We took advantage of the long holiday weekend to make some progress on vehicular access to the property.
Strands of barbed wire littered the primitive road near the stretch gate, so we moved that all back toward the “boot heel” of the property to be used later, rather than have it puncture our tires. Our friends Shawn and Kali came up with their son Kalden and helped clear sage out of the area we hope to use for camping and parking, just inside the stretch gate. It had rained a bit, so I tried my best to dig some of the softened caliche out of the sides of the road to fill in the ruts and ease the grade up to the stretch gate. And we were finally able to drive and park on the land!
To the south of the stretch gate, Jacob reset a downed post so that the barbed wire could be restrung in that direction, then he and Kalden cleared branches along that span, working their way towards the wetlands. Kali is a hydrologist, and suggested we use the branches to form a “waffle” barrier as erosion control between the low wetland that drains onto the road and the upland field of sage. Hopefully the barrier will keep more water on the property rather than washing into the persistent puddle in the middle of the road.
Towards the back of the property, Kevin, Jacob and I repaired the last of the southeastern section of fence and turned the corner to start the northward section. This densely wooded area has mushrooms everywhere. Jacob cut limbs that we laid in the heavily eroded nearby gullies. Restringing the barbed wire takes on a rhythm- cleaning brush, untangling wire, identifying strands 1 – 2 – 3 and 4, tightening each strand, nailing it to the post, repeat…. Before you know it, 50 or so feet are done! But there is plenty more to go….
We also picked up more trash along the shared fence line with our neighbor, who came out to visit. He noted that a couple of very large drought stressed piñon were dying and suggested we take them out, as he had to do with five of his trees this summer. Not sure how to tackle that challenge, as we don’t yet even have a chainsaw and there is no road access on that part of the property to haul away 40 foot trees…
Jacob, Kalden, Shawn and Kali headed back Sunday afternoon and Kevin and I stayed another night so we could check out some of the mountain biking to the south of the property, towards the Valles Caldera. All our exploration thus far had been to the north, up the ass kicking assent to the top of Mesa Alta, where the Continental Divide Trails summits and then descends towards Ghost Ranch.
The property is in the valley between Mesa Alta and the Valles Caldera, and with my going recovery from surgery, we decided to take the gentler climb out of the valley towards the south, within the boundary of the San Joaquín Del Río De Chama Land Grant Association, https://riodechamalandgrant.com/.
The ride up FR 103 meandered through manicured stands of majestic ponderosa with Abert’s squirrels, jack rabbits and an occasional elk, and infinite tiny puffballs. We lunched near a wash where thistle and mule ear have infiltrated the charcoal remains of a prescribed burn.
We returned by a different route, FR 172, that edged along the shoulder above Highway 96 and provided classic New Mexico mountain biking terrain, through washes, over slick rock and under a modest piñon juniper canopy. Also, though the map showed an junction with 96, the egress had been fenced off and we had to jump the fence onto private property and cross through a remote corner to get back to the highway- no shots fired… We might have to retrace this route far enough west to meet up with the CDT as an egress.
