ABQ & the Carson National Forest

The Gila NF was beautiful, but much more rugged than the Lincoln, so we headed to Albuquerque for beds, baths, and laundry, with a goal to be back to explore and hike more when the kids are older. We are lucky to have two friends from Austin that have settled in ABQ and were able to catch up with them while we prepared for our next stop, the Carson NF. 

This one is a joint post!

We played ultimate at UT with Maria Lane and her husband Matt (Maria was my first captain on the UT women's team, and the first of many positive female role models to come in ultimate). It was such a joy to catch up with Maria about her family, life, and career (she's a geography prof at UNM, swoon)! - C

Another bad ass woman role model, Lindsay Lowe-Worthington. We played against each other in college, we played together on Showdown, and we coached the UT women's team together. More on Lindsay and her family later since we're planning on meeting up in a week to go camping in the Jemez together! -C

The Carson NF holds the cities we are most familiar with from past ski/snowboarding trips, Taos and Angel Fire.  However, this was our first time to explore the area when it's not covered in snow, and we're so glad we did! -M

Our first forest road in the Carson NF warned us that it was not suitable for "passenger cars." "Passenger car" was just vague enough for us to explore since we are definitely carrying more than just passengers.  Thankfully we did because after 3.5 bumpy miles we found a great campsite near a creek that was the perfect depth and speed for the girls to play in. - M

Yeah dispersed camping!

Sybil is just starting to learn the art of making tortilla faces, a necessary skill for any Tex-Mex loving Texan.

The next morning we set out on our most ambitious hike of the trip so far. Over 1,000 feet elevation gain in just over 4 miles up to Williams Lake in the Taos Ski Valley.  It brought us over 11,000 feet so we were hoping for some snow as well as beautiful alpine views, and it did not disappoint!  

Sybil hiked most of the way, but our deal was that she could ask for a ride from her sherpas at any point to keep morale up.  Hud has been tasked with the important job of carrying all of our snacks, and in return he is rewarded with a dog bone once we stop for lunch.   

Williams Lake!

We enjoyed our lunch overlooking the lake and the surrounding mountains.

Sybil was happy to see snow again.  This bank was inviting enough to deserve a hug. We saw some hikers go next level and store a couple beers in this snow bank to enjoy on their way down. 

The next day we packed up and drove to Eagle's Nest Lake in the hopes that Cara could catch a fish for our dinner that night.  It was too windy to fly fish and packed with other families and people fishing so we just ate lunch on the banks before piling back into the car to find our next campsite closer to Questa, NM. -M

The Carson NF provided once again and we found our second campsite in a row just off of a crystal clear creek.  The Columbine Creek was a bit deeper, faster, and colder.  There weren't as many dispersed camping options in this section of the national forest so we settled in to our first developed campsite of the trip and it was a great spot.  Our site was secluded, had great access to the creek and a nearby trail, and the bathrooms were as clean as a Bucee's (my dad would love it).- M

Cara and the girls made me honorary "Camp Champ" for Father's Day! - M

It's more than honorary, Mike is the best husband, dad, and adventure/camping partner. - C

Near Questa, NM is the Rio Grande del Norte BLM park/National Monument which has the Rio Grande and Red River gorge.  We knew that the established campgrounds in the park were closed, but the majority of the trails were still open. - M

La Junta: where the Rio Grande and Red River (not the same Red River as Texas) meet.

We wanted to get a closer look and another opportunity for Cara to catch our dinner so we hiked down the canyon to the Red River.  It was a beautiful day and we were the only ones on the trail. -M

The Red River gorge

Beautiful views, but not the best spot for fly fishing.  The Red River was fast in this section and the bushes and trees on either bank made it difficult for Cara to cast.  The amount of knot tying and untangling of fishing line would frustrate me to no end, but Cara still assures us that she enjoys it so we will continue to support this hobby knowing we will benefit from a happy momma and an inevitable fresh trout dinner. - M

Still smiling after losing her third fly for the day.  Perseverance! - M

Another view of the Rio Grande gorge

Our last morning in the Carson NF we went for a hike on the Columbine Trail #71 to Twining.  I went for a trail run there the previous day and I was excited to lead them to some of the bridge creek crossings. - M

  Sybil was stoked to wear my trail running camel back and gave her new motivation to just keep stepping. - M

I already have hopes to come back to this trail for a backpacking trip with the family and spend a night or two out in the mountains.  Just a mile in and you are surrounded by nature and separated from it all. We saw a beaver dam, but no bears. - M

One of the best things to come out of this trip has been watching the relationship between S & P develop. We're starting to think we're on to something here. If you want your kids to get along, all you need to do is: take them away from their friends and toys, force them into close proximity for weeks on end, and subject them to sometimes frightening and life threatening situations. They'll turn on you and have no one to turn to but each other. (Trademark T&C Winging It) - C

After 5 days we were out of most of our clean clothes and once again in serious need of naps, so we packed up and headed to Santa Fe to recuperate.  On the way out of the woods we stopped at Taos Pizza Out Back for lunch.  Rarely does food live up to our romantic memories of prior trips, but this place did not disappoint.  If anything it was better than we remember.  If you ever want to see Cara speak about something with true passion and love, just ask her about Sybil and Parker, teaching, or Taos Pizza Out Back. - M

Gila National Forest

We found out some very sad news during this leg of the trip. A very close family friend of Mike's, Mary Jo Rutstein, passed away Sunday from a very aggressive form of cancer. Mike and Matt, Mary Jo's son, were best friends growing up so we saw her most times we were in Houston and she was an extended member of the Natenberg family. I'll always remember her as a strong, funny, put together, take-no-shit kind of woman who could cook and bake anyone under the table. She was a loving mom and grandmother, and I'm feeling so deeply for Matt, the rest of his family, and the Natenbergs who are deeply grieving. Sharon Natenberg, Mike's mom and another amazing woman, said that her death is a hard reminder to make the most of every day you have. Since we couldn't return to Houston for a funeral due to COVID-19, we decided to take her advice. 

