Los Alamos

Got a change in the weather. Yet we took off to see the Jemez State Monument, which is a ruin of an old Spanish mission 45 miles from Bandelier, but dark clouds appeared from the west and when the rain turned to SNOW, we called it quits and turned around. Instead we went to Los Alamos. In town we found the Bradbury Museum, which depicts most of what is worth to know about the LANL, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Wars the U.S. has fought incl, WWII.  Here, in Los Alamos, the first Atomic Bomb was developed. When the tests were finished on the Trinity Site north of Alamogordo, two bombs, FAT MAN and LITTLE BOY were built here, which in turn were dropped onto the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and killed about 300.000 people.  But it also ended WWII.

While we were inside, the dark clouds had been replaced by gleaming sunshine. To us Los Alamos is not a very pretty city with an apparently young population. Los Alamos is build on the Mesas along the Alamos Canyon. Huge areas are closed off for the public as scientists are concocting new weapon systems for the various wars the U.S. is involved in. Not our cup of tea at all.

April 08

Taos,New Mexico

We are leaving Bandelier Nat’l Monument. Our destination is Taos. We want to find a VERIZON store as we need to replace our charger for the MIFI Internet-unit.

I have visited this area two times earlier and fell in love with the beautiful landscape out her. The drive leads us on route NM 522 along the Rio Grande, which actually is not very grand, except you think of the general scenery.  We are lucky and find the VERIZON store and get a new charger. Because of the difficulty of finding in-town parking for the rig we leave on Hwy 64 towards the Rio Grande River Gorge, which can be viewed from the bridge  650ft. above the canyon.

Along the way we find the Monte Bello RV-Park. By now a strong wind is blowing from the South-West. We decide to stay for one night and drive back to town with the JEEP to walk the Adobe Old Town.

Rio Grande, south of Taos

Mexican store front in Taos

High Sierra towards Taos

From Rio Grande Gorge Bridge at Hwy 64

Shopping arcade at the Historical Plaza, Taos

Taos is a nice city with an interesting architecture, and it has a reputation as a city of artists. What really sucks in Taos is the booming traffic through the center. It really robs this city of its charm. It's a daring undertaking to cross the streets as a pedestrian.


However, we do look around in a Mexican Store selling everything from rusty sculptures via pottery to woven carpets.

In the evening we try to figure out what to do the next day. The weather forecast is not good. Rain and even snow together with gusts of 55mph are predicted, and we are in mountainous terrain way up on a 7000ft. elevation.

We find out that if we leave by 6am next morning we might make it out of the storm center before it unleashes its power on us. Anticipating an early rise we retire at 9pm.

April 09

Quarter to 5am I am awake and make out of the bed. It’s still pitch dark, but that changes within the next 30 minutes. A faint pink shine appears in the east, when we are ready to leave.

Along CO Hwy 160 shortly before Walsenburg

We turn onto Hwy 522 which will lead us first through the mountains, then through the San Luis Valley to Ft. Garland at Colorado Hwy 160. We have decided that the route over the La Veta Pass is the quickest escape from the nearing storm.  Up on the pass we are rattled by mighty cross winds, but, except for a few rests of snow on the side, the road stays clear. 

Two and half hours after our early departure we reach Walsenburg at the I-25.  The winds are down again and we make good speed north.

We pass the City of Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Castle Rock and finally we see the outskirts of Denver. On the ringway 470 east we get to the I-70 and the turn-off to 44Ave in Wheat Ridge, where we find our Campground, the Prospect RV-Park.

Approaching Denver on I-25

We meet Nancy, the owner, in her office and she is overjoyed to see her old guests again. Pretty soon we are settled in besides the fence which separates us from the beautiful municipal Prospect Park. The sun is shining and it is very warm outside. So, after lunch we venture out with Molly into the park and have a wonderful walk along Prospect Creek, which gently rustles along through the forest.

Bandelier Nat'l Monument

April 06

Excavated walls of the great Pueblo

Another beautiful morning seems to be underway. Today we will explore the Frijoles Canyon. With the Visitor Center opening at 9am we have lots of time for our morning rituals, like f.ex. going with Molly.

