Old Spanish Trail PIT – Part 2

It’s Friday evening and  the Old Spanish Trail project ended at about 3pm this afternoon. For the three days since my last report we have been tramping around sage brush plains and Ponderosa Pine forests searching for any evidence of the Old Spanish Trail. This particular piece of the trail was used between 1694 and the mid 1800’s but it’s exact location is yet unknown. Oh, we have a pretty good idea of the general area but the specific piece of ground that served as the historic “Interstate” remains elusive.

Three days and we probably searched about 4 square miles. We had no problem finding evidence of 100+ year old logging operations and even older railroad crews cutting trees for railroad ties. The area is also littered with prehistoric Native American rock tools, arrowheads and flakes but evidence of human activities in the 1694-1860 time frame were almost non-existent. I say “almost” because today, the last day of the project, we had the find of the week. One of the group located a Spanish spur rowel. The rowel is the round thing at the back of the spur and the design of this piece is relatively easy to place and sometimes date. The rowel that we found today is definitely a Spanish design and it is hand forged so it’s pretty old. How old exactly can’t be determined without some laboratory work.

The other artifact we found that possibly is of the target time period is a piece of a metal arrowhead. Originally the Native Americans made stone arrowheads. After contact with the Europeans, the Native Americans obtained metal and made metal arrowheads. Later still, they acquired firearms but the metal arrowheads were used from the 1700’s to the mid 1800’s. Take a good look at the picture above. Now consider that 20 people searched about 4 square miles and found these two pretty small artifacts buried in the ground…Amazing!

We worked hard but the sheer beauty of the country made the trekking and digging and wind very worth while. Did I say wind? Yesterday the wind blew HARD. Hard enough to knock you off balance if you weren’t paying attention. The weather shamans said that there were gusts of up to 50 mph and this time I believe them. The Ponderosa Pine forest helped dent the wind somewhat and some of the time it was warm enough that I stripped down to a T-shirt. The wind could not dull the smell of the sagebrush. The wind could not lessen the beauty of the blossoming Pasque flower. In short, the wind was a minor inconvenience in an incredibly beautiful place.

Metal detecting is hard work. It’s more intense than just walking and looking at the ground. You swing the detector left and right while walking and listening for the magical beep that means you need to get on your knees and start digging.. Swinging takes energy and muscle power that  I don’t/didn’t have to last the whole day. I kept it up however, and after six hours of swinging I had a pretty sore arm, (note to self: need to exercise arms more!) but the experience of holding an artifact in your hand that a person, a human, held in his or her hands 100 years or more ago in the same exact spot is …is…I don’t know how to describe it. It’s almost religious.

OK, getting too deep here. It was a wonderful week. I had the opportunity to explore an area of the country that I had never seen before. I was able to meet a lot of great people including a teacher from Australia, a retired Naval aviator, a policeman from California and a lot of other retired folks like myself. We didn’t find positive proof of the trail we were searching for, but we helped the Forest Service narrow the search somewhat. I’m hoping that the Forest Service will repeat this project next year because I really think we were close to finding that positive proof. If they do repeat the project you can bet that my name will be on the application list.

Here’s some more pics of the trip……

 

 

I’m home for a week then it’s off to John Martin Reservoir to work with the Colorado Division of Wildlife but more on that later….

Thanks for visiting.

First Passport In Time Project for 2010

I received word yesterday that I was accepted for my first Passport In Time (PIT) project for this year. I'm excited about this one! Last September I did a similar project near Gunnison, CO and had a great time. We found lots of artifacts including a museum quality, 1850's era, uniform shoulder board (epaulet). Read about it here.

Here's the official write up for this project...

