Uncategorized – Living Wonderously

Our usual schedule for a day hike involves setting out after breakfast with lunches packed for eating on the trail. Yesterday we broke that tradition by not leaving the house until the morning was half spent.

It’s a little over an hour to drive from Albuquerque to Socorro and from Socorro another 30 minutes to get to Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge. Our plan was to spend the afternoon hiking somewhere around Socorro and then head over to the refuge shortly before sunset with the hopes of seeing the evening fly-in of the sandhill cranes and snow geese.

It was lunchtime when we got to Socorro and we knew that by dinnertime we would be out at the refuge looking at birds, far removed from any opportunities to eat at a restaurant. We made a last minute decision to save our lunches for an evening dinner snack and, instead, to eat a restaurant meal in Socorro.

We’ve enjoyed several meals at a place called Socorro Springs but discovered that it was no longer in business. It had been replaced by a Mexican restaurant that had moved there from another part of town. The locals must have known it was a good place to eat because it was quite busy. The food, the service and the prices did not disappoint and we will probably eat there again on one of our Socorro outings.

We had made no definite plans of where to go for our afternoon hike. After lunch we decided to drive out Highway 60 to a parking area off the Highway that was BLM land used mostly by mountain bikers and rock climbers. We had been told there were some interesting trails but we didn’t have any maps or GPS tracks to follow.

Surprisingly, there was a trail sign at the parking area and a well marked trail that led in the general direction we wanted to explore. We made it up to a ridge that gave us views into an area called the Box, a canyon known to rock climbers and a place we had hiked in before but with an approach from the opposite side.

There were a couple of intersecting trails at the top of the ridge and we managed to find one coming back down that saved us some of rough the bushwhacking we had done to get up the ridge. We have since discovered more trail maps of the area and it does warrant future hikes.

We made it over to the refuge a half hour before sunset, after taking time for dessert and coffee at a small cafe in San Antonio (New Mexico, that is, not Texas). It’s always a challenge to find the place in the refuge where most of the birds will come in and we didn’t hit it at the right place in time. But given the other pleasures of the day we had no complaints. And now we will have a new trail system to explore for winter hikes.

Heading up the Descansos Trail near Socorro

Heading back down the Descansos Trail. Look closely to see Lee up ahead on the trail.

Sandhill cranes at Bosque del Apache, settling in for the night.

We had gone into the small visitor center at Sumner Lake State Park to see if they had any maps of hiking trails. I browsed the one display that explained the history of the area and then went to the counter to check out the maps and brochures. I glanced down and was surprised to see a map of Alamogordo Lake. I lived in Alamogordo for 15 years but had never heard of Alamogordo Lake.

I should have looked closer at the information on the history display. In answer to my question, the ranger came out from behind the counter and pointed me to the paragraph on the display outlining how the park came into being.

In the 1930’s the US Bureau of Reclamation built a dam where the Pecos River and Alamogordo Creek converged. The lake and surrounding area was established as Alamogordo Lake State Park in 1965. But the town of Alamogordo in south-central New Mexico was becoming more well-known and, since it was nowhere near Alamogordo Lake, to avoid confusion, the name was changed to Sumner Lake after nearby Fort Sumner. An interesting bit of history to add to this day’s exploration of Sumner Lake State Park.

On one of our trips to Texas several years ago we had taken the 7-mile detour off of Highway 84 to see the lake, but we hadn’t spent any time there. This week, after a long hiatus from tent camping we decided it was time to dig out the camping gear and see if we remembered all the details required to set up camp in one of New Mexico’s isolated locations. Although it’s only 2 1/2 hours from Albuquerque, Lake Sumner certainly qualifies in the isolation department.

The wind had started to pick up in the afternoon when we were ready to look for a campsite. The larger campgrounds were by the lake but we knew it would be less windy down by the river. Two small campgrounds, one on each side of the river are nestled in amongst the cottonwoods, just below the outlet from the dam. We could hear the rush of water from the spillway throughout the night; not exactly a natural waterfall but soothing, nevertheless. And, best of all, we were the only campers on either side of the river, making for a peaceful and quiet night.

In the morning it was a short walk up the road to get to the top of the dam, where we could look down at our campsite. We had chosen the west side of the river so that we would be first to get the morning sun.