They own a motorhome currently stored in Germany, so we were going over some details of how they do that and get around the 3 month Schengen visa restriction. We plan to buy a motorhome in Europe next spring, depending of course on what is going on in the world.
We did the short drive to Espanola and filled up with cheap fuel one more time. Gas prices have been creeping higher, and this was no exception... it had gone up to $1.40 USD per gallon from $1.30. Still pretty cheap, at the equivalent of $0.52 CAD per liter.
We also filled up with our weekly grocery shop to get us through the upcoming long weekend here in the U.S..
A pretty bridge.
Scenery along the way.
Heading up hill.
And down the other side.
New Mexico scenery.
Yesterday's drive, 69 miles (110 kms).
I had read of a good boondocking area in Carson National Forest, and sure enough it did not disappoint.
Sherman, parked at GPS 36.333865, -106.525099
We had some lunch and relaxed for a couple of hours. I read a book and had a short nap. Around 3:00pm I suggested to Ruth that we go for a stroll.
Well it's a good thing she packed some water because our "stroll" turned into a 5.8 mile (9.5 km) hike with 1,000' altitude gain!
Mountain bluebird.
Beautiful spot!
Out for a "stroll".
This dude sat and posed for us.
It turns out there was an actual hiking trail to a viewpoint. It was called the Rim Vista Trail. Well, we were already there so why not do the trail?
It didn't take long to get some nice views.
Can you see Sherman?
No?
Now can you see him?
How about now?
Made it to the top!
Enjoying the view.
Beautiful views!
And a gorgeous day.
Blue sky and sunshine and the temperature was about 77F (25C).
Heading back down.
Ruth on the trail.
Ruth on the left, and Sherman on the right.
Did I mention what a great spot this was?
We would have stayed longer, except for two things.
First, we heard the other day that Montana is removing it's 14 day quarantine requirement for visitors as of June 1st. We want to spend some time up there, so that gives us the incentive to actually get there a little faster than we have been traveling.
And second, the upcoming Memorial Day long weekend here in the U.S. will mean that a lot of people will be out camping and even the boondocking spots will be busy. We plan to be in Utah by tomorrow (Friday) morning and we want to make sure we get there early enough to get a prime spot where we can stay for the full three nights.
Slept like a rock last night. The stars were amazing! Looks like another gorgeous day today.
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Record low deal on the Apple Watch Series 5.
And in Canada...
Great pictures! Beautiful hike....can't beat New Mexico for scenery.
ReplyDeleteThank you, it helps when you have beautiful scenery to photograph!
DeleteIt was a great hike, even though it wasn't the "stroll" we had figured we would be doing when we left the motorhome.
Yes, New Mexico has some fantastic scenery for sure but so does Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and so MANY other states, provinces and countries. :-)
I'm sure you know this, but stay away from Moab. It's a zoo.
ReplyDeleteYep, we figured it would be. We are going to try to find a good spot tonight where we can just hunker down for the long weekend and not have to worry about any crowds of people.
DeleteKevin, check out this spot in SE Utah. Amazing... We accessed it from Monticello UT. There are some nice campsites as you get close to the Needles District. http://metamorphosisroad.blogspot.com/2015/10/a-phantasmagorical-adventure-chesler.html
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up on this hike, it looks amazing. Hopefully it will be open for hiking and that we can find some boondocking close by. We will definitely try to do this hike if we can. Again, thank you. :-)
DeleteGlad to see you are still Safely Enjoying your slow trek North.
ReplyDeleteEven though we love New Mexico, I'm certain you will like Montana.
It's about time.
We are enjoying our trek north, it certainly wasn't in our plans to being doing this but we are definitely happy we are. This has certainly given us time to explore places that we don't normally have the time to see because we are always trying to get back to Canada for the beginning of May.
DeleteWe are loving New Mexico but we know that we are going to enjoy Utah, Wyoming and Montana just as much. :-)
Your one picture is the one we have on our wall. The road to nowhere. I'm so glad you did the trail and posted pictures. We passed on that. Your parking place is outstanding.
ReplyDeleteThe drive was certainly a beautiful one and we loved how the road just seemed to go on and on. Looks like it would be a beautiful photo to hang up for sure.
DeleteLoved the hike and our parking spot as well! :-)
I googled the GPS #'s and didn't have any luck...
ReplyDeleteI didn't have any issue with them. I copied and pasted the coordinates that Kevin included under Sherman's boondocking spot, into the URL line on my computer and hit enter and it came up with the map of our exact spot.
DeleteI get a kick out of what is called a National Forest in the west. Much different than the forests we were used to in Wisconsin. Still, lots of beautiful scenery everywhere! Utah is one of my favorite states to visit. The National Parks there are incredible!!!
ReplyDeleteLol, we thought the same thing one time in Arizona when we saw a sign saying National Forest and all we saw were cactus. :-P
DeleteUtah is definitely one of our favourite states as well, although we are really loving New Mexico and I know that we will also enjoy Wyoming and Montana. Not sure if any of the National Parks will be open when we head through though! :-(
We really enjoyed the scenery of the Bear Tooth Highway in Montana. We saw people with smaller motor homes, but make sure to check if you think it is for you. Also, the town of Butte has a very interesting history. We really enjoyed the Chamber of Commerce trolley tour they had. Missoula has a great smoke jumper museum. Of course, don't know if any of these are open.
DeleteI actually have the Bear Tooth Highway down on our must see/visit list so we will see if our path takes us that way or not. It is definitely the type of road that we love to drive.
DeleteI would have our doubts as to whether the trolley tour would be running or not and to be perfectly honest even if it was I am not sure we would do it as it would be too confined for us with people, which we have been doing a good job of avoiding as much as possible. We will see how things go as we move along, things are constantly changing.