Metal Detector Surveys of the Old Spanish Trail in Northern New Mexico

NM-3885
May 3–7, 2010

Must commit to full session

Volunteers for this PIT project will work with F.S. staff to conduct systematic metal-detecting surveys of segments and traces of the Old Spanish Trail in northern New Mexico. At present, these elements of the Trail have only been partially identified. Research on this historically import trade route is an ongoing, multi-agency project in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California. One goal of this research is to identify which routes will be managed as Congressionally designated historic trails. The project will also help to provide important information for interpreting the Old Spanish Trail and its role in the trade and settlement of the American West, and will allow visitors to experience a direct connection to this aspect of the nation's cultural history. Most of the Trail segments will be within approximately 40 miles of the village of Taos, a town with a rich history and culture. Join us for this unique experience in one of New Mexico's most beautiful settings!

Number of openings: 20

Special skills: Must understand and be able to perform leave-no-trace camping and field hygiene techniques; must be physically capable of hiking several miles per day in moderate to rough terrain in a variety of weather conditions; previous experience with GPS systems (possession of one is a bonus!), digital photography, and/or archaeological survey helpful, but not required; knowledge of metal artifacts from the first half of the 19th century (Mexican and Territorial Periods) in the West also helpful, but not required; metal detecting experience preferred, but not required - please indicate on your application if you own and can bring a metal detector

Minimum age: 18 years old

Facilities: Primitive camping at site locations; other camping facilities (developed and undeveloped) available within the project area; Taos is a full-service community with a range of motels, B&Bs, restaurants, and other amenities; volunteers responsible for lodging or personal camping equipment, food, and water; transportation to and from a designated meeting site will be provided on a limited basis by F.S.; personal vehicles capable of dirt road/off-road travel helpful

Nearest towns: Taos, ~40 miles

I have been researching the Old Spanish Trail for the last several months and it will be very cool to visit spots on the ground that I read about in first hand accounts from the Spaniards and American pioneers.

Thanks for visiting.

Never Cracked An Egg

My middle name "Giles" celebrates my grandfather. He was not an English "Giles" but a Vermont farmer turned carpenter/jack of all trades, wonderful man. Born in 1894 he saw the dawn of the modern age. One thing I remember clearly about him is that after riding in a motor vehicle and stopping without incident he would say "Never cracked an egg." That memory is so strong that I continue to use the phrase every time I turn the engine off in one of my vehicles. I did that Saturday after driving almost 500 miles from Acoma, NM to the Denver area.

The final drive was long but uneventful. I arrived home at about 5 pm and unloaded the most basic stuff (refrigerator) and saved the heavy unload for Sunday morning. The weather shamans had said that there was a possibility of some snow on Saturday and Sunday so that was the impetus to get home....before I got snowed in someplace again!

The rig has been unloaded and I'm now in the process of returning to the normal life after 21 days on the road.

It was a great trip and I'm sure that I'll post more stories about it soon....

Thanks for visiting.

Volcanoes, Arches & Immigrants

Today was a day to visit several widely spaced attractions. My plan three weeks ago was to come through this area and visit Acoma Pueblo, El Malpais National Monument and El Morro National Monument. At the time I thought that I would camp at either of the two National Monuments which both have campgrounds. With the snow that has graced the highland areas that plan would have been a bust and as it turns out that I really lucked out with staying here at the Acoma/Sky City Casino. Not only are the accommodations pretty nice but it is a central location that makes seeing the other things pretty easy.

This morning at about 8am, I started for the El Malpais Conservation Area....It gets a little confusing here. There is an El Malpais National Monument and an El Malpais Conservation Area. The Conservation Area is administered by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) and the National Monument area is administered by the National Parks. The areas are adjacent but in some places you can't easily get from one area to the other.

Anyway, I started with the closest, the BLM managed area which is on the eastern edge of the whole complex. This area is much less known and travelled of the two but to me that's a plus. The area includes a huge lava flow, New Mexico's second largest natural arch and a very little known pueblo excavation. I spent about three hours in this area and I don't think I saw more than 10 cars in the whole time.

The lava flow comes from numerous extinct volcanoes that spewed their stuff over 100,000 years ago. I'm guessing that there are several hundred square miles of this stuff and it's all fascinating. It is clearly a lava flow. The curled and misshapen rock is still black with the consistency of cake frosting pushed through a pastry bag. Vegetation still struggles to gain a foothold even after 100,000 years!

