As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, Southwest cabin fever really hit me. Not in the usual sense, where you're cooped up in the house (or cabin). No, for me, the Southwest is big spaces and big skies and hiking and exploring. And as beautiful as Santa Fe is, it's still civilization. So I did some quick research and off we headed for the Ojito Wilderness, north of Bernalillo, which is between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. And, as it turned out, a wrong turn got me just what I needed. (What is it the Rolling Stones said? "You can't always get what you want. But if you try real hard, you'll get what you need.")
The directions said to go south to Bernalillo, then take Rt. 550 north about 20 miles to Cabezon Road. Now keep in mind that the view going up 550 is endless mesas and ancient volcanic flows and cliffs and grassland. So it wasn't surprising that we ended up turning onto the road to Cabezon Peak rather than Cabezon Road, and found my big spaces and big skies. Cabezon Peak is a volcanic plug, formed when the magma hardened in the neck of the volcano. Over time, the softer sediment around the volcano erodes, leaving the basalt plug. Cabezon means "big head" in Spanish, and the Navajo's believe it is the head of a giant killed by the gods.
Cabezon is visible from Rt. 550, yet it was quite a drive before we came upon the parking area for the hiking trail. The sun was pretty intense, so we lathered on lotion for the hike. The good news was that our solar bead bracelets, which activate with sunlight, were in full color.
Marie's knee has been bothering her, and the trail was steep and rocky, so we only hiked a short distance. Our reward, however, was immense vistas. I instantly relaxed and felt transported. Gosh, how I love this country!
Marie settled onto a rock to draw, and I continued up the trail. I soon pooped out and, looking back, got another sense of the immensity of the landscape. I took the next photo with 10x zoom lens from up the trail. If you look really carefully in the middle of the picture, you can find Marie.
This next photo is one of my favorites - this one will go on our wall!
Before we left, we encountered several of the brightly colored lizards we enjoy so much.
Next, we decided to try to find the Ojito Wilderness. We headed south on 500, then turned right on Cabezon Road. Like the road to Cabezon Peak, this road was dirt but not as well maintained. The washboarding of the road was really jarring to us - and the Element - but eventually we reached a "parking area" and decided to check things out.
While Ojito is rumored to have some stunningly beautiful rock formations, this area was less notable for its beauty than for what we discovered. In these remote areas, we're always looking for signs of Ancestral Puebloan presence. While we didn't find any dwellings, we did find a few pottery sherds, as well as a well-preserved lithic site. These sites are where the Ancestral Puebloans flintknapped their weapons and tools from chert and obsidian. Evidence sometimes presents itself in the form of non-native rocks and rocks that have obviously been worked. In addition to those signs, this site had the classic look of a lithic site with the circle of stones and the location on the edge of an arroyo.
We were excited to explore more, but by that time the exertion and sun had taken a bite out of us, so we headed back to the car for the drive home. Needless to say, this was my type of day in the Southwest, and I was a happy camper.
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