very early and walked to the nearby Rose Cafe for a delicious breakfast.

(There were no "NO Overnight Parking" signs at the visitors center, but we think that there is a high chance of being asked to leave at night, normally. There was a carnival going on across the street so we felt that the chances of the police bothering with us, with all the activity and carny camping going on around us, was slim.)

Great parking lot at Visitors Center. We heard the soothing rushing river all night. 

Pagosa Springs has an abundance of campgrounds and boondocking areas. But, since it was 4th of July weekend, almost all were completely full. We drove north to West Fork Road. We agreed to take the first spot in either a campground or a boondock site whichever came first. A sign at the beginning of the West Fork campground (US Forest Service) said to see the camp host for a site. We stopped without driving through the campground and asked the camp host if he had any sites still available. We secured the last one. Lesson learned: A camper pulled in ahead of us, but didn't stop to talk to the camp host. They drove past him and through the campground looking for open sites. Because they didn't stop, we beat them to the last spot. Later we drove further up the road, but all the beautiful boondock spots were full. (There are about 4 really nice ones near a bridge over the San Juan.)

West Fork Campground - beautiful spot in the woods, Site 28

We were happy with our site which was more suited to a tent.
The table was quite a ways from the parking spot. Worked fine for us.

West Fork Campground is really beautiful. There are some sites that are very close to the West San Juan River. We had a pleasant walk around the campground and down to the river. Technically, we were in a tent site. The table was away from the parking area and close to a tent dirt pad. But, we loved this site. It was very private.

In the mornings, we opened our sliding door and lay in bed looking out at the beautiful trees and surrounding mountains while listening to the abundance of birds chirping away. We saw a number of deer and, of course, many chipmunks and squirrels. West San Juan campground has vault toilets and great tasting water available. We recommend it and will definitely return. Many of the site were pull throughs and big enough for larger rigs. Some sites can be reserved through recreation.gov or reserve america.

Looking down toward West Fork Road

We were happy to find such a beautiful campground and lucked out that it was only a short drive to downtown Pagosa Springs. From our campground, we could see Treasure Falls beckoning to us. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday - Pagosa Springs had off and on rain and thunderstorms. But, we didn't let that keep us from exploring and getting in our 10,000 steps a day. One of our first hikes was the short uphill one to Treasure Falls.

Our monkey friends went along with us to the base of Treasure Falls. 

Beautiful Treasure Falls

The rain brought an abundance of beautiful flowers

We drove to the top of Wolf Creek Pass and up a small dirt road to the Lobo Overlook. 

View from Lobo Overlook

We like to bring our sock monkey friends with us when we hike. They love to have their photos taken. My aunt and uncle, who raised me, are in Germany and they have our sock monkey's cousin with them. We love to send each other pictures of our monkeys on our different adventures. I was walking with my sock monkeys to the overlook and a gentleman said to me, "Wait a minute, while I get my monkey. We can take pictures together." You just never know who you will meet out there on the road.

Monkeys at Lobo Overlook

Parking lot at Lobo Overlook with our monkey friends

Our new friends from Texas. He said that they get all different types
of reactions when they ask if they can take pictures of their monkey with people.
What we have in number of monkeys, they make up for in size!  

We are ALWAYS happy to pose with monkey friends.

The main attraction was walking around downtown Pagosa Springs, going to the 66th Annual Red Ryder Rodeo and watching the fireworks. For many years, Greg and I have helped put on the Kiwanis fireworks show in Los Alamos. We LOVE firework shows. While we were out walking, we saw the telltale signs of the firework tubes really, really close to where we were parked in a park across from the spiffy looking Pagosa high school.

Yes!

We had been told the fireworks were shot off downtown, so our original plan had been to leave the campervan near the park and walk downtown to see the works. But, now - we were literally on top of the shoot-off point. To say I was excited is an understatement. Yipee!

The fireworks display did not disappoint. Great show! But, anytime you cram so many people into a small place - you get TRAFFIC. We knew it would take awhile to clear out the vehicles after the show, so we just walked around the park in the dark and waited and waited. It took about 1.5 hours for the traffic jam to clear. We got back to the campground after 11 p.m. and slept like baby monkeys!

View toward Pagosa Springs downtown from trail to the High School and park. 

Daily thunderstorm rolling on in. The skies cleared for the firework show. 

Happy Birthday America! Great show Pagosa Springs! 

We shall return!