La Ventana Arch is classified as New Mexico's second largest natural arch. It was beautiful but it was also a bit of a disappointment to me...not because it wasn't beautiful but because it was deep in a shady canyon that only saw a brief bit of winter sunlight and the snow was so deep that it was not possible to climb up to it. I was really hoping to climb up into the arch and take some pictures from the cave behind the arch. If I've learned anything this trip however, is't to make the best of what you've got so I enjoyed the view from a shadowy distance.

This eastern side of El Malpais also has a minor pueblo excavation known as the Dittert Site. It's not well know or publicized. If you want to visit, you have to go to the BLM visitors center and ask for directions...which I did. The volunteer manning the center was a local Native American who had a lot of archeological experience in the area and we had a great conversation. He gave me directions and said that I should have no problem reaching the site in my truck. It was really isolated (way out in the sticks) down a primitive road (translate=mostly 4 wheel dive road).

When I got to the last turn off before the "primitive road" I started thinking that if I had a problem with the truck I could be in big trouble. The closest human was at an isolated ranch about 3 miles away. I got within about a mile of the side when the road got pretty muddy and boggy. It didn't take me to long to remember a guiding principal of backcountry travel..."Discretion is the better part of valor". That principal has kept me out of deep do-do on quite a number of occasions so I yielded to it and turned around short of my goal. My consolation was the utter isolation of the surrounding area. I'd bet that there were not 100 humans living in a one hundred mile radius of where I turned around. I enjoyed that as I drove back out, twenty five miles to I-40.

That completed the eastern part of my day's adventure. Next was El Malpais National Monument and El Morro National Monument which was about 60 miles from the morning's start. El Malpais National Monument features not only a great area of lava flow but a unique chance to walk into a lava tube. A lava tube is a tunnel in a lava flow. Check here for the scientific description of how they form.

Unfortunately, the sixty mile drive to the west side of El Malpais also brought me up another 1000 feet in elevation. High enough that I was back into the snow zone. Two feet of snow on the ground meant that I would have to miss the lava tube experience so I headed farther west to El Morro.

The snow there was just as deep and I was disappointed that the trail to the ancient pueblo was closed. The trail around Inscription Rock was open however and it proved to be the highlight of the day. It's not too often that you can see personal evidence of living human beings that stretched over a several thousand year time period, side by side but that's what you get at Inscription Rock. Ancient people left pictographs on this massive rock. The Spaniards left their marks too, starting in 1605, and then the American pioneers followed leaving their marks as well.

While I love the ancient evidence of people I must admit that I am equally fascinated by more historical items. I can relate more personally to the carvings on a rock that someone from Baltimore, Md. passed this place 150 years ago or a railroad man looking for a route for to California. Fascinating stuff!

Check out the picture to the left with the black arrow pointing to the date of 1636 and directly below that date are pictographs of bighorn sheep recorded at least 1000 years ago!

After Inscription Rock it was back to Bivouac and making plans for tomorrow. Another weather system is making it's way into New Mexico and Colorado so I just might have to bring this trip to a close and head home....stay tuned.

Thanks for visiting

Catching Up From New Mexico

It's been a busy couple of days and nothing has been constant, especially the weather. You name it, that's what the weather has been, except tropical. It's rained, snowed, hailed, been sunny, windy, semi-warm and any combination of those. On the whole though the weather has been colder and darker than sunny and warmer. The Bride and I adapted howeve,r and managed to "go with the flow". We used the nicer morning times to visit outdoor attractions and when the the weather became less pleasant we did indoor stuff like museums and shopping.Some of the highlights were Montezuma's Castle and Montezuma Well. I especially liked Montezuma Well which is much lesser known than the castle but is equally fascinating. This huge 470 foot in diamter limestone sink hole contains a lake that maintains a constant 76 degrees. Ancient peoples have inhabited the area for well over 1000 years and numerous ruins line the cliffs and rim of the sink hole. There were at least five or six other ancient ruin sites that we didn't have the time to get to so darn it I guess we'll have to come back sometime.

