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Our Route Across the Country – Part 12

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Our year long road trip continues as we pack in as many national parks and natural wonders as we can across the USA! We left Santa Fe, NM and headed through Colorado for more spectacular sights throughout the Rocky Mountains on Part 12 of our cross country route. Our route summary and map are below!

If you’ve missed any earlier segments catch up with links to our routes and travel highlights here:

Next up…Colorado!

Part XII
June 1 – 10, 2016

Our drive from Santa Fe to Colorado was somewhat unexpected. As we descended from the mountains to the flat landscape of northeast New Mexico, it reminded us of Scotland. There were heavy clouds close to the ground, sporadic greenery, long stretches of empty road and occasional livestock dotting the vast open fields around us.

We enjoyed the early morning drive and celebrated as we crossed the state line into Colorful Colorado! Colorful indeed. Purple mountains, green trees, blue skies, white puffy clouds and red rocks.

We traversed Colorado from south to north, following along the east side of the Rocky Mountains. Our first base was in Manitou Springs, just outside of Colorado Springs, where we visited Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak and Royal Gorge. From there we went a little further north, near Castle Rock where we visited a very dear friend (Kelly!!!!!) and explored the nearby hiking trails and also caught up on a backlog of Destination Tree orders. From there, we continued north and based ourselves outside of Fort Collins at Horsetooth Reservoir, which was absolutely gorgeous. From here we also visited Rocky Mountain National Park and the small town of Estes Park, also the location of The Stanley Hotel. (Yes, THE Stanley Hotel, Stephen King’s inspiration for The Shining…you better believe Matt will have a blog post about THIS!)

There is really so much to see and do in Colorado, and we packed in as much as we could in a short period of time. We would have loved to spend more time here, but we decided to fit in what we could and continue north to Wyoming where we plan to spend time at Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks before the height of summer crowds.

Our driving route through Colorado is below…click here for pictures and highlights of Colorful Colorado!

Tips: Zoom in and out on the map, and move the map around to get a better look at the route. Or click “View Larger Map” below to get an even better view.

New Mexico. Not Really New – Not Really Mexico.

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I saw this saying on a bumper sticker while in New Mexico and laughed out loud.

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Because it’s true, right?! But I never consciously gave that much though to the name “New Mexico” before. To be honest, I never actually gave much thought to New Mexico at all. I hardly knew anything about it. Fortunately, Matt did. He had a long bucket list of New Mexico destinations he was interested in. And fortunately, we’re on a year-long road trip discovering and exploring our beautiful country. Turns out, my ignorance has transformed into a true appreciation of the natural wonders of New Mexico. It’s not really New. It’s not really Mexico. But it is really awesome. And here’s why.

White Sands National Monument

Holy Moly. I did not know this place existed. Did you? Well, maybe you did if you watch the Today Show, because they were there a few days after we were! We were amazzzzed by the powdery white sand flanked by purple mountains and blue skies.

Although, per usual, we arrived early in the morning because the sun is BLAZING hot. I’m not wearing long sleeves and pants because it’s cold. I paired those with a hat, glasses AND sunscreen because I was sure my skin was going to turn crispy.

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Dogs love sand dunes. At least Lucy does. She had the best day of her life running up and down the dunes like a crazy dog. Dobie thought it was fun for two runs and then he wanted a nap.
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No words. Just amazement.
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We were here! And we are so grateful to have experienced such a beautiful and special place.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

This place is amazing. And it may seem like it’s out in the middle of nowhere, but that’s probably because it is. But it is SO WORTH IT. I would never have guessed that underneath the Chihuahuan Desert existed over 119 caves (that we know of…who knows how many more could possibly exist).

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Carlsbad Caverns and Crazy Blue Skies.

We took a self-guided tour down the 1.25 mile Natural Entrance trail which descended more than 750 feet to an enormous cavern known as “The Big Room” where another 1 mile trail loops around an enormous cavern which Will Rogers described as “The Grand Canyon with a roof over it”. Yeah, that’s pretty accurate. 3.5 miles isn’t a very long hike, but the decline and incline in and out of the cave makes this a worthy workout trek.

