Tag Archives: Geography of the United States

The Last Pack Trip Into The Pecos Wilderness

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On Friday 7 September 2012 4 friends and I rode horses into the Pecos along with 2 pack horses and 1 one guide. We rode about 8 miles up to East Pecos Baldy. The horses were provided by Tererro General Store and Riding Stables at a cost of approximately $1250 (not including tip). The pack horses carried each of our back packs at about 30-40lbs each and 70lbs of food (with an undermined but significant amount of that weight in alcohol). Since the Pecos Wilderness is a Wilderness, no motorized vehicles are allowed.

Tererro General Store Riding Stables

Tererro General Store Riding Stables

The Tererro General Store typically takes hunting parties into the Pecos but we not interested in hunting, just a way to get into the mountain without having to carry 40lbs plus packs 8 miles in. However we were hiking out, all downhill and theoretically with less pack weight. What could go wrong?

Which brings me to the title of the article. Apparently there has been an overall reduction of horse packing business for the Tererro General store and insurance is not only becoming more expensive but harder to get as insurance companies don’t want to cover horse packing. Therefore this will be their last year of providing these trips and they plan to sell off the stables and horses. We weren’t the last trip up for the horses as they had a few more hunting parties going up but we were near to being the last trip.

Horses packed and waiting for riders

Horses packed and waiting for riders

This is the first time I have rode a horse since I went to the Philmont Scout Ranch over 20 years ago. I was a little nervous that the horse I was going to be riding would take one look at me and decide to ignore all my commands. There was nothing to be nervous about. The horses, mine was name Sampson, has been on this trip many time and knew the way better than I did and was used to newbies trying to drive. There was very little for me to do except keep him from running into the other horses when they suddenly stopped and from taking any shortcuts that we might get stuck in (they aren’t all that smart sometimes).

My horse was named Sampson

My horse was named Sampson

We start the trip about 10am New Mexico time and arrived at our destination 8 miles up the mountain about 12:30pm. The 8 mile ride took us through some forest, then to a large clearing with some grazing cattle.

The riding party

The riding party

Cattle with pointy things along the trail

Cattle with pointy things along the trail

We were back in forest when getting to our final destination.

Some fallen trees along the trail

Some fallen trees along the trail

The horses will be happy to get rid of us

The horses will be happy to get rid of us

It mostly rained the whole time so we had to come up with covered communal area where we could sit around the fire and not get soaked. There also wasn’t a lot of firewood, the area had been picked pretty clean. What little firewood we found was wet.

Campsite in the Pecos

Campsite in the Pecos

We spent time exploring the area near East Pecos Baldy. There are supposed to be big horned sheep in the area but all we came across was cattle and a few bow hunters on horseback also looking for sheep.

Pecos Baldy Lake

Pecos Baldy Lake

We were lucky to have a day of no rain where we were able to hike to the top of Ease Pecos Baldy.

Near East Pecos Baldy

Near East Pecos Baldy

The group (except the photographer) on top of Ease Pecos Baldy

The group (except the photographer) on top of Ease Pecos Baldy

People on a nearby peak

People on a nearby peak

Finally, we hiked out on 10 September 2012. While we ate and drank our way through most of our supplies we still managed to have quite a bit of weight on us on our way out. Making us wonder why we didn’t rent horse to take us out.

Hiking out

Hiking out

The enitire photoset can be viewed on the Flickr set “2012-09-07 Pecos Pack Trip“.

Where Is The Village At Rio Rancho?

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The Village at Rio Rancho goes here someday

The Village at Rio Rancho goes here someday

According to a Albuquerque Business First Article “Unser corridor bursting with retail, office activity” the Village at Rio Rancho was support to start “This Summer”. Since the article was written in May 2012 that would make it last summer. Currently all we have is a lot of cleared desert that will turn into atmospheric dust come this spring. The City of Rio Rancho only mentions this special tax deal from 2009.

Meanwhile down the road in Albuquerque “Construction starts on new Westside ABQ plaza“.

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Filmed In New Mexico: The Lost Room

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ThelostroomI saw the Lost Room expecting it to be some cheesy SciFi channel B movie. Instead I found the mini series has a good story, good acting and I couldn’t stop watching until I found out what happened at the end. From Wikipedia:

The series revolves around the titular room and some of the everyday items from that room which possess unusual powers. The show’s protagonist, Joe Miller, is searching for these objects to rescue his daughter, Anna, who has disappeared inside the Room. Once a typical room at a 1960s motel along U.S. Route 66, the Lost Room has existed outside of normal time and space since 1961, when what is only referred to as “the Event” took place.

It was completely filmed in New Mexico. In one scene that was supposed to take place in Las Vegas, NV a Albuquerque city bus drives by.

Urinating In The Jemez To Find Bigfoot

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Bigfoot

The species of bigfoot is so hard to find, but is apparently everywhere. Including the Jemez Mountians in New Mexico. From the Albuquerque Journal article titled “Bigfoot? In the Jemez? Perhaps“.

The New Mexico episode centered on a nighttime thermal video taken in the Jemez on an outing of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization in 2011. The TV team camped out in the Jemez in the same spot that the BFRO captured a figure lurking in the woods and tried to lure a sasquatch by howling and urinating to mark territory in hopes the apeman would move in to defend it.

