NM -– Sugarite Canyon State Park, 21-31 May 2012

 

 

We spent 10 fun, but windy days at Sugarite Canyon State Park, elevation 7,500 feet, near Raton NM.  We wanted a quiet and cooler place to stay over the Memorial Day weekend and we found it!

   

                                                                          34F on 28 May…brrr!  Temps averaged mid-40s to about 80F.

We left Storrie Lake and Las Vegas NM around 11:00am and headed north.  After a few hours up the highway, near Wagon Mound NM, it occurred to me that my dad and step-mom should have left Albuquerque earlier that morning and that they should be headed north up the same highway.  After some quick math, I realized that we should be close to each other on I-25.  I called, and sure enough, we were just a mile apart!  We slowed a little, they sped a little and within 10 minutes, they passed us!  We both pulled over at the next rest area and discussed plans to have lunch in Raton and for my parents to follow us up to Sugarite State Park to camp for a few days… what a pleasant surprise!  After a good lunch in Raton, we headed into the hills.     

    

    Passing my parents on I-25…a big surprise!

We made reservations for the small campground about five months ago and that wasn’t quick enough!  The place was nearly full and the only way we could make it through Memorial Day weekend was to reserve two sites.  The first had full hook ups but the other was a tent site with no hook ups.  When we made the reservations we weren’t sure the tent site would work but were confident we could figure something out.  Upon arrival, we told the campground hosts about our dilemma.  They said that if we could maneuver into the tent site, it was ours.   

On move day Arleen expertly maneuvered the truck and trailer with my guidance.  It was a long back up approach with a few obstacles and a couple of tough turns for our 52 foot long rig.  After about 45 minutes, Arleen backed the trailer perfectly into the tent spot where we would stay three nights before moving back to a full hook up site.  That’s my girl!

The campground was extremely peaceful, with the exception of a few very short periods of intrusive music and partying around camp fires.  There were rumors about a bear roaming the campground, but we didn’t see them there.  There were decent hiking trails that led both ways out of the campground.  Lake Alice, a five acre pond, was across the street.  Usually it is full of trout, but last year’s fire caused a total fish kill and it hasn’t been stocked since.  Speaking of the June 2011 fire, lush green grass and colorful flowers blanketed the ground throughout much of the burn area.  The contrast between the burned trees and new vegetation was striking and proved how resilient Mother Nature can be.  The state park is beautiful and straddles the New Mexico, Colorado border.

    

On our first afternoon, we got settled into the campground, had dinner and did a quick, but tough hike above Lake Dorothy, just across the border in Colorado.   The meadows had a bunch of blooming flowers.  The delicate purple irises were especially pretty.  On our way back down the steep hill, Lake Dorothy was flat calm.  The mirrored reflection of the partially burned trees was mesmerizing. 

Wild irises in the meadow above Lake Maloya

     

Reflection on Lake Dorothy

History of Sugarite Canyon…

Coal mining began in Sugarite Canyon in 1908 and shut down in 1941.  The population in the pretty valley ranged from 400 to 1,000 people.  A small community popped up with a post office, general store, doctor office, and school.  All that remains today are foundations of buildings and some rusting mining equipment.  Here are some of the interesting things we learned about the camp…

- The doctor treated patients in a dentist chair.  Alcohol was the chosen painkiller.

- If a miner was injured or killed, the company considered it his fault. 

- There was no “sick leave” so miners often worked when they were sick or injured.

- During the mine’s most productive period, it produced 650 tons of coal per day.

- A “brakeman” controlled the decent of six full coal cars by muscling a lever and pulley system. 

- Eleven miles of tunnels were dug into the hills.

- When the camp closed in 1941, some homes were moved to Raton and nearly everything else salvaged and used elsewhere. 

   

   

                      Building foundations of the old mining town

 Remains of pulley system used to move coal cars to the “tipple” where coal was sorted by size.

Great fishing on Lake Maloya…

We were in the right place at the right time…a rare occurrence!  This spring, Lake Maloya got its usual trout stocking plus all of the fish that would have gone to Lakes Dorothy and Alice.  Additionally, a couple of extra thousand were stocked for the Memorial Day weekend fish derby.  In all, 60,000 to 70,000 hungry trout were swimming in the relatively small, 120 acre, Lake Maloya!  For the first time ever, we got to see fish being stocked and even watched as a hundred trout were tagged for the derby.  I bought a $15 derby ticket and hoped to catch a tagged fish that could be worth $400, $600, or $1000!  Needless to say that once the derby started, I spent most of my time fishing.  Did we catch fish?  Did I catch a tagged fish?  Did it pay off?   

