Ten Days in August

 

Ten Days in August

In August, we took a short (for us) trip to northern New Mexico, stopping at three campgrounds.  We had a fun time at all three, although one of the stops was very short!!  Come along on our travels!

Our first stop has become a favorite stop for us – Red River, New Mexico!  We camped at a great campsite, right along the Red River.  One day, we took a short drive up a back road and I captured these two images of Red River.  The one on the right is when the east and west branches of the river merged into one, and I captured this from a bridge.  The second image was from the opposite side of the bridge, after the two branches have merged.

I captured a couple of images of thistle, and both just seemed rather inspirational.  I hope you agree.

Another side trip we took while in Red River was to an area around the Rio Costillo (Costillo River).  There is a camping spot there that we wanted to check out.  Depending on the spot one might choose, one could be camping with cattle!!  We thought the area was beautiful and we did decide that the area is great for a day visit, and a lunch stop along the river (image on the right)!

The mountain wildflowers were out in the Red River area!!  More thistle, a couple of images of golden coneflowers, and always a favorite with me, daisies!

Our next stop, just for an overnight, was at Heron Lake State Park, about 10 miles outside of Chama, New Mexico.  We got a very lovely camping site, with a nice, shady sitting spot (Max enjoyed it!) and some great views from that sitting spot!

It’s really sad to see Heron Lake.  It’s only about 1/3 it’s normal size, so as you look at it in these images, picture it 2/3 larger than it is now.  We stopped at the visitors’ center, and the ranger there said it was so low due to it feeding the water needs of Albuquerque, and that the snow melt that they usually see from the mountains north of here and into Colorado didn’t happen this year.

Our last stop was at Abiquiu Lake, which is always a favorite stop.  We didn’t get our typical spot, but this one was a good second choice!

The views from the campground are fabulous.  We could see The Pedernal from our campsite directly, and just a few steps away, let me get a great sunset image of the lake itself.  It, too, is very low for the same reason Heron Lake is, and all one can do is hope for a good snowfall next winter.

Enjoy!!