This was our first adventure into New Mexico! The drive down took a few extra hours due to a large amount of hail storms and accidents. 🙁  It was a white knuckle drive until we were at the campsite. It was also our first camping trip with our friends Allison and Ville, and their two pups Tilda and Ansel.

The site we chose was perfect for us—secluded with trails going into the canyon. Beware, the area is full of thorns that try and rip your clothes and seeds pods that drove our poor Daisy crazy. The canyon located behind the campsite is a dry creek bed. It was so beautiful, the fact that there was no water was hard to grasp. There were areas where you could imagine water falls cascading down, pools for swimming, and deep holes holding the trout that were waiting for us to present a juicy fly for them to attack. If only! We did find a small deer antler and were visited by some at dusk. There were signs of bear in the area too—lots of scat and tracks. We did not see any bear though.

Bird watching at the campsite and Lake Alice was very good. There was a large number of black-headed grosbeaks at the camp hosts site and dozens of humming birds (they had bird feeders). Also in abundance were yellow-rump warblers, yellow warblers, black-and-white warblers, gold finches, vultures, and ospreys. Lake Alice is a great place to view warblers. There were many others that I was unable to identify!

There is a nice visitor center near the campground with trails that take you through remains of the Sugarite Coal Camp. The park burned in a fire, called Track Fire. The area is scorched, especially the dry creek bed that I spoke of earlier. I’m sure in a few years it will become a dangerous place to hike around.

This was our first trip without our old man, Cheyenne. It was very sad for us 🙁   Cheyenne will be missed with all of our hearts, and will be remembered by his family. Because of his love for the mountains, camping, and all things outdoors, we decided we would spread his ashes every time we headed out with the Airstream.

Peace to all.

Sweet Cheyenne.

Thorns from hell, Sugarite Canyon State Park.

Tilda

Happy birthday Ville!

Bird watching at Lake Alice, across the street from the campground, Sugarite Canyon State Park.

Dry creek bed behind campsite, Sugarite Canyon State Park.

Dry creek bed behind campsite, Sugarite Canyon State Park.

Seeds from hell, Sugarite Canyon State Park.