Don’t Hit A Cow In Rio Rancho

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There are too many issues with cows in northern Rio Rancho. It surprises me that the owners of the cows aren’t more concerned with where the cows are. If they don’t care about potential car accidents with someone being harmed or killed, I would expect they would be concerned about what is their lively hood. I’m afraid that someone will die before something is done about it.

This letter to the editor of the Rio Rancho observer “If you hit a cow, make sure you have NMLB phone number to verify owners” documents one persons attempt to hold someone accountable.

I want to share the following information with my fellow Rio Rancho residents. On Sept. 20, 2010, about 8 p.m., I slammed into a cow on Unser Boulevard near Progress Road.
In 2010, there were 10 accidents involving cows and, luckily, none of us was killed. I’ve spent the last 2 years working to hold someone accountable, including the City of Rio Rancho, to keep residents safe, but to no avail.
Also, I’ve also done lots of research to help us. I contacted the New Mexico Livestock Board (NMLB) after my incident and gave the NMLB administrator the cow’s ear tag number that the Rio Rancho police officer retrieved after my incident; the administrator told me it was a King Ranch cow and that the “family should be sued for negligence.”
I took the King Ranch brothers to court but the administrator testified that she never told me it was a King Ranch cow and that the cow’s ear tag is not the identifier. The case was dismissed on Sept. 20, 2012 with still no one held accountable.
If you or someone you know has an incident involving a cow, ask the officers to contact the NMLB at 841-6161 to identify the cow by its brand; the NMLB is the only entity that can identify cattle. Also, Rio Rancho is a “fence out” area meaning that cattle owners have the responsibility to keep their cattle fenced out of our highways.
We only have ourselves to help with the cow situations; let’s keep passing valuable information to each other.

No Hockey This Winter At The Santa Ann Star Center

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The Santa Anna Star Center was built in Rio Rancho to primarily be a venue for the New Mexico Scorpions hockey team. Not only are the New Mexico Scorpions not playing there, the New Mexico Mustangs won’t be playing there either according the the Rio Rancho Observer “Mustangs ‘inactive’ for season“.

The New Mexico Mustangs, who called the Star Center home for the past two seasons of North American Hockey league competition, were officially “granted inactive status” by the NAHL and will not compete in the league in the 2012-13 season.

A ticket to a Mustangs’ game wasn’t exactly the hottest item in town: The team drew an average of 802 fans for each of its 29 home games in 2010-11 and then 721 fans for each of its 30 home games in the just-completed season.

The situation with the Santa Anna Star Center was covered by the New York Times in 2011. The company that convinced the city to build the center, Global Entrainment, went around the country getting a lot of cities to build similar arenas making promises that didn’t come true.

RIo Rancho Gets Sandoval County’s Problems

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A KOAT article “Animals Run Wild In Rio Rancho, Retired Officer Says” says that stray animals from the rest of Sandvoal County are being dumped in Rio Rancho.

“They’re either being brought by the citizens, who are dumping them in Rio Rancho, or they’re wandering in, and that’s just a burden in Rio Rancho,” he said.
Sandoval County leaders said the only animal control officer was transferred after he was involved in a criminal incident that was still under investigation.
Sheriff’s deputies were expected to continue to respond to certain animal control calls. Because they cannot transport animals, county leaders asked residents to take stray animals to local shelters to help with the problem.

The Confederate Flag Is Pretty, The Mexican Flag Is For Illegals

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Janie Maders owner of AJ’s Cycles in Phoenix AZ took down a Confederate Flag when the Arizona Republic asked about it, according to the azcentral article “Phoenix business owner takes down Confederate flag“. She only had it up because she thought it was “pretty”. She had other flags up too like one of Puerto Rico. She’s not Racist.

But she said she wouldn’t put up a Mexican flag. “I wouldn’t want illegals of any nationality coming to my store,” she said.

Two New Mexican’s Lost, 1 Killed Between Chandler And Albuquerque

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I first read the article on December 6th from azcentral.com “New Mexico couple missing after leaving Chandler” where Dana and Elizabeth Davis went missing driving from Chandler, AZ to Albuquerque, NM along US60. It’s something that caught my attention because I have driven that path many times.

On December 9th the news was not good as azcentral.com com followed up “New Mexico man recounts mountain ordeal that took life of wife“. On their way back they took a side trip to a “wildlife refuge near Socorro, N.M” which I assume is the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge and in the process got lost and ended up on a forest road in a snow storm and got stuck. They were trapped for 5 days and eventually decided to walk out but Elizabeth didn’t survive the walk out.

Some Company To Build Fake City In New Mexico

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Some Company I never heard of is going to build a fake city somewhere in the Albuquerque Metro area. the 20 square mile city will be used to… test technologies? Why they can’t do the same thing is a real city is beyond my understand of the press release.

Pegasus Global Holdings, an international technology development firm, is announcing plans to develop The Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation (The Center), a first of its scale and scope fully integrated testing and evaluation facility for new and emerging technologies. With offices in Washington, DC; Reston, Virginia; and London, UK, Pegasus Global plans to locate the privately owned, commercially operated facility in the State of New Mexico
The Center will resemble a mid-sized American city, including urban canyons, suburban neighborhoods, rural communities and distant localities. It will offer the only of its kind opportunity to replicate the real-world challenges of upgrading existing city infrastructure to that of a 21st Century smart city, operating within a green economy.