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The natural entrance to Carlsbad Caverns…and there’s little ole’ me to help show the scale of this steep switchback path that goes down and down and down…

Each evening, hundreds of thousands of Brazilian free-tailed bats leave the caves to search for food (bugs!). However, they return to the caves before dawn, and since we were there early in the morning, we did see several bats still returning. We figured they were the teenagers who were out past curfew, sneaking in late and hoping no one noticed…

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And here we go…goodbye natural light, time to do some cave exploring!
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The caverns are absolutely massive, and while the trail is paved, your shins and toes feel the brunt of the downhill descent, and the whole way down, you’re conscious of the fact that you’re going to ascend all the way back up to get back out!
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iPhones can take some pretty great pictures. They cannot take pictures worth a darn inside a cave though. So, to help show the gorgeous formations inside Carlsbad Caverns, this professional photo of Doll’s Theater, a feature inside The Big Room at Carlsbad CAverns (Credit: NPS Photo/Peter Jones) does a pretty darn good job.
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As if an incredible hike down and up out of Carlsbad Caverns wasn’t amazing enough, on our drive out of the park we drove past a family of desert Bighorn Sheep! They were so cute!

Santa Fe

Santa Fe is a beautiful city with a small town vibe. It’s full of pueblo style architecture, museums, art galleries, and has no shortage of restaurants featuring authentic New Mexican cuisine and their famed red and green chile, both FULL of flavor. Sounds pretty wonderful already, but an added appeal is the opportunity for exploration in the mountains and wilderness surrounding this city already perched at 7,000 feet.

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Santa Fe is full of beautiful churches and architecture, including the Saint Francis Cathedral, built in the late 1800s.
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A beautiful and unique element outside of the cathedral was this labyrinth (added in 2003). We learned that labyrinths were often built into the floors of medieval cathedrals and that this one is built in the style of one in Chartres, France.

We loved the symbolism of this stone path, “The Labyrinth’s path is like the path of life. There are twists and turns, feelings of being lost, encounters with others on your path, the thrill of accomplishment at the center, and sometimes a flash of insight before returning.” And honestly, it’s just fun to walk the narrow, winding path, feel the warmth of the sun on your back, and smell the wafting spring blossoms in the breeze.

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Take a deep breath and inhale the sweet smell of fresh blossoms.
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Strolling along Canyon Road there is no shortage of beautiful galleries and local artisans.

Our favorite stop along Canyon Road? Wiford Gallery. We were literally hypnotized by their gorgeous wind art.

Totally mesmerized by the enchanting wind art at @wifordgallery! #destinationtreeontheroad #santafe #santafenm #canyonroad

A video posted by Destination Tree (@destinationtree) on

Chaco Culture National Historic Park

CHACO CANYON! This was a biggie on Matt’s bucket list, and I was fully unprepared for the beauty and ancient architecture preserved here. There weren’t just ancient ruins, there were MASSIVE ancient ruins. Ruins you could wander through for hours or days, getting lost in a labyrinth of doorways, rooms and buildings. A self-guided tour brochure gave some explanation, which seemed mostly speculation, on the way of life of the Pueblo culture. Imagination was better at filling in the possibilities of how they built these massive structures and lived in this barren land.

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Chaco!! We arrived!! It was quite a journey just to get here, and after a long, bumpy dirt road we had to hop out for an arrival pic 🙂
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Ruins so enormous, they don’t fit in the frame of the picture…need some scale? Look at those tiny people in the center/right of the ruins, and then imagine building these walls, circles and structures thousands of years ago…

 

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On one of the many hiking trails in and around the ruins.
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The exterior ruins of what was truly a labyrinth of rooms and doorways inside.

The (tiny) doors and rooms go on and on and on…

A 360 degree view helps do Chaco Canyon justice…

Bandelier National Monument

Less than an hour drive from Santa Fe is Bandelier National Monument. If you’re like me, when you hear “monument”, you may think of some kind of statue or single structure (i.e. The Statue of Liberty). However, as I’ve learned on this year long road trip, a national monument is similar to a national park, just a different designation, and isn’t just a single “monument” but can be any particular area that is protected, owned and managed by the federal government. (Bonus: Our national park pass is valid at all National Monuments, Historic Sites, etc….so if you think there are a lot of national parks to visit, just imagine how much bigger that list is when you add all the other protected areas that are part of the NPS!).

Ok, probably more than you may have wanted to know about parks vs monuments, but back to this monument in particular, Bandelier National Monument is actually OVER 33,000 acres of protected land.  This area is protected for a good number of reasons, one of which is the incredible natural beauty. We hiked through huge canyons, past towering flat topped mesas, and amidst towering trees. We are tree huggers at heart and after the desert landscape in southern New Mexico, we were thrilled to be among tall trees again in the mountains of Northern New Mexico.

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The hike to Alcove House was a gorgeous path through towering Ponderosa Pines!

While the natural beauty is reason enough to protect this beautiful area, the other primary reason is the 11,000+ year old history and architecture from the Pueblo people who left behind petroglyphs, cave dwellings and structures built from volcanic tuff blocks.

