Sunday, June 14, 2015

A Geologic Surprise -- Jun 14, 2015

Tuesday morning Nikko and I headed north out of Grants, NM.   The road north (Rt. 371) to Bloomfield, from Grants, was a "try to keep from falling asleep" kinda road.  It started off scenic....



...but it soon turned into pretty much nothing!  For about 2.5 hours....YAWN!

Occasionally, there was a small mesa....but not much else...

I went into Bloomfield....across town, then south again....down Rt. 550 for about 15 miles.  It was the same views as 371....bland.  I was wondering what was going to make my destination attractive. Surely it will be something more than what I've seen so far!

I turned onto the dirt/gravel County Road 7175 into the area known as Angel Peak.  The road was a little bumpy, but not bad at all... this is pretty....



I passed by three good looking picnic areas on the 6 mile drive back to the campground,  I stopped at one to get a far off shot of Angle Peak.   This is more like it!  Far more interesting than the sleepy drive up here!



We could have hung around the picnic area for awhile...no one was there...but I was wanting to get to the 10-site campground area a couple miles on up the road.  I'm always anxious at this point wondering if there will be an open spot. Arriving at the beginning of the week has worked well for me so far...most weekenders have left and new campers haven't arrived yet.  But I still cross my fingers!

The campground was the familiar "loop" layout.  I circled around once noting that, like the last two stops, most were designed for tenters with inclined parking spaces.  A good RV site was taken by a 5th wheel, but the next one worked out.  I don't think there would have been any others that would have been workable.  Plus, it's on the side of the loop for the "scenic views" of the peak, plus a pretty view in the other direction. Actually better, I think, than the 5th wheel's site.  Lucky me!

We got situated without difficulty and the parking area is almost perfectly level.  This is going work out great!  We're at 7,000' --- even with the top of Angel Peak.  There's a picnic table and large, metal fire pit grill like a lot of other campgrounds.  No pedestal grill, but that doesn't matter...I have a propane camp grill and a small charcoal grill if I want to BBQ.  There's also a restroom nearby but no potable water. Normally, I would be perfectly happy with just this super vista....but....


.......there's the "main attraction" view, too!  There's not a whole lot more to say about it....the pictures will speak thousands of words.  Here we go....this is the view from my RV window!  I'm actually closer to the peak than this shows. It's only about 15 steps from the RV to the rim and this part of the canyon below isn't very wide.  Nothing like a bird's eye view at 7,000 feet!


I have a silhouette view every evening....



A day or two was a bit overcast with some rain off and on, but that can still make for some interestingly stark photos....


Did you get from the picnic area photo that there's a huge canyon associated with Angel Peak?  The peak is at one end (my end!) and most of the rest of the canyon, that I can see from where I am, stretches out to the west.



Down the loop lane a short distance is a sign-in podium where an easy-walk, rim path has been laid out....



Two benches have been installed for your viewing pleasure of the peak and canyon :-)
Nikko and I walk these paths every day and every day the lighting is different.



Nikko really likes the overlooks.  
He will stand there, perfectly still, for 20 minutes taking in the view...
I wonder what he's thinking...


 Luckily, he didn't see this rabbit or I would have probably been pulled right over the edge!


The sweeping views are spectacular!






Love the colored layers..... reminds me of the Badlands National Park in South Dakota!  


I could almost like this better than the Badlands National Park because it's all at my fingertips. And there are no tourists!  

I'll wrap up here....more to come in the next post.  This is a fabulous area!  May be one of my most favorite stops in this adventure so far.  That's saying a lot because they have all been memorable in their own ways.  Catch up with you all in a few days or so with some more great photos of Angel Peak....some sunsets, hopefully some scenic views from different vantage points, and a surprise! Building "drama" here!  LOL!  I'll be here until about the 22nd-23rd -- it's a 14 day free site!  

just something I thought might be fun to do!

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3 comments:

  1. INCREDIBLE PHOTOS!! I think these may be my favorite so far (at least in the top 5)! I love the fact you don't have to contend with a bunch of "tourists". It's amazing how many incredible areas there are to see besides all the money-trap places. I hope you post more pictures from here soon!

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  2. Have tried to post three times. ....
    great site for two weeks! Favorite is silhouette! And trail lined with rocks leading to overlook.
    What's weather there? Waiting for next post!

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