Eagle Nest Sights

After we left Red River, we spent a couple of days in the town of Eagle Nest, NM.  One of the days we were there, we thought we’d just drive around some of the backroads to see the sights around this town!

As we drove along a road in the area, we saw the aftereffects of a wildfire.  There’s too much new growth happening for this damage to have been from this year, so this must have been from a few years ago.  I always find the damage left by wildfires to be especially sad, because it was good intentions that set up the danger our forests are now in from wildfires.  Several years back, rangers were prohibited from setting what are called “controlled burns” to burn out the underbrush.  This caused all the fallen leaves, branches, etc., to just gather at the base of the trees, and become excellent kindling for when a lightning strike, or a person, started a fire.  I know around us the rangers are doing controlled burns again, but so much of the forest is still in a dangerous state, wildfires are a danger every year in the West.

Although it is sad to see the trees so damaged, there is a strange beauty in the coloration of the branches.  And, in the midst of some burned trees, sunflowers are making a comeback, sparking a note of joy and hope!

We turned off the paved road to follow this dirt road.  Little did we know that it would lead us to the Ponil Complex (see below). The Ponil Complex is part of the Philmont Scout Ranch. On June 3, 2002, lightning struck and started what was known as the Ponil Complex Wildfire.   By June 6, the fire had consumed about 60,000 acres, and when it was finally contained on June 17, 2002, it had burned over 92,000 acres.  It was the largest wildfire of that time.  The photos shown below are of the complex that appears to be a scout camp, although no one was there at the time.  One of the more interesting things in the camp was the bridge constructed over a small river.  In the photo in the upper right corner (below), you can see what almost looks like a giant bench.  That is the bridge, with only one side having any sort of railing to hold onto.

Another interesting sight we saw up on the side of a rock formation were these oddly shaped containers.  As it turns out, they are mud nests made by Mud Swallows.  Maybe another type of bird also builds these types of nests, but that’s the only bird Jeff knew of!!

We saw quite a bit of other wildlife on this road, too!  From the lower left, we have a rattlesnake (I took this from the safety of the Jeep, using my zoom lens!), black bear (who seemed more startled by us that we were coming around a corner to see him!), a hawk (who couldn’t care less that we were there) and finally, a lovely painted pony wondering why we were bothering it while it was enjoying a nice munch!

It was certainly peak bloom time for the sunflowers.  They are such happy flowers, they always make me smile, just looking at them!

Eagle Nest Lake, at almost 8200 feet in elevation, was such a pretty sight to see.  We really wanted to explore it and perhaps even let Max swim in it.  However, our Governor still had the state parks closed at the time we were there.  She did have them open for day-use, but only on the weekends, and we were there during the week.  Sigh…maybe next year!

Here you can see the remains of the old Eagle Nest Lodge and a sort of annex of rooms, Casa Loma.  The Lodge and Casa Loma were built around the 1920s or 1930s, and was open as a vacation destination until the early 1940s, when the country became immersed in World War II.  It then was only used off and on during the summers by one of the caretaker families that helped with the building and running of the Lodge.  This continued until the 1970s.  Unfortunately, no updates had been done, and a fire ravaged the Lodge and Casa Loma back in the 1980s.

Enjoy!