More interesting stuff from the desert

21 January 

Today it is a pleasant 9 degrees, with the wind chill.  Woke up at 2:30 am from the wind gently rocking my 7 ton RV.  By morning we had snow on the ground.  The photos below were taken two days ago on an outing of 4-wheelers here at the park.  It was in the low 70’s with bright sunshine, a perfect day to go roaming around in the desert, as long as you go with people who know where they are.    I understand a couple of people are working on getting maps of the trails but nothing is finished yet.

This is rough country.  Distances are deceiving.  What looks like a short hike away winds up being miles.  Once you lose sight of your landmarks, it's easy to be hopelessly lost.  A couple of years ago, a park visitor decided to go hiking and lost his way.  Fortunately, people knew he was overdue and set up a search party with the local sheriff’s office.  One of the HAM radio operators here at the park coordinated the search.  The hiker was found, somewhat the worse for wear.  You can’t be careless out here.  There is a very interesting book on this subject called Journal of the Dead by Jason Kersten.  True story, two young guys from back East decided to hike in the New Mexico desert. 

And now, back to the 4-wheel adventure:

First stop

Muppet, Lola and Mike's black dog Indy.

I made an offer on a 4-wheeler that one of the park residents was selling but he didn't like my $.  So I am doing the homework to see about buying one to have transportation beyond the distance I can hike with Lola and Muppet.  (They got to go on the excursion Tuesday and are still noncommittal on whether they would like to go again.)

More photos:

Ore-loading chute at the abandoned fluorite mine.

This place is called The Hole.  

This area was very active during WWII.  Fluorite was a key component in a lot of war-related equipment and there were mines all over this area going full blast.  No active mines in the area any more.  The area we could see from the mine entrance was once a bombing range.  One of the guys said they practiced with concrete dummy bombs.

Fluorite

Several days later I was out with the dogs early (after sun-up but not much).  In the distance I could hear our local coyote pack barking and howling.  Surprised me, as it was the first time I had heard them during daylight.