New Mexico, Oct. 14, 2019

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Notes from the evening of October 14, 2019. 

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My dog, Max, and I are camped at Upper Lagunitas Campground in the Carson National Forest of New Mexico.

As I wait for my Columbus Day dinner of lasagna to cook, I am looking out my window at a million dollar view of the lake that lies below our campsite. In the far distance I can see the tops of the mountains that define the Continental Divide. Max is outside dashing from tree to tree and sniffing every blade of grass. He has already had his dinner of Old Roy dog-food.

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Our camp is high (about 10500 feet) so I had some altitude sickness yesterday afternoon when we arrived. The air is thin, so every task takes more energy and effort than it did back in the flat-lands of Texas. I still have a touch of altitude sickness but I believe I will be fine tomorrow. It always takes a couple of days for me to acclimate to the altitude.

The road, and I use that term loosely, that we followed to reach this spot, climbed through aspen and conifer forests alternating with broad parks and far vistas. This is New Mexico at it's very finest!

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I have been surprised at the number of people up here at this time of the year. Every four or five miles I would pass a camp. Some of them seemed to be semi-permanent. Then I came to a large corral filled with cattle and realized that it is the Fall roundup. Cowboys were working the cattle on horseback. They drive the cows to the corral, load them onto livestock trailers and haul them away. Many of the camps I saw were there for the cowboys.

Obviously there is no internet this far from the beaten path. I intend to take lots of photos and will post some of them later when my cellphone works again! It is so beautiful here, and there are so many interesting trails to explore, that Max and I may be here for quite a while! There is something here that speaks directly to the Soul!