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That’s Alcove House waaaaay up there. See the all the ladders and little people on the left? That’s how you get up there!
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Start at the bottom and keep climbing! Multiple ladders and narrow pathways get you to the top of Alcove House at Bandelier National Monument.
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Matt peeked into a few cave dwellings that were technically off the trail…get back over here!!
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Cave dwellings and petroglyphs along the sides of the cliffs were fascinating.
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Bandelier Selfie! 😉
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Pueblo block structures and cave dwellings to the left, and more ruins off to the far right…and blue skies and puffy clouds all around.

Perhaps one of the most incredible things about our visit to Bandelier, was that we explored a tiny sliver of the 33,000 acres. This particular canyon was just one area with some short hikes, but there are over 70 miles of trails throughout the entire park with more canyons, rivers, mesas and petroglyphs to be explored.

Jemez National Recreation Area

After spending most of the day in Bandelier, we decided to take a scenic road trip through Jemez National Recreation Area to loop around and back to Santa Fe. It was shockingly varied in its scenery and beauty. Valle Grande, an enormous valley formed by a volcano over a million years ago, was a misty and ethereal landscape.

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Those mountains in the distance aren’t mountains…they’re actually the other side of the rim of the volcano, and everything in between was the center of the volcano.

From there the landscape continued to drastically change. At the Las Conchas trailhead we felt like we had been transported to the Pacific Northwest! This was NOTHING like what we expected to see in New Mexico!

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High above the desert, in the mountains near Santa Fe, we were transported to the Pacific Northwest with these towering pines, magical fog and green edged river!

We continued through the mountains alongside rivers, past hot springs and stopped for a quick hike to explore this waterfall cutting through the rock formations.

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A powerful little river…cutting a hole right through the rocks.

Before visiting New Mexico, I would have thought it was all dry, desert terrain. Obviously, not true. However, the real surprise was the wide variety and contradiction of landscapes. We traversed flat land that stretched as far as the eye could see and crossed tall mountains covered in ponderosa pines. We wandered across white sands, ancient ruins, river carved canyons and beauty beyond measure. New Mexico. Not Really New. Not Really Mexico. But really special.

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We drove a lot of NM miles just like this…beautiful in it’s own right, and a lovely contradiction to the varied landscape across the state.

The beauty and natural wonders continue as we travel north through Colorado.

Cheers!

Kristin

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Don’t Mess With Texas

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Yeah, don’t mess with Texas. Why? Cuz it’s a pretty cool place. The saying may be a decades old ad slogan (an anti-littering campaign as a matter of fact), but it’s still representative of the attitude and size and greatness of Texas. Why is Texas so great? Um, BBQ for one. But I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the number one, best thing about Texas is Big Bend National Park. Argue with me all you want, or politely disagree and proclaim your own reason, but Big Bend is still #1 for me. And before this epic year-long road trip, we’d never even BEEN to Texas. (Airports don’t count by the way.) So whether or not you’ve been to Texas, or you’re just itching to see what we may have explored while we were there, scroll on through and check out all the highlights from Big Bend and Beyond. (Trust me, it’s way better than Bed Bath and Beyond…)

Big Bend National Park

It’s definitely an underhyped place. Possibly because it’s waaaaay off the beaten path in southwest Texas.

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Not sure if you can tell, but I was kind of excited to get here.

At first glance, Big Bend can look like a whole lot of nothing. But there are a lot of hidden gems here. Our appreciation of desert terrain continued, and also a great respect for the heat of the day. We strategically planned a lot of our hiking and sightseeing in the early morning and late afternoon to avoid the scorching heat of midday. And while there are paved roads throughout the park, we really enjoyed taking the Old Maverick Road on our trek out to Santa Elena Canyon. We kicked it into four-wheel drive (and reminisced a bit about the Apache Trail), braved the washboard and soaked in the solitude of the desert.

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Old Maverick Road was an unpaved, scenic path that took us on a desert adventure on our way to Santa Elena Canyon.

Santa Elena Canyon

As Old Maverick Road connected back with the park loop road, we approached Santa Elena Canyon. Just to preface, the Rio Grande cuts through and not only gives “Big Bend” it’s name, but carves some impressively huge and beautiful canyons in the mountains, while also creating a natural border between Texas and Mexico. The late afternoon sun was just starting to fall back behind the canyon and took our breath away as we neared.

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Approaching Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park…a HUGE crack between the mountain opens up a canyon between the US and Mexico where the Rio Grande winds through.

This was the perfect time of day to hike the trail that winds up and alongside the canyon, then back down to the river bank. The canyon towered thousands of feet above us on both sides and as we sweated from the heat and the climb, it suddenly felt like we walked into another world when we crossed a thermocline. The temperature dropped and instead of hot and 82 it was cool and breezy.

