4.29.12
This morning Zoloft and I awoke around eight a.m after a lousy sleep, again. It was delightfully cool. The Boy Scouts next door were making breakfast and packing up to leave. I had the brilliant idea to ask them for any of their remaining water because my water tank in the horse trailer is very low and there is no water available at this site, for neither man nor beast. They kindly filled up Rio’s water buckets and asked me questions about my horse. Told them that when I was about fifty I decided, “Hey, I can buy me a horse!…….. Get a college education and when you’re older you can get what you want too.” They were from El Paso and ranged in age from eleven to fourteen.
It seems to take me forever to get out of camp on my horse but, finally, we made it. The three of us, Rio, Zoloft and I, started UP the Turkey Creek. The going was rocky and, almost immediately, we could feel the effects of the altitude. Austin, Texas is at about 500′ unless you live up on a hill, which we don’t. WELL, Ruidoso, New Mexico is at 6900′, our campground is at 8000′. the trail tops outta about 9200′. he s, I almost instantly was light headed and very tired very quickly. The trip is best told in photos. Met only three people the whole five hours we were gone – Chris, EX-owner of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Taos, New Mexico and his two dogs who redirected me as I was about to take a very long trail and two fast day hikers who took the photo of the three of us when we met up with them on the Turkey Creek (#40) trail going UP. The Turkey Creek trail is not one to repeat, it was rocky and densely forested with no water. At the end of that I caught the Crest Trail (#25) which went through the beautiful grass and on sandy trails and wound around the ridges. Took the Argentina Trail down. It was much prettier than the Turkey Creek trail, had water (a trickle – enough for dogs and horses to drink), much more open space, was not as rocky and steep. We had left camp at about nine a.m., returned exhausted at about 2:30pm. We’d ascended more than 1300′, about half of it I’d walked, leading Rio because either it was steep and rocky or I just needed the exercise. Zoloft wanted to be UNDER Rio because he provided shade and, once, Rio stepped on the poor gal’s foot. Luckily, with all the padding on the basset’s foot, she seems unhurt.
Later in the afternoon Chris, the man from Taos, came by and told me about some of his favorite trails around Taos in Carson National Forest. The big question is whether the trails are open yet because they’re higher up and usually don’t open till later in May or even June.
Walkaboutmomma's Blog 