On the indoor front a highlight was lunch at The Cowboy Club. This is an historic dining venue right in the middle of Sedona. It claims a history which includes being the "go to" place for numerous Hollywood stars who visited while working on movies in the area. While eating buffalo chili on a cold afternoon I could see in my minds eye The Duke, Randolph Scott and numerous other western stars "bellying up" to the bar. By the way, the buffalo chili was excellent.

Five days passed entirely too quickly but Wednesday morning did arrive and I had to take The Bride to the Flagstaff airport for her trip back home. I still marvel at the weather change in just 30 miles. As we climbed in altitude what was a tiny patch of snow here and there became a full two feet or more of snow everywhere. The Flagstaff area looked like they got at least eight inches of new snow since I picked The Bride up on Friday morning. In spite of the additional snow in Flagstaff I was still able to bring Bivouac into the airport parking lot, park for free and see The Bride off before heading east.

I ended up in Holbrook, AZ. Wednesday night. I had originally planned to stay at the Elks Lodge in Winslow but there was a lot of road construction in the block around the lodge and it was just impossible to get in with the trailer. Holbrook is a classic Route 66 town with lots of great old businesses and 50s-60s era signs. It's also the gateway city to the Petrified Forest so rock shops and petrified wood shops abound. I've been to Holbrook once before this trip but on both occasions I was pressed for time and couldn't explore like I really wanted to. I promised myself this time that I would be back to give the town the time it deserves.

While researching last night, possible stopping places for tonight, I stumbled upon a winter special at the Acoma, Sky City Casino/Hotel and RV park. The special offered a "buy one get one free" deal for full hookup RV spots for....$15.00....with tax $16.42. That included electricity, water, cable TV, internet connection and sewer. That's $8.22 a night for full hookups! It that wasn't enough, one of my intended stops was the Acoma Pueblo which is only 12 miles south of the RV park. Done deal, sold, I'm staying here for two nights.

I rolled in here just about 1 pm and after a late lunch drove to the Acoma Pueblo and was just in time for the next to last tour of the day. This place is...is, what can I say, if your are interested or intrigued in the history of ancient people in the Southwest, it's a must see. Ancient people and the Spaniards met each other here in 1540. That's almost 500 years ago!! The pueblo is still very much alive with numerous full time residents and even more part time residents. People who live here do so without any of the modern conveniences. There is no electricity, water, gas or even sewer system. People that live here have to have a special reason to endure the primitive conditions. If I have learned anything from my time in this part of the country is that Native Americans really do dance to the beat of a different drummer. They have a philosophical view different from most European people and it is very interesting to see the difference first hand.

Tomorrow I'm off to see two other geographical attractions, El Malpais and El Morro. Hopefully there will be some blue sky to enjoy it by.

Thanks for visiting.

Still In Vegas

What started out as a one night stopover has now stretched to three nights. It was cold and ugly all yesterday and I knew I'd have a problem today. I could see a lot of ice on top of both slides and without some way to get that off I couldn't close the slides. No slide close...no go south! My hope was that it would warm up today or at least the sun would shine and maybe melt the ice. No such luck. First thing this morning the sun came out and I got my hopes up for about a half hour. That lasted about 45 minutes and it clouded up again and got colder. The top of the slides have a rubber roof so anything I do had better be gentle or I would have another...and much more expensive problem.

The slides are about ten feet off the ground so it's not an easy thing to clean them off. I borrowed a step ladder from the Elks Lodge and put it in the bed of my pick up truck and then backed the truck up to the slides. I was able to get off the loose snow with the help of a broom but there was a lot of ice under the snow. I didn't dare try to scrape it off.

While unpleasant the decision was pretty easy. I'll just wait another day. So I busied myself with some reading and a trip to the local Wally World. Around noon it had warmed just a little and I went through the ladder-pick up routine again. I was able to get most of the ice off one slide and about 2/3 of the ice off the other slide. If it doesn't snow tonight and it gets a little warmer tomorrow morning I'll be able to head south.

