WOW!! Another great weekend. And this time it was much cooler so we started off with our good bags and loved it. It was so toasty warm in that tent and in the bags we slept like babies.
Trip started off rough as we headed to El Malpais because I had called the visitor's center to make sure the campground was open since it's a pretty good drive. "Yes ... " was the answer I got, so we drove over 70 miles to the Ranger Station to find out "No. They are closed for renovations!" So this guy told us go on to Grants to Lobo Campground it's open. So we drive to Grants and thought we had better make sure before heading several miles north. Sure enough, "NO. It is closed for the season is what we heard there!" I'm ticked at this point but we were told El Morro Campground is definitely open. ANOTHER 50 miles but turned out to be well worth it.
MANY more photos here
Great campground. VERY basic but that is the way I love it. Picnic table, fire grill and a pit toilet not far away. Not even water this time of year. Remember we're at about 7,200 feet so they don't even try to keep pipes from freezing. But there are no streetlights no electricity etc so when we killed the lantern is was dark as could possibly be considering how lovely the moon was shining!
Awoke to totally overcast and quite a breeze. Pretty chilly morning while making Jodi's coffee and our breakfast but certainly not cold enough to not enjoy. Even for Jodi.
Talked for quite a while with Dave and MaryAnn, folks from New York that camped just down from us. He showed me some great travel books and I showed him my hand held GPS. Very enjoyable time. Swapped e-mails so they can let us know when they're coming again. They come west once every year.
After they had to leave we broke camp and headed to El Morro visitor's center and to the hike. Nice VC where we bought a couple books for Nora and a couple more medallions for my hiking staff.
We took the not-as-common clockwise route because there were 120 steps and my knee does better climbing steps than it does coming down steps.
From the very beginning the trail is beautiful. As you go you see phenomenal rock, views, cultural ruins, petroglyphs and historic rock carvings from as early as 1605. All in all a phenomenal day and a totally phenomenal value at $3 per person! We also spent quite a bit of time talking to Fred Moosman, a Ranger at the park, who provided great information not on the signs or in the guidebook.
After the approximate 2.5 miles we hiked here we drove back up Hwy 53 to the Zuni - Acoma Trail and walked approximately a mile of it just to explore and check it out for future hiking/backpacking.
WHEW!!! What's up next weekend??
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