R.I.P Brownie the Ashley Pond Goose

R.I.P. Brownie the King of Ashley Pond

It's a sad day today as my good pal "Brownie the Goose" was seen early this morning being carried away by a big coyote.

My wife and I walk past Ashely Pond nearly every day and I never failed to greet Brownie and Homer with a squawk and a bow.

Brownie was a pretty aggressive goose and was often seen terrorizing kids. That was his nature. I was once told that if you bow at a goose, they consider it a sign of respect. I tried it and it worked. He stopped chasing me and we became good pals.

Brownie's companion goose at Ashley Pond was Homer. They were inseparable. Each day as Karen and I approached the pond, they would spot us from a distance and start squawking up a storm. It was nice to have such an excited greeting.

I felt like Norm on Cheers, where every goose knows your name!

We were always glad to see Brownie and Homer and I think they were glad to see us.

I noticed this year that Brownie and Homer were spending a lot more time up on the grass near the waterfall. It didn't seem like a smart thing for them to do with all the coyotes that roam around downtown.

I would usually try to herd them back down to the pond when I saw them up there. I guess a coyote got lucky and caught Brownie unaware up on the grass. Brownie was getting older and his legs would shake as he stood on dry land. Maybe he was just not quick enough this morning to get back to the safety of the pond.

I'm really going to miss Brownie and I'm certain Homer will be very sad too. It just won't be the same without Brownie.

Thanks to Carl Maxx for keeping the ducks and geese happy and feed on a nearly daily basis through good and bad weather.  And thanks to Sallye Sibbett for all her work running Duck Buddies for many years and feeding them often.

Carl and Sallye are two of the unsung heroes of Los Alamos.

Brownie in attack mode.

Brownie and Greg greet each other.

Brownie and friends wait in a cage at Pajarito Cliffs while Ashley Pond undergoes reconstruction.
Carl Maxx feeds Homer some tasty lettuce.

Brownie and Homer return to a beautiful new Ashley Pond after many months in a cage.

Greg says hi to his pals.

Homer, Brownie and Greg up on the grass at Ashley Pond.
Not a very safe place for geese to be, it turns out.

Homer and Brownie in happier days.

Wish I had thought to video sooner when Brownie ran up the hill to greet us (OK probably to greet Greg Kendall) enjoy this video of Greg and his geese buds.
Posted by Karen Kendall on Saturday, April 19, 2014

Goodbye Friend.

Mt. Rushmore Trip - Part 4 - Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado then home to New Mexico

Heavy rain makes driving difficult in Nebraska.

After a great time at Custer State Park, South Dakota, it was time to head south back hotento New Mexico.

I (Greg) checked the weather and things were getting really crazy along the path I had planned to take us home. My original plan was to head down through Nebraska and into eastern Colorado to a town called Brush that has a city RV campground that allows you to stay one night free.  The campground has electricity and water.  The basic idea was to stay far away from I-25 through Denver. We absolutely hate driving through Denver. That traffic is just too crazy for us simple country folk!

So originally we were going to try to stay out in the plains of Colorado, east of Denver, but the crazy weather forced other plans.

We read online that there had been a damaging tornado in the Denver region just a few hours ago. (We lived in the Minnesota Twin Cities area for a few years and we absolutely hate hate hate tornadoes.) I looked at the radar/satellite images and things looked pretty nasty along the front range of Colorado.

It appeared we could shoot down through western Nebraska and hit a little rain and then we could crank west towards Cheyenne, Wyoming and then up towards Laramie in order to get away from the worst of the looming weather system.

This plan worked out pretty well. We hit one really bad rain blast near Berea, Nebraska. Other than that, we were golden with the weather. We stopped at Scottsbluff, Nebraska for a late Taco Bell lunch. It was sunny and beautiful there.

Scottsbluff is named after its namesake, a prominent bluff that rises out of the Nebraskan plains. The bluff was an important landmark for folks crossing the country in wagon-trains on the Oregon and Mormon Trails. There is a Scotts Bluff National Monument that we will have to explore on a future trip.

The geology of the bluffs area is really striking. There are no campgrounds at the monument but the city has one nearby: The Riverside Campground with full hook-ups and 43 pull-through sites that get good reviews. (In a park with a city Zoo and a bike trail.)

Greg at the Vedauwood Campground entrance in Wyoming.

A double rainbow was a good omen!

What cool rock formations this campground has.

We were surrounded by rockolicious sights.

And great boondocking nearby.