I only need to get about 100 miles south of here to get out of the freeze zone so if I'm able to leave tomorrow my goal is Alamogordo, NM. I was planning to go through Ft. Sumner, Roswell and Carlsbad Caverns, but I also want to be in Sierra Vista by Friday. To do that I'll have to skip some of my planned destinations. It's about 225 miles through a lot of back country so I'll need to be out of here by late morning if this is to work.

This afternoon I went to the local museum which has the distinction of having a Rough Rider Memorial Collection. What's with that you say? Well, it seems as if most of the Rough Riders were recruited in the Southwest and men from New Mexico provided all the volunteers for one full Troop of Rough Riders. In 1899 the Rough Riders had their first reunion in Las Vegas and the reunions continued until 1962....ergo the Memorial Collection.

I followed that up with a meander through the old plaza section of town which dates to the first Hispanic settlers in 1821. I have been to Las Vegas several times now and I'm impressed with the amount historical buildings that survive. Next time I come however, I'll hope for better weather.

Thanks for visiting.

What Came To Las Vegas Stays In Las Vegas...NM

I left the Denver area yesterday morning at about 8 am trying to beat the snow that was supposed to start there in late morning. This is my first trip pulling Bivouac any distance so I didn't want to have to deal with bad weather in addition to everything else. By the time I got 50 miles south it looked like it was going to clear up and I breathed a sigh of relieve. That sigh was short lived. I ran into off and on snow all the way south. Fortunately Raton Pass was one of the no snow areas but as I got into New Mexico the snow started to pick up again.

My goal for the day was Las Vegas, NM and I was hoping that was far enough south (280 miles) to put a damper on the snow. I arrived at about 2:30 and checked in at the Elks Lodge here. It's nothing fancy but it's a level parking lot with water, power and an internet connection. The price of $10/night certainly makes it worth while. As an added bonus, the Lodge was having a Super Bowl party with a pot luck dinner that I was invited to.

The weather was cold and threatening when I went into the Lodge but it wasn't snowing. When I left to come back to the trailer I got a nasty surprise. It was snowing pretty hard and there was already about 2" on the ground. The picture at the top of the post was taken a little while ago so as you can see it's not really a good day to travel. The forecast is for more snow today and tonight but only an inch or two of accumulation.

It didn't take too long to make a command decision to hunker down here for another day. Fortunately I don't have to be anywhere until the 19th when The Bride flies into Flagstaff so I'll just take each day as it comes. I think however that if I can get another 100 miles or so south the threat of snow will subside. With that in mind my ever so flexible plan is to head to Roswell tomorrow....We'll see.

Thanks for visiting.

Happy Thanksgiving

A very meaningful Happy Thanksgiving to all readers. I have an awful lot to be thankful for and I realize it this day...

Some more pics from my recent trip............











































































Thanks for visiting.

Of Chiropractors and Motor Scooters

This morning at about 9 am I went to a Chiropractor's office not far from my home to see if they could do anything for my back. I had never been to a Chiropractor before but had several friends recommend that I try it.

To make a long story short, I was able to walk in and see someone within 20 minutes. After some time on a "roller table" and then some time electrically stimulating my back muscles, the Chiropractor aligned my spine and I felt much better. To give some relativity to it, if I went in feeling 50% ok, I came out feeling 90% ok. For me that was terrific.









So, the road trip is on, starting tomorrow. I have just about finished loading up the RV. The motor scooter loaded with ease and I got it tied down without any problem. The "cheapo" cover went on next.....I really don't think the cover will last very long before it gets torn up but I hope it will at least last this trip.

Since I'm starting a day late, I may try to make it to Aztec, NM tomorrow instead of stopping at The Great Sand Dunes National Park outside of Alamosa, CO. We'll see.

I don't know where/when I'll be able to get an internet connection along the way so this may be my last post for a few days. When I return, I'm sure I'll have some stories to tell.

