If I Were Going...: Dark Skies Trip #1: Trinidad Lake and Black Mesa

The Milky Way at Trinidad Lake State Parks

The pandemic continued to rage and we continued to shelter in place, generally only venturing out to grocery shop or roam the prairies by car looking for birds and other critters to photograph (I will probably do a post on that after I have finished my trip posts). Scott was getting antsy so he planned a quick trip primarily aimed at Dark Sky photography. We set out for a few days of camping in our Little Guy teardrop camper with plans to avoid people, wear masks and look at the sky.

The Little Guy is nice, enclosed camping

But where to go?

We decided we needed to (somewhat) honor travel bans by staying (mostly) in Colorado. We planned to stop first in Trinidad Lake State Park in southern Colorado. Then head east to Black Mesa State Park just over the border in Oklahoma. We had been there a few months earlier and, even though the Park isn't very exciting, we wanted to give the Dark Sky another chance.

Then, looking at Black Mesa as a ZIG, we were going to ZAG west to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado before going home.

Highway of Legends & Trinidad Lake State Park

A lovely loop

Our first stop is just 130 miles south of us -- if you drive straight there. We didn't. After an early a.m. stretch down I-25, we veered off to loop around on The Scenic Highway of Legends, most of which is on State Highway 12. I had driven part of it before, but snow had closed the pass, making it impossible to complete the loop. This trip was in summer, so no issue there.

The Scenic Highway of Legends starts near Walsenburg and circles the Spanish Peaks, ending up right by our destination, Trinidad Lake State Park. The route (which changed slightly a few times over the years) was designated a National Forest Byway in 1988 and a Colorado State Byway in 1989.

The road travels through the San Isabel National Forest and crosses the 9,994-foot Cucharas Pass and the 11,248-foot Cordova Pass.

Highway of Legends

Home to geological, cultural and historic features, it gets its name because there are many legends about the area about the Native Americans, Spanish Conquistadors, pioneers, miners, trappers and ranchers who explored, visited and settled the region. For example, the Tarahumare Peoples believed the Spanish Peaks to be the place where all life emerged on Earth (that's a big one). Then, there's the story about Tom Tobin, who killed a couple of Mexican serial killers just over La Veta Pass and delivered their heads to the commander at nearby Fort Garland. Stories even exist about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday traveling along the Highway of Legends.

It was a wild and unruly area until the late 1800s when coal mining brought in immigrants from all over the world, creating stable -- and very multicultural -- communities and businesses. Remnants of that era can be seen along the Highway where old coke ovens still stand.

Cokedale coke ovens

Coke is the residue from bituminous coal that has been baked in airless ovens and is used as a fuel in the smelting of iron ore in blast furnaces. The ovens along the Highway converted coal from three local mines throughout the early 1900s, shutting down in 1947. Interestingly, unlike other mining communities in the state that were abandoned when the mines closed, the residents of the company town of Cokedale (clever town name, huh?) were given the opportunity to buy their company-owned houses. So, deciding to stay, they purchased homes and incorporated their community the same year the mines closed.

The Highway of Legends features unique geologic formations known as dikes -- sheets of rock formed in a fracture of pre-existing rock body. Up to 400 of these rock formations dot the route and are easily spotted as they extend up from the earth like spokes on a wheel.

The Highway is punctuated with dramatic geological features

Our drive took us past both industrial and natural landmarks. We took a wrong turn by following highway signs to Trinidad Lake State Park rather than our GPS, learning that there are several entrances and the roads may or may not (we think not) connect. If they do connect, it's via roads I wouldn't drive.

Just pay attention to which part of the Park you want to visit

We did finally make it to the campground, which I would put in the "fine" category. Our site was a little close to other sites and didn't have much cover, but for the time we spent there, it was fine.

Just four miles west of the town of Trinidad, the 2,700-acre Park at the base of the Culebra Range of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains surrounds its namesake, a dammed reservoir on the Purgatoire River (after learning that Poudre is pronounced "Pooder," I cringe to think how Purgatoire might be pronounced).

This is good advice

A portion of the mountain route of the Santa Fe Trail runs through the Park, which sits at 6,200 feet and has a fairly good reputation for dark skies despite its proximity to town.

Trinidad Lake is a multipurpose project for flood control, irrigation and recreation, authorized by the 1958 Flood Control Act. The dam protects the city of Trinidad from flood waters and sediment and holds irrigation water for the Purgatoire River Water Conservancy District.

Lake Trinidad

Trinidad Lake is stocked annually with rainbow trout and offers largemouth bass, channel catfish, crappie and walleye.

A Great Blue Heron at the water's edge

We took so long to get there that we didn't really spend much time in the Park. But, the sky did not disappoint that night. The stars were amazing.

We could even see the Milky Way from our campsite

The Route West, then East

On the road in New Mexico

The next morning we were headed southeast to Oklahoma, but we started out by veering a little southwest into New Mexico, despite the fact that New Mexico was actively discouraging any visitors during the pandemic. As a point of interest, we could drive through, but not stay anywhere. And, we would not be allowed into a State park, which were open to only New Mexico residents.

Our little foray took us through the Palisades Sill, spectacular cliffs and rock columns in the Cimarron River Canyon on the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway between Eagle Nest and Cimarron in northern New Mexico.

Steep cliffs along the Cimarron River

The Palisades are considered to be among the most spectacular geologic features in northern New Mexico. These cliffs were formed by a fine-grained igneous rock that intruded through older sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. The magma crystallized in stages and, as cooling speeded up, some previously hardened intrusions partially re-melted and rounded off as they re-cooled. Water then seeped into the cooling joints and fractures, freezing and expanding, then melting and contracting over and over again for thousands of years. This action created long columns and Palisade towers.

Palisades Sill

The Palisades were incredibly beautiful as well as being cool, quiet and far removed from anything. We saw few people, just Least Chipmunks ...

These little critters are real cuties

... and birds ...

A female Western Tanager and a Chipping Sparrow

Then, we swung east through the dramatic Canadian River Gorge ...

Canadian River Gorge

... ending up in Black Mesa, but arriving via paved highway rather than the back-country dirt road we took last time.

Dramatic clouds along our route

Black Mesa State Park
So, we made it back to Black Mesa State Park.

A Swainson's Hawk watches us near the Mesa

Unfortunately, this time our campsite at Black Mesa was not nearly as nice as the last time. It was a small plot right on the dusty road with no shade or separation from other sites. Once again, we didn't spend much time at the site. If that had been our goal, we would have moved on.

I was a little put off by the Park Manager, who was not wearing a mask and immediately informed me that "you don't have to wear a mask here," clearly assuming we were masked under duress and would welcome being freed from tyranny. I informed her that we did, indeed, have to wear masks because we preferred to stay alive. It did not endear me to the Park.
Once again, there wasn't a lot to do. I did remember to photograph the Mesa this time and we did see a couple of birds, but not as many as last time.

Black Mesa

Fortunately, it wasn't windy, so we were able to get some really nice Milky Way shots before clouds moved in.

The Milky Way with a shooting star

We had two other cool things happen while we were shooting the night sky. We spotted a Great Horned Owl perched on a rock and startled it into flight as we applied the brakes to take a closer look. Then, as we were shooting the skies (and frequent meteorites), we saw some very strange lights bouncing around in the distant sky. We aren't UFO people, but this could have convinced us. Military maneuvers? Weather balloons? Atmospheric phenomena? It was odd movements that I couldn't capture with my camera, so I have no record. That's probably OK. "They" might come and confiscate my gear if "they" knew I had photographed it. I'll never know what it was, but, it sure wasn't a normal airplane or satellite.