A balancing rock.

Wow!

Balancing rock.

More folks boondocking nearby.

Perty!

OK, I won't camp in there or do fireworks!  (But I did eat at Taco Bell so, really, no promises!)

Mushroom Rock Love.

Just Wow. I want to so climb those!

A recreation map of the area (Click to enlarge). Lots to explore.

After leaving the Scottsbluff Taco Bell, we made our way to La Grange, Wyoming, and down to Cheyenne. We were just ahead of the nasty weather that was heading north from Fort Collins, Colorado.

On Google Maps, I noted a highly rated campground called Vedauwoo 15 miles southeast of Laramie, Wyoming just off Hwy 80. We headed there and arrived just before sunset. It was a Friday night and many of the sites had RVs already in them. We found two side-by-side parking places for a couple of walk-in sites. They were level, so we parked there.  It was $10 for each RV. (My parents paid $5 with a senior discount.)

We cooked up a soy dog dinner on the portable fire pit and enjoyed a colorful double rainbow that was off in the direction of Cheyenne.

Karen and I took a walk around the entire campground before it was completely dark. There were nice vault toilets and lots of great sites for even larger RVs.  There was also a lower section for tent camping.  The host told us we could have parked our RVs in the tent area parking if we wanted to.

After dark, the bad storm had reached into the Cheyenne area and we enjoyed a night sky of fierce lighting coming from that direction. In our area, the weather was good.

Below: A 360 Degree Google Photosphere. Click into it and hold to move around.


Vedauwoo is popular with rock climbers. We saw some young folk bouldering. There is also a nice day use picnic area with BBQ pits and tables.

The name Vedauwoo is Indian for "earth-born." Explorers would ask the Indians, what do you call this place and the Indians would look at each other, scratch their heads and say things like, well, "this is the land," or "this is the earth," or something like that (in their own language) and the explorers would write down what the Indians said and that is how we got a lot of the names of places.

In the morning, Karen and I walked over to the adjacent boondocking area.  We saw lots of RVs out there enjoying the unusual rock formations for free! 

We were very impressed by this campground and definitely want to come back, climb and explore sore. Such a cool place!  My Mom loved it too. (Dad stayed mostly in his Pleasureway as he was tired and didn't feel all that great.)

The cell phone internet connection was not very good even though we could see a tower not far away. I told Karen that we need to get a cell booster. We were close to the freeway so there was some road noise, but it wasn't bad.

Inside the Prairie Rose Cafe, Laramie.

Mom reacts to screaming banshee kids!

Dad coming out of the Prairie Rose Cafe in Laramie with a full belly.

Our next objective was to get a hearty breakfast in Laramie.  I checked Yelp and found a top rated breakfast at the Prairie Rose Cafe. It was as good as reviewers said it would be.

There was one problem that got my Mom's nerves dusted up. It was Saturday morning and a couple of local parents had brought their screaming banshee kids to breakfast and they were seated on either side of us. It made my Mom pretty crazy. My father just turned down his hearing aids.

Our two vehicles parked in Laramie viewed through a mirrored window.

After breakfast, we trucked down Hwy 230 into Colorado and made our way to Frisco, which is next to the Dillon Reservoir. We blasted past Breckenridge and climbed over a 11,500 summit near Alma and then dropped down into Fairplay, where we saw South Park Characters on a sign and noted a marijuana store right on the main street.

Our goal for the night was the Sand Dunes Swimming Pool and RV Park, so we moved swiftly through central Colorado and on to the San Luis Valley. The pool is just north of Alamosa.

When we got there, all the RV park had left was one spot in the $20 dry camping area. We took it. We bought dinner at their tasty grill and carried our food to tables in the new adult greenhouse area.

Karen and I have stayed at the Sand Dunes Swimming Pool before.  You can read about it here: LINK.

My parents haven't been to the pools yet and we though a nice soak in the adult area and a swim in the big hot pool would be relaxing after a long day of driving, and it sure was!

The next morning, we drove over to the Sand Dunes National Park and stopped for a short visit and tour of their campground.  The park was really crowded with tourists so we headed out quickly.  I can't handle a lot of people and the resulting lack of parking, so we got out of there as soon as we could after a short break in the picnic area.

We headed into New Mexico and we were hit by a huge deluge of rain as we approached Ojo Caliente.

Along the road we saw a pair of bicyclists. They were crazy to be out in that weather. They were along the side of the road holding each other for warmth.  We called the cops and they dispatched a car to check on them.

