Mills Canyon Revisited

Mills Orchard Framed ruin.jpg, originally uploaded by craptastica.

A couple weekends ago, I revisited Mills Canyon on the Kiowa National Grassland. This place is about three hours north and east of Santa Fe. The closest town (if you want to call it that) is the crossroads they call Roy with about a population of 80. Sara and I wanted to do some Spring camping, and this place is as isolated as it gets.

We had the whole canyon to ourselves that weekend. The weather was beautiful and it was a great place to spend the weekend exploring and hanging out.

Since Sara had to put on her Forest Service uniform and do some visitor use monitoring, I spent all day in the canyon hiking around. It was a great day. I saw a ridiculous number of birds and wildlife... many I had never seen before. I also got the chance to watch two golden eagles flying around right next to our tent and came upon the rare western ringneck snake.

Mills Canyon is said by many who know of it to be the best kept secret in NM. I feel the same way. After hiking around all day and checking out the ruins of the old orchard, I felt happy, renewed, and awed from the magic of the canyon.

Canadian iver.jpg

canadian river.jpg, originally uploaded by craptastica.

Western ringneck snake.jpg

Western ringneck snake.jpg, originally uploaded by craptastica.

Saw this little guy while trying to hike along the cliff slope to the old orchard structures.

Jemez Ghost Town

Bland Canyon view.jpg, originally uploaded by craptastica.

A few weeks ago, after I had recovered from the thousands of e-mails that had clogged my work computer during vacation an opportunity came up to go to the old Bland Canyon Ghost Town. I had some stuff to do, but the ghost town is on an inholding on our Forest lands, so it is a rare occasion one gets to see it. Furthermore, we were invited by some of the current residents. So, I skipped the phone calls, e-mails, reports, and official forms for a spring day in the ghost town they call Bland.

Look in any book about New Mexico ghost towns and you'll find it was a late 19th Century mining town built from dynamite, guts, and dreams. The town had a one room jail, a hotel, a doctor's house, a mill, several other houses and office buildings, and of course - a brothel. The last mine closed in 1945 and the town was abandoned (probably due to all the cyanide and chloride used for processing the ore). Later a tough southwestern lady named Effie Janks bought the town, named herself mayor, and moved in to live there in the wilds all by herself.

It was gold and silver that made the town, but the latter is where it got its name - a Senator from Missouri who advocated for free silver coinage.

Since it is a fairly well known ghost town there are regular trespassers, thiefs, and squatters who visit the area. Usually they're met by one or more of the residents or friends of the residents bearing a .45 and looking pissed off. That is still very likely to happen today.

Actually, while I was there the current resident recanted with glee how she would often ask her eccentric, homeless, vietnam vet friends to watch the site for her. She'd ask them to bring their guns and leave them a couple cases of beer. After hearing of some of the stuff that happened to the poor adventurous fence hoppers who were curious about the ghost town, I doubt there could be a more effective security system.

Walking around the ghost town was to literally be walking through a time porthole. Besides the ravages of time and natural forces, most of the town looks exactly like it would have about 100 years ago. The jail with its massive tuff-carved stones told of prisoners who scratched away each day on the interior rock. The brothel with it's many inscriptions on the doorways told of whiskey-fueled nights and loneliness. And the falling mill, with it's giant tanks and half-buried wheels, tell of the contradictory fragileness in a town built and held by hope.

Recently one of the owners died and the land and properties have gone to the nearest kin. The guy lives out of state and has hired a real estate agent to sell the property for a residential development. Considering all of the mine waste and chemicals still present at the site I don't know if anyone can finance such a venture, but I sure hope not.

The Bland Brothel

brothel.jpg, originally uploaded by craptastica.

One satisfied customer

screwey_kid.jpg, originally uploaded by craptastica.

Oh! What is life but for the living?

Virgin de Quito.jpg, originally uploaded by craptastica.

It's been about a month since I got back from Ecuador and I still feel the fool for not staying longer. I feel the fool for spending only a couple days in Otavalo. For not bringing home more rugs for my friends. I feel the fool for not dancing at more of the Salsa clubs in Quito. For not extending my trip. For not taking the time to take an intensive spanish class. For not spending more time in the jungle. For not following the friends we met there to Peru. For remembering not to forget my responsibilities. For lying to myself that I'll come back soon.

Ecuador is a wonderful place and life is short. I feel the fool for knowing that only too well now.

Lake Cuicocha.jpg

lake_cuicocha1.jpg, originally uploaded by craptastica.

On the fourth or fifth day, Zach and I went to Lake Cuicocha, near Volcan Cotacachi. It's in a National Park, and has a trail that rings the lake which now fills a crater left by an old volcano.

My favorite part about this place is that they say the two islands in the middle were used as prisons by the Incas. They would just throw their prisoners on there and guard the shores. Kinda like a prehistoric Alcatraz.

We ended up walking the six miles or so around the lake really fast. We left with some awesome photos, and sunburns that made us look like some of the local fruits. I looked like a mango with orange and scarlet coloring in not ungraceful patches swishing across my body. Zach's face was a sanguine red vine tomato. Obviously, neither of us had learned our lesson, and I needed to have Zach rub lotion on my back for the remainder of the trip.

Giant Scorpion Spider

giant_scorpion_spider.jpg, originally uploaded by craptastica.

For scale purposes, I can confidently tell you that this thing's legs stretched out farther than the edges of your computer screen. We saw this master of all scary spiders during a night hike in the Amazon jungle. I don't suggest the Amazon for those of you with even a smidgeon of arachnaphobia.

Mike vs. Pepe

mike_eats_guinea_pig.jpg, originally uploaded by craptastica.

Like a 5th grader on a dare, I ate guinea pig my last night in Equador to keep a bet with Zach. His name was Pepe. The little bastard was deep fried instead of roasted as is usual for the Ecuadorian dish of Cuy, and it was a whole lotta nasty. Not much meat, and the little that was there tasted almost exactly like chicken soaked in a grease.

As you can see from this picture, I won the battle. I'm not so sure; however, that I won the war... the guinea gods took quite a revenge.