Caves in a row

Shortly after 9am we are standing in front of the counter at the Visitor Center. Bea buys a trail guide for a Dollar and after first viewing the new film about the park on a big-size screen we are marching along the bottom of the canyon. Soon we see, high on the cliffs, the first caves. Matter of fact, the entire cliff wall seem to be one cave besides the other. It resembles a swiss cheese!! The first big site we stop at are the excavations of an ancient pueblo building. It sits right on the flat bottom of the canyon. People were not confined to the Frijoles Canyon. The walls of this pueblo belong to the village of TYUONYI.. (QU-weh-nee) This grand pueblo was 1-2 stories high and contained about 400 rooms for approx. 100 people. A central plaza contained 3 Kivas (KEE-vah) which were an important part of the ceremonial cycle and culture. As a community center it served not only for religious activities, but also for education and decision-making. Unlike in our secular world, there was no separation of church and state in Ancestral Pueblo culture. Religious beliefs were a thread woven throughout their daily lives.

Climbing ladders for inspection

We walk on through the spring-green forest and get up to the caves along the main loop hike. Many of these caves are blackened from the fires of the pueblo people. It is most intriguing to inspect these little caves, many of them only reachable by climbing ladders. Cave entrances are low, for the people living here were between 5ft for the average woman and 5ft 6in for the men. Their life expectancy was around 35 years. Arthritis and bad teeth were common ailments. Childbirth was a dangerous process, taking many womens life.

During the late 1400s the canyon population reached about 500.

It was the swiss-born Archeologist Adolph  F.A. Bandelier, who studied and described the Frijoles Canyon and the cliff dwellings, after people from the Cochiti Pueblo led him into their ancestors canyon.

“The Grandest Thing I ever saw”, 

was Bandeliers comment.

One of 4 ladders to Alcove house

Like wondrous kids we walk along these cliffs, climbing up ladders and down into the dark of the kivas, and I wish being able to enter a time machine watching the daily life of these busy people.

Along the bottom of the canyon flows a live-giving little creek, like it has done for hundreds of years. It must have been a life line for the ancient ones, when they tended to their small agricultural fields down here.

The return path is leading us along the bottom of the canyon through a mighty forest of standing pines. I expect some of these trees being as old as the cliff dwellings. Birds are singing here as they always have done during spring. A rare peace is streaming towards me. 

The ancient forest......

View from Alcove House

Just my size...or?

Cave Researchers....

From Chloride to Los Alamos

April 05

After several more days in Chloride without the convenience of having access to the internet, we were heading out on Tuesday. Our destination was Bandelier National Monument a little west of Los Alamos. Last time I saw this park was in 1998. So I am curious as to whether there’s been changes. After our visit to the Gila Cliff Dwellings this would be a follow-up on the cave-people.

After we had mastered the curvy and partially steep road out of Chloride we ran north on the big I-25 towards Albuquerque. With very little traffic on the interstate we made good progress. Had a lunch stop on one of the very few reststops along this stretch before we passed the big city. From Albuquerque to Santa Fe it is only one hour and pretty soon we saw the Adobe-town stretched out in front of us on the west side of the highway. We turned onto Hwy 285 and started looking for a gas station. Well, that proved to be quite a task. One was for small to pull into with our 59ft ri. The other had no diesel, a third one was not accessible because it was on the left side of the road and close to an intersection. So we drove on through Santa Fe, roundet a few corners and all of a sudden we found a gas station on the right side of the road and another motor home already at the pumps. We squeezed in and I had an immediate conversation with the other motor home owener. Pretty soon a pickup truck pulled in and another driver, he looked like a big ole-farmer,  started ranting about these sick gas prices. O-well….what can I say.

After spending way over $200.00 we were off again and leaving Santa Fe towards Los Alamos.

The entrance to Bandelier was some miles west of White Rock and we curved down on a road dropping down into a deep canyon.

After paying our entrance fee of $12.00 we started our look-out for a campsite..