We got home to Los Alamos just before sunset.

It had been a very enjoyable vacation. My mom checked off her Mt. Rushmore bucket list item and we saw a lot of great scenery and majestic animals. It was a lot of driving but we all thought it was well worth it.

We shall return!

Mt. Rushmore Trip - Part 3 - Custer State Park, South Dakota

Our Campsite at Blue Bell Campground, Custer State Park, South Dakota.

French Creek near our campsite.

Our plan in South Dakota was to stay in Custer State Park in the Blue Bell Campground and explore from this base. We stayed in sites 31E and 34E which are connected to each other and provided a large and fairly private area.  There are electric hookups.  There was a water spigot in the center of the campground.

Below a 360 degree Google Photosphere of our campsite. Click into it and hold to move around.


Custer State Park has national park level beauty. South Dakota must have snatched up this area before the Feds could get a hold of it.

Blue Bell has gas, a store, a laundry, and a lodge with a really nice restaurant.  There are also small cabins for rent.  Pretty French Creek meanders around the area. There are nice shower stalls in the bathroom with plenty of hot water (no quarters needed).

The camp hosts were super friendly and came up to talk to us about the area as we arrived. The hosts also came by twice to warn when bad weather was approaching, which got us into our vehicles before heavy rain and winds hit.

The nice restaurant at the Blue Bell Lodge.

The cool bar stools in the bar at the Blue Bell Lodge.

We had a couple of great breakfasts and a couple of very tasty dinners at the Blue Bell Lodge restaurant. The service was really good and the prices were reasonable too. We highly recommend it.

The park hires a lot of RV campers to work in the park.  The campground had a row of parking spots for the work campers with full hookups. We talked to a couple of them and they really enjoyed their time in the park.

French Creek.

A Pronghorn.

Mom and Greg feeding the wild burros.

A young burro.

A bison mom and baby.

Up close with the Bison.

Bison Mom and Baby.

After a day of pleasant rest at Blue Bell Campground, we loaded my (Greg's) parents up into our van and headed out for the drive to Mt. Rushmore.  We took the wildlife loop around to Iron Mountain Road and then up to Mt. Rushmore. After Rushmore we completed the circle with a stop at the Crazy Horse Memorial and then back to Blue Bell.

The wildlife loop is well named. We saw a LOT of wildlife. We saw a few Pronghorns first.  Next, we came upon a group of wild burros. We came prepared with a couple bags of carrots. You are allowed to feed the burros carrots and they just love them. They aggressively try to eat the whole bag, if you let them. My mom really loved feeding them and seeing their young.

Back on the road, we could see groups of bison in the distance up on the hills. We stopped at a pull-out in order to see the bison through binoculars. As we watched, a women from another vehicle walked up to our van and told us that there was a large group of mom and baby bison just up a dirt road behind us.  It was so nice of the lady to give us this tip and we headed up the dirt road for a couple miles.

We were amazed to find hundreds of bison and babies on both sides of the road.  We drove slowly through the field with the van door open so we could view the bison up close.  It was pretty amazing and my mom really loved it.

I noted to my Mom that these guys were quite tasty at the Blue Bell Restaurant the night before! She was not amused.

Iron Mountain Road Tunnel.

Cool "pig tail" bridge and tunnel on Iron Mt. road.

We finally made it to Mt. Rushmore.

Next, it was on to Iron Mountain Road. This road was specifically designed for very slow travel in order to soak it all in.  It was made intentionally curvy. There are a couple of tunnels that are fairly narrow and short, so check if your rig is going to fit before you attempt it. There are a couple of "pig tails" that curve completely around over a bridge in order to traverse the beautiful terrain. The pig tails were pretty cool as I called out "PIG TAIL, PIG TAIL" as we traversed each one.

There was construction on the road and we waited a while behind a flagman, but the area is so beautiful that we hardly even noticed the wait. The road is definitely worth the trouble to take. It was design to be a great scenic ride, and it definitely was.

As you come out of the tunnels you can see Mt. Rushmore off in the distance, a nice touch by the road designer!!!!

We made it to Mt. Rushmore a little while later.  My mother had told us that Mt. Rushmore was the last thing on her bucket list.  After she said that, we didn't have much choice but to get her there.

When we arrived on a weekday, we found Mt. Rushmore fairly crowded with RVs and cars.  The place is pretty well designed to handle many vehicles. There is a very large parking structure and special areas for RVs. It's all designed so you don't have to walk too far to get to the main visitor area.

