Cibola National Forest - Sawtooth Mountains

Douglas-firs surviving in dry country

Although we've been enjoying a view of the Sawtooths ever since we bought our property on Horse Mountain nearly 4 years ago, we have not been over for visit since we first went there back in 2010 as part of a camping trip where we staying at the BLM's Datil Well Campground. We fixed that situation on the Friday before last, and I'm sure we'll be going more often now.

Monument Rock

The scene along Forest Road 6A

 A very rare wildflower in this dry, dry year.

 The author at the top of the little ridge

 It took us about an hour to get there using the Saulsberry Road and FR 63 and then onto  FR 6A. It was a late morning start and it was already getting pretty warm for our dog Nessie, but I had had it in mind that this was going to be a short outing anyway. Summertime is no time for long hikes (especially with dogs) in most of New Mexico and my knee was still not even close to being 100% after my epic hike to the Frisco Box two weeks earlier.

Cabin on private property on the Saulsberry Rd.

Cabin on private property along the Saulsberry Rd.

 We set out on old road (our trail for that day) that is not numbered and doesn't seem to receive a whole lot of use. It was sometimes shaded by junipers and piñons, but also ran through an extended meadow area. It finally took us up to a narrow ridge overlooking the head of canyon that head northwest (it may have been a branch of Alamocito Creek) where it promptly ended. We rested a bit there, and then for our return trip stayed mostly off the road utilizing the adjacent forest for shade.

The old road

View at the top of the ridge

Head of the canyon

One strange thing about our trip  were all of the old rusty cans (and a few recent enough to not be rusty) we kept finding both going out and coming back. I'm not sure if this was a place people used for dumping their metal and glass trash for years, or whether it was just a popular place for camping where people just left their trash behind. 

 I will mention (again, I suppose), although it almost goes without saying, that the views, both on our drive and on the little hike, were wonderful.

Cibola National Forest, San Mateo Mountains - Monica Cabin

Monica Cabin

We stopped by here on the way home from the cabin on Horse Mountain on the Sunday before Christmas. I'd been wanting to visit Monica Cabin for a while now, and I was also curious to see if FR 52 to NM 107 was a viable back way home. It's not, but at least I can say I've driven the whole thing now. 

We turned off of  US 60 onto FR 549 that morning around 11. It's more or less a straight shot as this good dirt road heads for the northwest corner of the San Mateos. Eventually we came up to some railroad tracks seeing that there were several more components of the Very Large Array out here which can't be seen from US 60 or NM 107. After 5 more miles is the turn-off to the east on FR 52. The road quickly brought us down into the pretty little valley that is Monica Canyon. The stream is dry here but lined with mature oaks that likely make a lovely display in late October. The cabin, several outbuildings and a windmill  are just past the creek crossing. I can't find much about the cabin's history but it looks to be built sometime after WW II I would guess. I read that it was for  Forest Service personnel who were doing field work, so that they wouldn't have to drive all the back to Magdalena everyday. It reminded me very much of the stuccoed  Forest Service cabin we saw last year of FR 522 in the Black Range, except this one was not encumbered with the accumulated junk of fifty or more years which made it quite a bit more scenic.

 We wondered around the environs a little bit, ate our lunch and then we were on our way. I had tentative plans to do short hike on an old road in Little Monica Canyon, but it was getting late on a very short day and we didn't relish the though of driving for several hours after dark. 

 FR 52 was okay for a mile or two past the cabin but then it got very, very rough and stayed mostly rough most of the way back to NM 107. If one could forget about getting one's bones constantly rattled, one might notice that it's a very scenic little drive with views down in to the rugged Estaline Canyon and beyond to the peaks and canyons on the east side of the Withington Wilderness.

Pueblo Ruins - New Mexico State Trust Lands

 

wall corner

This site is in far northern Catron County on NM State Trust Lands  pretty close to the one we visited last year. Another site that I haven't visited yet is very nearby, also on State Trust Land.  A site on private land where the walls are clearly visible on Google Earth is also close. Most likely they were all contemporaneously occupied. It was a windy day so the long drive from the cabin didn't seem to matter much. We would've probably been stuck inside anyway. The hike was short and the wind not particularly stiff while we explored.

sherds on an ant hill

 Sherds were everywhere again, as well as lithic debitage and fragments of stone tools. The  built-up rubble piles of mostly unshaped stone and the artifact scatter covered about 5 acres. I'm pretty sure I could make out the outlines of room blocks in the grass and thorny shrubs (which seemed to proliferate on disturbed land). There was also the corner of a wall (which I'm assuming is original) beneath a juniper.

large pestle fragment (I think)

On the way back we took the Saulsberry Road, that runs from US 60 to the Green Gap Road. It was a very nice backcountry drive, that meanders through Cibola National Forest, private ranches and State Trust Lands.