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By late afternoon, most people were heading back as we were heading out on the trail along Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park.
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Just soaking in the view of the Rio Grande and Santa Elena Canyon walls.
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Need some perspective to grasp how high those cliff walls are? How about that teeny tiny kayak for two?

And a quick little video to give you a 360 degree view. Don’t get dizzy, we moved a little fast.

After an incredible hike, we took the paved Ross Maxwell Scenic loop road back…our reward for a late afternoon hike? A freaking amazing sunset. Seriously. As we looped in and around beautiful rock formations and mountains the setting sun and reflecting colors confirmed Big Bend is a very magical place.

The Chisos Mountains

If someone had told me there are bear and mountain lions in Texas, I would have severely doubted the accuracy of the statement, and probably googled it to prove them wrong. Well, when the National Park posts several signs and includes it in the informational brochures, it’s true. No googling required (which is good, because there isn’t cell service in the park anyway).

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No foolin’. It’s always important to be respectful and aware of wildlife, but even more so when they’re bigger than you and you’re on their turf.

So, we kept an eager eye out for potential wildlife at all times when driving through the park, and especially as we drove the road through the Chisos Mountains toward the Chisos Basin. The best way to describe the drive through the Chisos? A video.

The drive is spectacular and continues to climb in elevation and snake around some hairpin turns before heading down into the Chisos Basin, literally a large circular area surrounded by mountains. Turns out it was a volcano millions of years ago, and the basin is the center of the volcano. A gap between the mountains on one edge creates a “window” to view the horizon and far off mountains in the distance. And one helluva “window” to watch the sunset.

The silhouettes of the Chisos surrounded us, and the “window” framed the colors of the sunset and the endless shades of blue of the far off mountains in the distance. Our pictures and videos failed to capture even a fraction of the color spectrum. Really. So, just take my word for it and go see this in person.

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I hate saying it, but it was so much prettier in person! We just can’t capture the true colors of a sunset…we’re going to keep trying though.

After another exceptional Big Bend sunset, we decided to drive out of the mountains before it got too dark. And just when we least expected it WE SAW A BEAR!!!

Boquillas Canyon

Our second canyon adventure was on the other side of the park at Boquillas Canyon. Not as tall as Santa Elena Canyon, but wider and just as beautiful. Just as before, we hiked up to a beautiful view of the Rio Grande, before we hiked down alongside the river at the base of the canyon.

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Capturing a shot of Matt capturing a shot of the Rio Grande from a high point on the short hike to Boquillas Canyon.
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Because when you stop and look around, this planet is pretty amazing.
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We enjoyed a shady morning hike alongside the Rio Grande in the Boquillas Canyon.

And just for good measure, a video to help share the majesty of this special place. Yes, those are donkeys across the Rio Grande in Mexico!

Nature’s Hot Tub

Another memorable adventure in Big Bend National Park were the hot springs. Not knowing how crowded they might get, we got up SUPER early and took a SUPER narrow and bumpy dirt trail back to the trail head for the springs.

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Oh, hey there! Fortunately, the narrowest parts were one-way only, which is good because there wasn’t anywhere to pull over…

We walked a short and easy trail past some old historic buildings and some tall cliffs alongside the Rio Grande to the Hot Springs.

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On our way to the Hot Springs in Big Bend National Park…

And then we arrived! It was nature’s hot tub! Steaming and hot, right next to the cold, gurgling Rio Grande! Crazy. We unzipped our pant legs, took off our hiking boots and socks and sat on the edge up to our knees in the 104 degree water. We really wanted to sit and soak all morning, but the thought of wearing wet swimsuits on our next hike changed our minds. In the chilly morning air, with the sun rising over the horizon, the hot water felt great.

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Nature’s hot tub is also nature’s infinity pool…at the right angle the edges melted and merged with the Rio Grande as the sun’s reflections peeked over the horizon.

Now, I hope you can see why Big Bend ranks as the number one best thing about Texas. Canyons, cliffs, sunsets, mountains, bears, hot springs, petroglyphs and more won us over. And if you’re still not convinced, maybe this exceptional Big Bend sunrise will help close the deal.

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We woke up before dawn on our departure day and as we drove through the park the most spectacular sunrise bid us farewell and reminded us to come back again soon. Good-bye, Big Bend!

So, that’s Big Bend. But I promised you Big Bend and Beyond. Well, Texas is soooo big I had to break that into Part 2…

Cheers! And don’t mess with Texas, y’all!

Kristin

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