Below: A 360 degree Google Photosphere. Click into it and hold to move around.


My whole life I had seen photos of Mt. Rushmore and it was nice to actually be there in person.  In one way I thought that it was a shame to have defaced these beautiful mountains with faces, while on another level I had to marvel at the fine detail that went into these sculptures.  It is impressive in person.

North by Northwest movie trailer screenshot (public domain).

In the movie North By North West, Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint crawl all over the faces of the mountain trying to escape James Mason and his henchmen. It was clear that it would be impossible to crawl around the faces in real life. It's too steep. Hollywood, go figure!

A nice cafeteria at Mt. Rushmore.

My Parents enjoy some ice cream at Mt. Rushmore.

Karen and I took the trail that takes you closer to the base of the faces while my parents took in the museum and a visitor center movie. We meet up in the large cafeteria for some ice cream and snacks.

Karen at the Crazy Horse Memorial.

Crazy Horse sculpture plan.

We continued on our big circle drive of the area and arrived at Crazy Horse Memorial.
A sculptor started work on the memorial in 1948 when a group of Native Americans talked to him about having a memorial to one of their great heroes in the defeat of Custer.  It's been a family project ever since.  There is now a foundation that manages the sculptures progress and related tourism businesses, but a lot of the family is still very involved in managing the organization.

The sculpture is a huge project that will continue into the very distant future. It will be fun to return in future years to see how much progress they are making.

The visitor center is a sprawling set of connected building that contain a lot of memorabilia donated to the foundation. We found it all very interesting and well worth the stop. At night there is a popular laser light show against the mountain, but we didn't get to see it this trip. Next time.

Twice a year the foundation holds a hike to the top of the memorial. I'd love to do that someday.  It happened to be going on the weekend we visited, but we didn't know about it until too late.

Enjoying Evans Plunge warm pool at Hot Springs, South Dakota.

Hot Jacuzzi's at Evans Plunge.

Evans Plunge warm pool with rings.

Weather Underground was reporting that the next day would be stormy, so we decided to drive south for an hour to Hot Springs, South Dakota to enjoy indoor Evans Plunge.

Evans Plunge has a huge indoor warm pool with slides and rings to play on. It's kinda of an old fashioned place. The water is heated by natural springs and doesn't need chlorination as the water is replace in the entire pool naturally 16 times a day.

The plunge is a historic place and you can read about its history online.

Below: A 360 degree Google Photosphere of Evans Plunge warm pool.  Click into it and hold to move around.


My parents loved the huge warm pool.  My father especially loved it as he swam all around. He's a little unsteady on dry land these days, but in the water he is like a freaken fish!

I tried to swing out on the rings but fell into the water on the first one. I'd love to go back and practice a little more and see how far I can get. A lot of the local young bucks could make it all the way across on the rings. It was fun to watch everyone trying.

Karen and I rode down the indoor waterslide (there is also an outdoor pool and slide but it is much steeper then the indoor one). The indoor slide was fast and fun.

Evans Plunge is a kind of a throwback to a bygone era.  Some might consider the place a little dangerous with the rings and the high pool walls, but I thought it was really cool.  I've read about parents complaining about their kids getting hurt at the plunge, in some reviews, but heck, watching TV too much is more dangerous for kids. Kids need to experience things like this and discover their limits. I would totally bring kids here, unless they are the kinds of kids that get way out of control and can't deal with common sense situations.

We had a great afternoon at the plunge.  We enjoyed the pool and we liked the hot Jacuzzi.

Our time at Custer State Park was fantastic.  We saw Elk, Bison, Wild Turkey, Burros, Pronghorn, Prairie Dogs, cool birds and Tics. (I got bit by a Tic after an off trail hike, but so far I am OK). We had great meals, nice hikes and relaxing times.  I highly recommend a visit.

We didn't have time to see the Wind Cave (in its own National Park), which is just south of Custer State Park.  We would like to return and check it out as it sounds really interesting.  We also didn't have time for the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, which we would like to see on our next visit.

Well, it was time to turn around and start heading home.  The weather was getting kinda wild and so I planned a return trip that would try to avoid the worst of the coming bad weather. (Climate change ... what are you going to do?)

Next up: We cross through Nebraska and then into Wyoming and find a totally cool campground near Laramie before hitting the Rockies of Colorado.