Camp site No. 55

Obviously the campground was brand new, and not made for rigs our size. The curves were narrow and to be sure to create problems they had left trees standing right along the black top. But we got into our site No. 55 where we have everything we need.

After a nice supper I found out that there was firewood left from the previous visitor. So we could have a bonfire in the fire ring. Dusk came and went, the stars got out 

and we were what you can call HAPPY CAMPERS.

Happy Campers at Bandelier

Chloride New Mexico

March 30 2011

Finally we were up and about to see Chloride, New Mexico. Chloride, an old ghost town west of Truth or Consequenses, or T or C, as the locals say, was about to fall down when Las Cruces residents Don and Donna Edmund happened to see Chloride back in 1977 and decided to buy up a couple of properties starting a process of rehablitation and revival of the old mining town.

We arrived on a warm spring afternoon on March 29.  We were welcomed by the Edmunds and also got to know a work-kamping couple from Wisconsin. The place is unbelievably quiet and serene and my immediate reaction was: I could stay here for ever! 

But let’s get back to when it really started, shall we?

Chloride got its start in the late 1870s by accident. Harry Pye, a mule skinner was hauling freight through the area for the U.S.-Army, when he discovered som promising “float” of  silver. He had the rock assayed and found that it was rich in chloride of silver. Pye kept his find a secret until his army contract expired I 1879. He returned with two companions to Chloride Canyon and staked a claim. Within a few months the Pye party was attacked by Indians and Pye was killed.

The word got out that there was a rich silver strike and by 1880 Miners had flocked in and a tent City sprang up. The tent city evolved into permanent buildings and the town was named Chloride after the type of silver ore that was found there.

Only one year later, in 1881, Chloride boasted eight saloons, three mercantile stores, two butcher shops, a hotel, a boarding house, an assay office, livery stables, a candy store, a drug store, a law office, a Chinese laundry and a millinery store.

As with most boom towns of the west the town aquired a a rather rowdy reputation. Heavy drinking, bar fights and brawls made living too hard for some residents, mostly with families. These residents moved a couple of miles down the valley and started the town of Winston.

The former Monte Christo Saloon and dance hall, today serving as a gift shop, still features the result of what probably started as a bar brawl, as one of its windows out front bears the mark of a stray bullet, cracking the glas.

In 1881 the Pioneer Stage Line ran into Chloride, and the U.S. Government established a post office. In 1882 a newspaper, called the Black Range, was established by Mr. Beckett. It is also reported that the new city had at least one, if not several, brothels. The population grew to 3000 during its heyday. Because of the scarcity of women in town the “city fathers” offered a free building site to single women who chose Chloride as a place to live.

The same report states that a building site would be provided to the father of the first born child in Chloride, if it could be learned who the father was!!

Only ten years after, Chloride started on its decline. When the U.S. government selected gold as the monetary standard, Silver-mining towns all over the West began an immediate decline because the price of silver dropped so low, it wasn’t worth hauling out.

By 1900 Chloride had become a quiet little village, a haven for its retired residents and later,  thanks to the Edmunds, an interesting place to visit. 


For more infos visit:
www.pioneerstoremuseum.com and don't forget to call the Edmunds ahead of time, as there is only a limited capacity in the RV-Park.

Wall Street, Chloride with Monte Christo Dance Hall and Pioneer Store Museum

Pioneer  Store Museum was boarded up with all its contents when the owners left town. The entire inventory can still be seen

The old Monte Christo Dance Hall has been converted into a very nice gift shop

This house came from the old mining town of Grafton which does not exist anymore. But before it came to Chloride it was sitting in Las Cruces where it was supposed to mark the city's Centennial Celebration, but then was badly neglected.

It will become an interpretation center for all the old mining towns in the area many of which have long since disappeared.

If you want to visit Chloride, take Hwy 52 from I-25 west of Truth or Consequences. Chloride is 2 miles beyond the town of Winston. The Edmunds run a Mini RV-Park (5 sites) with full hook-ups. They also rent out a cabin to you.

This town is brim full of history and you would want to hear it all from the Edmunds.