Lakes, Petroglyphs, Lava and Food

So, we felt that we had sufficiently seen both the National Parks, so we started our trip north-ish the next day. I saw “north-ish” because we detoured a bit. And, we saw some very cool stuff, which I will cover later.

Petroglyphs

We started out heading to Bottomless Lakes State Park, which for me is probably more nostalgic than it is actually worth the side trip. 

Pretty, but ...

It is one of the places my family visited on our 1958 summer vacation that imprinted so much on me, probably starting my wanderlust. 

I visited it a few years ago -- click here to read.

It was, again, quite windy. 

As we neared the park – which you better have GPS for because you won’t see a sign until you are there – we encountered birds I had been trying to find: a flock of Long-Billed Curlews and a White-Faced Ibis.

I pulled over, struggled out of the car. Did I say it was quite windy? And was immediately assaulted with a gust. I got ONE picture before the wind sent the birds flying out of range.

We never saw them again

Bottomless Lakes State Park
Established in 1933, Bottomless Lakes State Park is about 15 miles southeast of Roswell. It has nine small, deep lakes along the eastern escarpment of the Pecos River valley. The escarpment is an ancient limestone reef, similar to the limestone mountains at Guadalupe Mountains. Caves formed within the limestone, and as the river eroded the escarpment, the caves collapsed, leaving behind several deep, almost circular lakes known as cenotes.

A cenote

The cenotes range in depth from 18 to 43 feet; The bigger lakes -- Lea and Lazy Lagoon both reach 90 feet deep.

Lea Lake

Most of the nine lakes are almost completely surrounded by cliffs, with the exception of Lea Lake and Lazy Lagoon. 

Lea Lake has a large, sandy shoreline on the western side and tall cliffs on the eastern side. It is the only lake where swimming is allowed. 

It has a beach, picnic area, playground and concessions. When I first went there, there was also a swimming pool. But, it was damaged in a flood years ago and removed.

But, the picnic area right by the lake each have a little hollowed-out area that is almost like a private shallow pool connected to the bigger lake.

Clear water

The lakes are fed by underground water percolating through the rocks rather than by streams. 

The evaporation rate in the hot desert climate exceeds the rate rainwater refills the lakes, which can cause the water to become stagnant.

We drove around Bottomless Lakes, but the wind was really making doing anything else difficult. The Visitor Center was closed, so we decided to head on.

We had read about another potentially interesting place – Three Rivers Petroglyph Site – that wasn’t quite on a direct route home (in fact, it was very close to Alamogordo), but I am so glad we went.

Smoky Bear

The drive was pretty, up over some mountains, including passing by Smokey Bear Historical Park in Capitan, N.M. We stopped at a roadside sign, but not at the actual park, which is right in town amidst a number of businesses that ALL have bear-related names.

Completed in 1979, Smokey Bear Historical Park honors a little bear cub that was found with burned paws after a nearby forest fire in 1950. The publicity surrounding his rescue inspired the face of wildfire prevention that we all love -- Smokey Bear. Note, we always said, “Smokey THE Bear,” but correct usage is “Smokey Bear.”

After living in the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., for 26 years, Smokey died and was returned to Capitan to be buried at what is now the Smokey Bear Historical Park. 

Three Rivers Petroglyph Site
Three Rivers Petroglyph Site is also managed by the BLM and it’s really fantastic. 

There are over 21,000 petroglyphs in the park, many of which can be easily viewed from a mile-long round-trip trail that winds up a small hill and through piles of rocks decorated with all kinds of petroglyphs -- drawings scratched or chipped into the veneer of the rocks. 

The drawings are thought to have been created by the Jornada Mogollon (pronounced mug-gee-on) people between about 1000 and 1400 AD.

The number and concentration of petroglyphs make this one of the largest and most interesting rock art sites in the Southwest.

A great find!

The petroglyphs include many images …

CW: Mask, Eagle, Warrior, Sunburst and Roadrunner

CW: Man, sunburst, eyes/Owl, Lizard and Man, Bird, Person

CW: Ram, hand, Spider or Lizard, Ram pierced by arrows

The views are quite pretty from the trail. You can even see White Sands off in the distance.

White sands is to the left, where there is a slight white haze on the surface

Another short trail begins on the east side of the picnic area and leads to a partially excavated prehistoric village. We didn’t have time to visit that site. Maybe next time.

Three Rivers would be a fantastic place to take children. You could turn the hike into a scavenger hunt for specific designs. I imagine it is quite hot in the summer, which is why there is a nice shade shelter at the far end of the hike. We didn’t see any animals, but it would be wise to watch for snakes.

Panoramic

Oh, a note about the BLM. They are “transitioning” their website in what appears to be a disastrous migration. All BLM site links are broken, so navigating to park information is tricky. I could find information on Three Rivers ONLY on recreation.gov. This follows a pattern. I don’t think BLM really cares if you visit their sites the way the NPS does.

Valley of Fires

A new one for us

The day was waning and we needed to get on the road. We decided to stay in Los Alamos so that we could visit Bandelier National Monument on our way home. So, off we headed. 

On the way, we drove through another BLM site: Valley of Fires Recreation Area. 

This area showcases part of the Carrizozo Malpais, a large lava flow that came from Little Black Peak, which erupted about 5,200 years ago. 

The highway crosses over the flow, which encompasses solidified pahoehoe (pronounced paw-hoey-hoey) and aa (pronounced ah-ah) lava. 

Lava; Photo: Caty Stevens

Pahoehoe has a smooth, billowy, undulating or ropy surface due to the movement of very fluid lava under a congealing surface crust and aa has a rough or rubbly surface composed of broken lava blocks. 

Rough ground

The lava flow, while covered in a variety of desert plants, is still – even after more than 5,000 years – very definitely lava.

A bit more vegetation

There is a campground and trails in the area. A few years I visited El Malpais National Monument, another BLM site that showcases this massive flow (to read, click here). Malpais is a Spanish word that means “badlands.”

Dinner in Albuquerque
Now, we had to rush on because we wanted to take another shot at getting some good New Mexican food and we figured Albuquerque was our best chance. And, knowing what we knew, we had to make it by 8:00 p.m. We did, with time to spare. And, we ended up eating in a place that I tried to go to once when I was staying in Albuquerque. That’s the night I discovered NOTHING is open late.

Cocina Azul is casual but, OMG, how fantastic! I was not impressed with the chips (not made in-house) and salsa (one too mild, one too hot). 

Oh, oh, oh

But, after that, WOW! I had a “desebrada” enchilada: blue corn tortillas stacked with marinated beef and jack cheese, smothered in green and red chile. Fortunately, I also ordered sour cream. The red chile was hot. Seriously hot. Very hot. Hot. But, it was yummy. I had buttery rice and buttery squash on the side. 

More yummy. 

Icky beans

Caty had steak tacos. Also yummy. But, not the greatest beans. We like black beans, not borracho beans. 

There was, however, so much food in the main courses that the sides weren't really necessary. I found, however, that the rice and veggies were good foils for the super hot red chile.

And, for dessert, we had sopapillas like none I have ever had: light, airy, no icky sauces, no grease, no cinnamon sugar. Pure perfection with just a little honey. We were too enthralled to take a picture!

If you go to Albuquerque, go to Cocina Azul. Before 8:00 p.m.

Then, a drive to Los Alamos in the dark. I guess I had forgotten that Los Alamos is reached via winding mountain roads. Still, we arrived and slept before our last day on the road.

Trip date: April 6-10, 2017