       

         Fish about to be tagged                          Tagging the fish                        2,000 trout getting stocked

Wanda: “Tom, I have a fish on!” Tom jumps up to help.

   

   “Woops…Let me get the chair first!”                              “Alright, I got the fish now”

At last, Wanda with her fish

   

              Kayak fishing Lake Maloya                                                        A 3-inch perch

       

Arleen’s dinner

Story time…Windy day on Lake Maloya…

The winds were expected to be 60mph on day one of the fishing derby.  I figured I’d be able to fish from the kayak till mid-morning when they were expected to pick up.  When I shoved off at 6:00am, the winds were already 15-20mph, but manageable.  I paddled straight across the lake into a protected cove and had a ball catching fish after fish.  I dropped anchor to prevent the occasional wind gust from pushing me around.  Around 9:00am I needed to take a break and relieve my about-to-burst bladder.  I pulled on the anchor rope… it didn’t budge.  I pulled harder… poop… the anchor was stuck!  I was only 50 feet from shore and had 100 feet of anchor rope so I slowly paddled directly to shore, letting rope out as I went.  After I finished my business on shore, I got back in the kayak, and pulled myself back to the anchor.  By now the wind was roaring through the tree tops and the main part of the lake was being whipped into a froth.  I started exploring my options:  1) fish some more; 2) paddle straight across the lake to the truck; 3) paddle along the shore and along the dam back to the truck hoping for weaker winds and smaller waves; or 4) portage kayak and gear to the dam, hike to to the truck, and drive to the kayak.  At the time I was safe in the cove, catching fish, and there was a derby going on so I just stayed put.  After two more hours, the fishing started to slow so I tried to pull anchor again... same result as last time.  Then I paddled back to shore and heaved with all my might to free it.  The anchor rope and knot were stronger than I was… I had to cut the rope.  As I paddled out of the cove the winds were easily 50mph and the waves 2-3 feet.  I could handle the waves, but wasn’t sure about those nasty winds.  I slowly nosed into the winds at the point.  Within a minute or two, the winds turned me and I had little control.  The winds won… paddling back was not an option!  That left me with option “4”.  So I paddled back into the cove until I found a spot where I dragged the kayak and gear up the steep bank to the trail.  I grabbed all of the gear, kayak paddle, fishing rod, kayak seat, life jacket, etc, and walked it about 100 yards up the trail.  I walked back for the kayak and walked it about 200 yards up the trail.  I went back for the gear and repeated this process for roughly a 1/4 mile.  The 60 pound kayak beat me up as the wind continuously pushed it right and left, bouncing it off my hip.  I finally made it to the dam, stowed the kayak, grabbed the gear and hoofed it across the dam to the truck.  The winds were funneling up the valley and over the dam at 60-70mph.  I was pushed all over the dam as the wind gusts would catch the  paddle and nearly push me over the edge… it was brutal!   When I drove the truck across the dam to the kayak, thankfully someone helped me heave the kayak up on top of the truck.  I couldn’t have done it by myself in the strong wind.  I got back to the trailer around noon and, sure enough, Arleen was worried.  I got a good workout and never felt that I was in over my head… another interesting adventure!

Winds picking up on Lake Maloya

Hikes…Little Horse Mesa and Wapiti

The highlights of the Little Horse Mesa Trail were the view and walking across the top of the flat, grass-covered mesa with lots of blooming flowers.

The highlight of the Wapiti Trail hike was all of the wildlife.  We saw about 10 wild turkeys, five or six deer, two elk, and a big black bear.  The bear crawled out of a small pond, shook itself off, climbed a little ways up the hill, turned, and looked at us for a minute or two.  It was a cool experience!  (Note…during our 10-day stay, we saw five black bears!)

