New Mexico Extravaganza - Part 1 of many!

 Our 70 in 70 quest took a giant leap forward this past couple of weeks even though we had to make a quick change to Plan B (check out space aliens in New Mexico rather than space launches in Florida due to a last minute launch scheduling change). And what an excellent Plan B it turned out to be! We added 24 more adventures to our quest count during this one road trip!

Number 15: Comanche National Grasslands - Santa Fe Trail

Inscription: Santa Fe Trail 1822-1872
Marked by the Daughters of the American Revolution
and the State of Colorado 1908

As we were driving south through Colorado in trusty Hedwig, avoiding the interstate and the big cities of Denver and Colorado Springs, we lucked upon an historical marker pointing out that we could visit the Santa Fe Trail at the Timpas Picnic Area. Timpas Creek happened to be the first source of water for Santa Fe Trail travelers heading southwest after leaving the Arkansas River - and also happened to be the first opportunity for me and Taz to go on a bit of a trail run on the first day of our road trip! The Santa Fe trail was a key trade and commerce route from roughly 1822 until 1880 (when the railroad came through to Santa Fe). Within the Comanche National Grasslands, quite a bit of the trail is still runnable; Taz and I sampled just a wee bit of it, happy to stretch our legs.

Taz and a Santa Fe Trail marker

Number 16: Capulin Volcano

The Capulin volcano erupted 60,000 years ago, spewing lava high into the sky. The falling debris then accumulated around the vent creating a classic cinder cone volcano which stands out beautifully on the New Mexico landscape east of Raton. Capulin is one of many volcanic formations in the 8,000-square-mile Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field. Capulin rises 1300 feet above the plains, reaching 8,182 feet above sea level.  In 1916 President Wilson issued the proclamation declaring the mountain a national monument to preserve “…a striking example of recent extinct volcanoes…” On September 5, 1962, Congress amended the proclamation to “…preserve the scenic and scientific integrity of Capulin Mountain National Monument.”  We had wanted to check out two trails: the Crater Rim Trail and the Crater Vent Trail. Unfortunately, high gusty winds prevented us from attempting the Crater Rim Trail (so high and gusty the wind blew Kendall’s stash of dollar bills right out of his shirt pocket!). I did go down the Crater Vent Trail grabbing whatever was handy when gusts tried to blow me over.

Kendall (a rarity: hatless - due to the wind) looking out over the Volcanic Field

Starting down the Crater Vent Trail

Looking back up at tiny Hedwig & tinier Kendall from the bottom

Looking down at tiny Paula from the top