When We Could Travel – A Look Back (V)

 …once again I’m continuing to take a look back at our extensive 2006 road trip adventure throughout parts of the southwestern USA. 

Note: Thanks to Google's 'improvements' to Blogger and my minimal computer skills, I had some issues putting this post together.  You will note that the size of the lettering doesn't match the rest of it and in some spots, neither does the shade of the background for the print or the print itself.  Such is life!

We certainly miss our road trips!  This September we were planning a visit Laurie’s family in St. Louis, and then explore the back roads into south central Colorado, southeastern Utah, and then circling back through northern Colorado to visit our family in Omaha Nebraska.  

Well, no such luck!  Instead I’ll have to make do with memories, but start planning for our 2021 road trip adventures.

Following our stop at Canyon du Chelly and the Four Corners area, we started exploring parts of northern New Mexico and far southern Colorado.  Both the weather and the scenery were spectacular!

This photo is a view of the San Juan River Valley…along NM Hwy. 511 in northwestern New Mexico.  The San Juan River is a major tributary of the Colorado River and it is the primary drainage for the Four Corners region.  The river originates as snowmelt in the San Juan Mountains in Northern New Mexico and southeastern Utah.  It flows 383 miles through desert terrain to join the Colorado River at Glen Canyon.  The river is the only significant source of fresh water for many miles.

As we cruised along the road through this high desert area, we passed this group of Llamas who were just chilling while watching the traffic go by.

Through the 1960’s, most llamas in the USA were found in zoos.  But in the 1970s, interest in llamas as livestock began to grow.  By 2002, there were about 145,000 llamas in the USA.  However, with little market for llama fiber or meat in the US, and the value of guard llamas limited, the primary value in these camelids was in breeding more animals…a classic sign of an agricultural speculative bubble…which indeed burst!  Today there are less than 40,000 llamas in the USA.

As we drove east, generally following the San Juan River, we stumbled on another surprise…a large lake in the high desert of New Mexico.

Navajo Lake is a man-made lake or reservoir in the northwestern part of the state.  It is part of the Colorado River Storage Project.  The earth and rock filled dam was completed in 1962.  It is 3,800 long and 400 feet high.  The lake contains bass, crappie, northern pike, channel catfish and trout.  It covers 15,600 acres and its over 25 miles long.  The dam is situated over 6,000 feet above sea level.

From here we headed north to Durango Colorado.  I must have misfiled the photos from Durango but I found the map I used for the trip so I know that it was our next stop…

In any case, from Durango we drove along US Hwy 160 east…

Just south of the town of Pagosa Springs Colorado on US Hwy 84, we stopped to take this photo of a bull elk grazing along the road.  He was a resident of The Rocky Mountain Wildlife Park.  This accredited USDA private zoo is located in the San Juan Mountains.

The Rocky Mountain Wildlife Park is still in business.  All of its animals are non-releasable.  Many were rescues from the wild, ‘pet-owners’ or from closed/over-crowded zoos or facilities.  All needed a new home and none of them can be rehabilitated due to their being acclimated to humans.  Animals include black bears, grizzly bears, mountain lions, elk, mule deer, bobcats and wolves.  To learn more about this zoo just go to https://www.pagosawildlifepark.com/.

I’m unsure which river is the subject of this relaxing photo.  Based on our route along US Hwy 160, (and the location of the next photo in this series), it is probably the upper reaches of the San Juan River in south central Colorado. 

This beautiful view is from about halfway up toward Wolf Creek Pass looking south at the winding West Fork of the San Juan River meandering toward its eventual merge with the Colorado River.  I wonder who owns this spectacular piece of America…

The valley is part of Mineral County Colorado.  The county encompasses a total of 876 square miles and it has a population of only about 770 people, or .88 people per square mile.  The county seat is Creede with about 290 residents, leaving 480 folks to populate the rest of the county.

I do know where we were when Laurie took this photo of mule deer…note the second deer at the upper right.  This was on the Continental Divide at Wolf Creek Pass on US Hwy 160.  Elevation – 10,550 feet!  The peaks of the San Juan Mountains all around the pass top 12,000 to over 13,000 feet.  Annual snowfall at the pass (November – April) averages about 436 inches! 

From Wolf Creek Pass we followed US Hwy 160 east to Alamosa Colorado where we turned back south toward New Mexico.

In Antonito Colorado I was happy to see a number of locomotives, with old #484 almost ready to roll south toward Chama New Mexico.  The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad is jointly owned by the states of Colorado and New Mexico.  The railroad is a National Historic Landmark.  Locomotive #484 was built in 1925 by the Baldwin Locomotive works in Philadelphia Pennsylvania for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.  She celebrates her 95^th year in 2020!

The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad is known for its extensive collection of rolling stock which can be viewed in the rail yards at either end of the rail line.  The railroad has 5 coal fired, steam operated, narrow-gauge locomotives.  Most surviving steam locomotives in the USA were built for standard gauge operations.

Off #484 went with a full load of happy travelers!  The Cumbres and Toltec Railroad follows a 64 mile route between Chama New Mexico and Antonito Colorado.  It crosses the border between the two states no less than 11 times as the train chugs its way up and over the 10,015 feet high Cumbres Pass.

This railroad was originally built in 1880 as part of the Rio Grande Railroad’s narrow gauge San Juan Extension.  It served the silver mining district of the San Juan Mountains.  With the Repeal of the Sherman Act and the negative impact on the silver mining industry the railroad declined, with its last major upgrades taking place in the late 1920s.  A post WWII natural gas boom brought a bit of temporary prosperity to the line but operations dwindled to a trickle in the 1960s.  In 1969, the rail line ceased operations, thus ending the last use of steam locomotives general freight service in the USA.

In 1970, the states of Colorado and New Mexico bought the remaining trackage and rolling stock and in 1971, the Cumbres and Toltec began its scenic tours.  The line is open for business this year.  To learn more, just go to https://cumbrestoltec.com/.

These striking red bluffs near Ghost Ranch New Mexico were photographed from along US Hwy. 84 in Northern New Mexico. 

FYI…Ghost Ranch is a 21,000 acre retreat and education center located close to the village of Abiquiú in Rio Arriba County.  It was one of the homes and studios of artist Georgia O’Keeffe.  The ranch is also known for its concentration of fossils from the days when dinosaurs roamed the area.

Abiquiú means ‘wild choke cherry place’ in Tewa (Pueblo people) language.  This town was one of the homes of Georgia O’Keeffe from 1929 until 1984.  Although she had a place at Ghost Ranch, her Home and Studio is in this little town.  The Tewa language is now only spoken by less than 1,600 Pueblo people.  

This final photo is of the Rio Chama River along US Hwy 84 as we neared Santa Fe New Mexico.  The Rio Chama is a major tributary of the Rio Grande River…which flows from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico. 

The Rio Chama itself is about 130 miles long and it’s known for its trout fishing.  In 1988, a 24.6 mile stretch of the river known as Chama Canyon was designated as a National Wild and Scenic River.  The walls of Chama Canyon rise up to 1,500 feet above the river!  The Chama Valley is home to dense stands of ponderosa pine, douglas fir, pinyon, juniper, mountain-mahogany, gambel oak and serviceberry…and it harbors a plethora of wildlife including black bears, elk, mule deer, bobcats and cougars as well as a wide variety of waterfowl and other birds.

That’s all for now… My next post from this trip will include Santa Fe and Taos New Mexico.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Stay Safe and Take Care, Big Daddy Dave