   

                              Little Horse Mesa hike                                             Crazy calves and blooming cactus

   

   

                  The rim rocks on Little Horse Mesa                                              Tiny cactus bloom

On top of Little Horse Mesa… Lake Alice on the left

    

                                                                                                        One of about 10 wild turkeys we saw

Big black bear checking us out

Following the bear on Lake Maloya…

The last couple nights the wind finally died down and we kayaked the lake.  We both fished, but Arleen also spent time just looking around.  As it was getting dark one evening, I looked up and noticed a dark shape moving along the bank right behind Arleen…a bear!  She was focused on something else and didn’t even notice.  I yelled, “bear right behind you!”  The small, cinnamon colored black bear was going about its business and paid no attention to Arleen a hundred feet away in the kayak.  She grabbed the camera and I slowly paddled her direction.  For the next twenty minutes we shadowed the bear along the lake’s bank, staying about a hundred feet away.  Arleen shot ahead to alert anglers that had no idea the bear was moving their way.  Reactions from folks along the bank varied from panic to curiosity.  The bear worked its way to a crowded fishing area right about the time a Park Ranger arrived.  Folks jumped in their cars and the Ranger fired five or six paintballs at the bear…it skedaddled!  It was really cool to follow the bear along the bank.  Other than a couple of quick glances, the bear paid no attention to us.  We were just part of its surroundings as we silently sliced through the water.  We’ve had other experiences like this in our kayaks and each time we felt we were part of the scene, and not intruding.  Whether it was a momma black bear and cubs playing on a beach in Prince William Sound, or sea otters popping up within a few feet of us in Prince William Sound, or seals surrounding us in Puget Sound, each moment was special and will forever be etched in our memory.  Moments like these are why we live the way we do.

 

HUMMINGBIRD REPORT

Like most RVers, we have hummingbird feeders.  This summer we’ll keep track of the various kinds and try to post pictures.  Here is “Hummingbird Report” number two:

Between the two campground hosts, there were six or seven hummingbird feeders.  Right away we noticed the high pitched, rapidly moving buzz that was the unmistakable sound of busy hummingbirds.  Sure enough, just minutes after putting our feeders out, we had visitors!  In addition to the black-chinned that we first saw in Sedona, pretty broad-tailed hummingbirds visited us at Sugarite.

- Number of Types: 2

- Names:  Black-chinned, Broad-tailed

   

Male broad-tailed hummingbirds

   

Female broad-tailed hummingbird

 

WHERE WE GOT OUR MAIL 

Trinidad, Colorado Post Office

 

So…Did we catch fish?  YES!  We averaged about 20 a day.  The average size was 10-11 inches.  The biggest were 15 inches.  We heard of a few fish in the 20-24 inch range being caught.  Initially, we could get a nibble almost every other cast, but it got tougher each day.  The fish were harassed heavily once the derby started.  Flies were most effective for us.  The best flies proved to be a size 10 green and black lake leach and a size 16 bead head gold-ribbed hairs ear nymph.  Due to persistent winds, most of the time we fished from the bank.  We kept seven or eight decent trout for a few great meals.

So…Did I catch a tagged fish?  YES!  I caught it Memorial Day morning fly-fishing from the dam with a size 16 gold-ribbed hairs ear nymph.

   

See the tag?  That could be a $1000 fish!!

So…Did it pay off?  I won a battery powered LED lantern and a small flashlight and multi-tool.  It’s certainly worth the $15 derby ticket and will make a good gift for my nephew.  Thirty-nine tagged fish were caught so I had a 1 in 13 chance of winning.  I never got the call…maybe next time…sigh…

My lantern set prize.  The cash drawing is 3 June… fingers are crossed

We really enjoyed Sugarite Canyon State Park.  There was a variety of good hikes and some interesting history.  There were three lakes to explore and the trout fishing was excellent.  We lucked into the fishing derby and had a good shot to win some cash.  We saw wildlife every day.  In fact, we haven’t seen that many bears since we left Alaska!  The campground was pleasant and quaint, and facilities were well maintained.  After spending day after day fishing at the lake, the locals warmed up to me and shared all kinds of good info and stories.  We got to know a few Park Rangers and by the time we left, we knew most of the folks in the campground and may have made some lasting friendships with campground hosts Allen and Phyllis, retired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Gary, and brand new full time RVers, Keith and Phyllis, who lived in a tiny “R-Pod” trailer.  This place was special and we will treasure the memories.

Next we go to Pueblo CO.  I’ll help my Dad with a few things and he’ll help me do projects in the trailer.  We will visit family spread between Castle Rock, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo.  Arleen will also drive up to Montana to visit her mom.  It will be a busy six days before I head back into the hills, Eleven Mile State Park, by myself.

 

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