Thanks for visiting.

Getting Ready

My RV is back from the mechanic....oil change for the motor and the on board generator and a few other minor items. The most important item was to make a small modification to the scooter rack that I intend to carry on the front of the RV.

I brought the rack home, put it on the back of my Ford Expedition just as a trial to see how it worked. The scooter fit fine and I found that I could load and unload it by myself without a problem. The only remaining scooter issue is to find some type of cover for it that can withstand the wind it will see on the front of the RV. I have a "cheapy" that came with the scooter and will probably try it on the first trip realizing that it will probably get torn up before long. I'm hoping it will last until I find a heavy duty replacement.

So, with all that done, I'm planning to get out of town sometime early next week. The weather here and in New Mexico where I'm headed, looks to be clear with temps in the mid to upper 50's. That's a sight cooler that it was just two weeks ago but it's probably the warmest I'll see for a while.

Oh, one other little addition to the scooter. I bought a handlebar mount for my Garmin 60CSx GPS. With this mount it's easy to snap the unit on and off the handlebar so I can use it either riding or hiking. It's battery operated but several people have told me that the batteries last up to 20 hours. I guess if I get lost now, I have no excuses.

On the home front, I've completed my basement workroom project. Over the past several weeks I've bought a number of used kitchen and bathroom cabinets that I've found on Craigslist and installed them along two walls of my workroom. The most expensive cabinet was $40 and the least was $15 for a set of 3 cabinets. The counter tops I put on, which is just a standard Melamite covered chip board, cost more than the cabinets. It turned out pretty well if I do say so myself.

The next couple of days I'll be pouring over maps and guide books to nail down the details of this upcoming trip so check back in a couple of days to see how I'm doing.

Thanks for visiting.

New Mexico Will Have To Wait

Well, my mechanic couldn't get my scooter rack finished today or the routine maintenance I had him scheduled to do too. I had figured that my trip would have to be at least five nights on the road to see all the things that were on my list and The Bride and I have something to do next Sunday night so I'm going to have to postpone my trip.

On one hand I'm bummed but on the other, the weather is not great, so by waiting I have a chance of getting some better conditions for my trip, and, being the organized guy that I am, I have some backup activities to keep me busy.

Tomorrow, I'm going with Guitar and Too Tall - Two Timing to help a mutual friend lay PEX tubing for a heated driveway he is building. I gotta tell you, a heated driveway is the ultimate luxury in Colorado so I'm excited to see what this is all about. Maybe I can sell this idea to The Bride?

I also have a little project going on in my basement. Most of the basement was finished off a number of years ago. I preserved one area that's about 10' x 25' as a work room for me. It had drywall on the walls but that's it. I installed some wall cabinets and have a small work bench in that area.

For the past few weeks, I've been searching Craig's List for used base cabinets and have bought a number of them. I'm installing them on two of the four walls of the work area. On Sunday I'll go to pick up the last of the cabinets that will fit along those two walls. The cabinets are nothing special. Some are kitchen cabinets and some are the shorter bathroom cabinets. There are four different styles/finishes but I have been able to arrange them so they don't look bad at all....for a basement work area. Hopefully I'll have them all installed and put a counter top on them all by the end of next week.

On Sunday the 16th The Bride and I are going with Guitar and Pic-E to a Tesoro Foundation event. It consists of dinner at The Fort Restaurant and a lecture about the Leonid Meteor Shower of 1833. The event is called The Night The Stars Fell. This should prove to be a very entertaining night and a good meal to boot.

So, no trip for this week but I've got plenty of stuff to do. I'll even have some time to practice on the Wii Fit machine. I'm hooked on the soccer heading balance game. In the game you stand on a flat board and "head" soccer balls that are kicked to you. The computer senses the change in your balance as you lean back and forth on the board and the image on the screen mimics your movements. It is NOT as easy as the linked video make it look, but it's fun and an amazing piece of computer engineering.

Thanks for visiting.