Dear Isaac, Maia and Virtual Wanderers,

Spending the first 2 days of my trip to the desert was neither intentional or desired. But, I persisted. I woke to a drizzly, chilly Farmington. After dog walks, breakfast and loading, we got on the road about 10.

Ve took the Bisti Highway (NM 371) south. The Bisti Badlands are about 40 miles south of Farmington. I adore short hikes in these remote badlands, but the clay dirt gets too slick for it to be a good choice for the weather.

I decided to stop for a photo of an area that resembles Bisti a few miles north of the turn-off. I pulled over in a wide spot, grabbed my camera. Went to take a couple steps onto a mound for a photo. Big mistake. I slid on the slick clay soil and landed gently on my knees. All good, but mud everywhere. My, the camera, my phone, and my keys. I’m still cleaning the mess. I suppose it fortified my decision not to hike there today.

We continued south through the badlands and up over the continental divide. Of course, it started snowing on the journey. Not heavy snow – barely sticking but very wet.

From there, we took I 40 to Grants and on to El Morro National Monument. I remember it was a drive as my one and only previous visit, I nearly ran out of gas. I doubled back, but then was too late to hike. This time, I gassed up first for the 80 mile round trip.

The route from Grants is NM 53. It’s a nice paved road that goes through El Malpais National Monument. It also crosses the continental divide – but at 7,500 feet above sea level vs our Colorado 10k pass elevations. It was snowy and wet, of course.

We arrived in plenty of time to hike either trail. They have Inscription trail that’s flat, paved, and views the inscriptions left in the rock by ancient Spaniards over the years. The rocks collect a large pond of fresh water that attracted Ancient Pueblo Indians as well as later travelers. I had no idea about that until today.

The other trail is a climb to the Ancient Pueblo ruins (via Headland Trail) on top of the rock structure. Honestly, I would rather have seen that is time, weather, and dog knees had not been an issue.

It was still spitting snow, sometimes pretty heavy. It’s a short hike with lots of inscriptions to see. The Rangers were super nice and gave us a trail guide, although weather made it a bit impractical. I’d like to have had more time to look at it, but it was cold.

A side note is that today was Jr Ranger Day at the Monument. Unfortunately, the weather only brought 2 Jr Rangers out for their badges. The Rangers had made a cool bingo game for them to compete to earn a badge. They hoped for 20 participants. So, they told me if I completed the bingo, I could get my badge. I kinda wish the weather would have permitted me to complete the assignment.

It’s going to be 19 degrees here tonight. But, tomorrow, the storm moves out and it should be close to 60 degrees. We have about an hour drive to our adventure tomorrow. Hopefully, the roads were thaw before we get started.

Love ya’all, Cathy H

Don’t forget to subscribe for updates!

Also, follow my dogs on Instagram- The Traveling Pup Crew