My original trip plan had me traveling from Bandelier National Monument to Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, then on to my son’s house in the Denver area, where we would make a final decision, based upon weather patterns, for a final destination.
This spring the snow fall in the Rockies has been very heavy with a number of avalanches. With the avalanche danger being high, we did not want to take our normal route across the Rockies into any of our favorite spring trip areas of Utah, New Mexico or Arizona. With another storm coming, we decided that the Bisti Wilderness and possibly Angel Peak in northwestern New Mexico, with a mostly benign weather forecast was the best target for the balance of this trip. So instead of driving to cold Colorado (night temperatures in the 20s), I would drive directly to New Mexico and my son would meet me there, saving me much extra driving.
I briefly looked at a map and chose the shortest route from my location in Bandelier to Farmington, New Mexico. It was a simple route and looked so straight forward, that I did not bother with using a navigation system.
Setting out about mid morning, I began driving along scenic NM Route 4 through mountainous, national forest areas. Shortly after getting underway, it began to snow lightly, then more heavily in the higher elevations, where snow began to accumulate on the roadway and vehicle as the temperature dropped below freezing, requiring me to drive more slowly.
I passed a number of scenic, photogenic areas in the higher elevations, but there were no safe places to pull over. Even though the traffic was very light, I did encounter other vehicles, so I did not take any chances stopping on the roadway. As I got into the lower elevations, where the snow was not accumulating on the roadway, I noted high piles of accumulated snow, indicating how heavy the snowfall has been this year. I pulled out at one view area and took a couple of shots with my iPhone.
The snow limited visibility, so one could see little from the view points.
I continued along, enjoying the scenic drive. I turned onto route 126 from route 4 at some little mountain community.
Route 126 was a curvy, scenic paved roadway, but somewhere along the way, I saw a sign that indicated there was an unimproved, mountain roadway ahead. I had not noted that on my map, but I continued ahead, thinking I had nothing better to do than to check out this area. There were a number of national forest camping areas along both route 4 and route 126, which I made a mental note of for future possibilities.
Just after passing a state fish hatchery, I encountered a “Pavement Ends” sign and a barrier across the roadway. Even had this road been open, I would probably have turned back, since I had no idea of the condition of the unimproved portion of this road.
I turned back here, going back to Route 4 and continued on to US 550 at San Ysidro.
Had I looked at my map a bit closer, I would have noted the non-paved portion of Route 126 or had I used a navigation system, I would have avoided this unnecessary detour, but I would have missed a scenic drive. So in the end, it was not a big deal. I later encountered someone that had driven the unimproved portion of Route 126 and they said it was a good road and I would have had no problem driving it, had it been open.
I continued onto Farmington via US 550, making a reservation in route for a room in a local motel, so that I could get a proper shower and one night in a big bed, before heading to Bisti, where there were no facilities and I would be staying for a number of days.
Driving along US 550, I got good views of the snow clouds over the mountains that I had driven through. I then saw another storm front coming at me from the north. It is so wide open in this area, that one can see storm fronts from miles away. I drove through windy conditions, then pouring rain, then icy, slushy rain along this route. At some point, there was even enough slushy ice on my vehicle that I got a warning that my blind spot monitor was incapacitated. Other than that, the only other problem was that my anticipated night of rest in a soft bed did not occur. For some reason, I slept very poorly, even though the bed was soft and the crisp, clean sheets felt so good. Maybe I was too used to a more simple sleeping arrangement!
To Bisti Wilderness next,
Ken