Month: April 2017

April 2 – April 7

Holbrook is the closest town to Petrified Forest National Park with reasonable accommodations, especially with some windy days and cold nights in the forecast. The town also is on the old Route 66, some interesting things to see and places to shop, but sadly a lot of places had closed down.

We spend just about everyday driving to the park and hiking. PFNP is completely dog friendly and we took advantage of it! There aren’t many trails in this park, but “suggested routes.” This meant they gave you where to hike, but there was no true path or signs to get you there. Very interesting!

April 3rd we hiked north of the Painted Desert Inn. Quite a decent down but beautiful landscape.

April 4th we hiked the Long Logs trail and visited the Agate House. At the Agate House Benat took a fall and cut himself directly between his eyes.

April 5th we hiked towards the Blue Mesa after parking near the Tepees. This was a great hike. We kind of followed an old path that has deteriorated away and sometimes perched on the crest of the hills.

April 6th we hiked near the Jasper Forest.

March 29 – April 2

What an amazing place! It is 1 of 2 “dark sky sanctuaries” in the world! It’s forest service land (cattle grazing freely) atop a ridge with 4 cement platforms (for telescopes), space for a few campers, and pit toilets for no cost!

No one was around when we got there but shortly after our arrival an older gentlemen came by. He asked how long we were staying and informed us that a school bus full of 9th graders would be coming by Thursday afternoon to spend the night and get a night sky lesson. We already knew this because the kids were coming from the charter school Chris and Harry started in Silver City!

We hiked around the surrounding area that afternoon and the following day. Beautiful views and no one around. The schoolbus of kids showed up around 4pm and Benat was so excited. He even asked the driver if he could get on the bus and he was allowed. Matt and Benat sat in some of the seats and had his photo taken in front of the school bus holding his toy school bus. (We are still talking about this weeks later!) That night Matt walked down to where a retired prof was talking with the kids (I unfortunately fell asleep too early).

The next day we awoke to some snow and sleet! Nothing lasted on the ground but it was a little crazy to have been in 90 degree weather not too long ago and now see snow! We dove to “the catwalk” which is a cantileavered metal bridge up a canyon with a river underneath it. And you can bring your dog. Dexter was a little unsure why we were walking on the bridge but he was a champ.

The town of Glendwood, NM further entertained us with their annual Kite Festival! The location was beautiful and windy! Upon arrival we received 3 tickets to their free raffle (a cool kite) and was told to visit a car near the entrance if we needed to borrow a kite. However, we didn’t have to walk all the way to that car, 2 other people were willing to GIVE us kites. One was old and we couldn’t get to fly. A couple parked next to us gave us a brand new one (they had about 5 in their car) to have.The wind was cranking and we had a blast flying kites and watching everyone else. The people in this town were so kind!

Later that afternoon Benat flew the kite all by himself back at the campground.

March 24 – March 29

Silver City is an old town in the mountains. Interesting history from multiple levels, Native American, mining, and now artists. So many beautiful colors and interesting architecture. 

After we booked our stay we were reminded that Laura’s friends, Chris and Harry, live there! We made plans to go for a hike and on the 1st day in town e hiked to their cabin 2 miles up a dirt, rugged road where the stream crossed or was a part of the road something like 20 times (serious!) the stream wasn’t too bad, was able to keep my feet dry but was challenging especially with Benat napping on my back. Their cabin was awesome, a log cabin next to 100 year old apple trees. Somehow Matt nor I took a photo of the house. It was a great hike and Dexter was so excited! He was out of the desert and frolicking in the water. 

The next day we drove up a scenic road to the Gila Cliff Dwellings. Beautiful drive and interesting cliff dwellings. 

The last day we drove to The City of Rocks. Very interesting geological spot. Reminded us of Jumbo Rocks in Joshua Tree but very different type of Rocks. It is also a campground and we thought about heading there for a few days but the wind forecast was high and the site was completely exposed. Would not be fun towing days either. So we decided to stick to the plan of going to the Cosmic Campground the following day. That night had dinner at Chris and Henry’s house in town.