Matt Rutstein and Mike when they were teeny tots. Matt is Mike's oldest friend, which means that Mary Jo was like a second mom to Mike.

After recharging for 2 nights in Las Cruces to scrub the layers of dirt from our skin and clothes, we headed northwest to the Gila National Forest, where Parker covered herself in more dirt a mere 2 minutes after we found a camping spot. 

The site we found off Forest Road 4085X was in a ponderosa pine forest and delivered some seriously epic sunsets.

Sybil had been asking to see some Native American houses after reading a book with my mom about American Indians, so we spent the next day at the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.

The cliff dwellings here are awesome. Home to the Mogollon people around 700 years ago, and almost all intact and original walls. The scale was perfect for where we're at right now, a little over a mile hike and a a couple different small sections of dwellings. They even had dog kennels at the beginning of the trail you could leave your dog in. 

A view from inside one of the dwellings. Seeing the ingenuity of a group of people with so few resources was mind blowing. 

This is a typical day's lunch, a picnic at a park or off a trail. This one was right next to the Gila River. I hope we come back to when the kids are older to hike the West and Middle Fork Gila River trails, since they looked incredible. 

After the Cliff Dwellings we came back to our campsite and went for a short hike from our campsite up a little canyon forest road where we were fortunate to run into Jessica, a USFS fire ranger.  She showed us her fire truck and even let Sybil spray the fire hose. The NM fire season is revving up right about now; there was already a fire just a few dozen miles away that closed a road we were planning on taking. 

More epic sunsets. We don't have much time to enjoy them because we spend most of the evenings putting out our own fires (i.e. Parker crying in a tent, or Sybil getting up 4 times to tell us she's scared that the coyotes we hear in the distance are going to come to our campsite).  

The next day we drove to the northern part of the Gila on the recommendation of Alex, my Parks & Recreation co-teacher, friend, and guru of all things amazing in the outdoors. He's explored New Mexico extensively, and a lot of what we're choosing to do is based on his recommendations, except scaled down to adjust for our car's and kids' abilities and tolerances. 

In the Catwalk Recreation Area there is a beautiful short hike up Whitewater Canyon on a series of metal catwalks on sheer cliff walls about 30 ft above a river. The original catwalks were built by the CCC. Hooray for public work programs! 

Sybil was confident we would see some cats, but not a cat was seen. 

The catwalks end and the trail continues up the canyon, but we went creek stomping instead. 

Next we had a very eventful drive to find our next campsite off FR 28, which included: striking out on finding a site near where we originally wanted, over an hour of an exhausted Parker crying non stop, running into a man on the road who had gotten his car stuck off a 4WD road and had run out of water hiking to find help (his grandpa was back with the car), and then running into some forest rangers who told us a fire had just started in the area we were headed to as our Plan B (they saw the smoke jumpers). We were frazzled and the kids were exhausted, but we finally found a site far enough from the fire to feel safe.

Clearly this site was popular with hunters during hunting season, because there was elk skin and leg bones hanging from the trees and bones scattered all over the campsite. We did hear elk bugling in the mornings, and saw 2 on our drive in. 

The next day we took a day trip out to Snow Lake. The turnoff to it was only about 3 miles from the Willow Creek fire that the rangers had told us about the day before. We hiked a bit and I got some fly fishing in. 

But the real treat was getting to see the wildland fire helicopters dip their huge buckets into the lake to dump water on the fire nearby. We were so close to it a few times that we felt the spray of the water and had to hold our hats to keep them from blowing off. Two different helicopters were going back and forth all day, and since I didn't catch any trout I'm going to blame it on the helicopters for scaring the shit out of the fish.

Sybil has made it clear that she REALLY wishes she had her Elsa costume on this trip, and that it's boring without it, but luckily I packed this stinking adorable young naturalist outfit that she's been wearing nonstop since she found it in her luggage.

Our dashboard collection (I know, I know...Leave No Trace, but these are small concessions for keeping a toddler happy and there were at least a billion other pine cones for other people to enjoy). 

 

The Gila was rugged and stunningly beautiful, but we were worn down by the 4th day of poor sleep for Parker and starting to feel like seriously neglectful parents. So we packed up and headed towards Albuquerque for a couple of days in a hotel to hopefully catch her up on sleep. We passed the VLA (Very Large Array) on the way, which is a life dream for me to see and visit since Contact is one of my favorite books and movies! But, like so many things, the visitor center was closed due to COVID, giving us just one more excuse to come back to this incredible area of the state. 

The dispersed camping that we are doing on this trip, which is primitive with no established campsites, facilities, water, etc. is definitely difficult with 2 kids as young as they are now (especially P). We're digging catholes to poop in, carrying all of our food and water, and constantly cleaning clothes/dishes/kids/the car. We rarely have cell service and sometimes only pass a few other people on the roads for whole days. The days are full of incredible beauty, meaningful experiences, and amazing quality time together. Towards night however, after a day of sub-par naps and the non-stop nature of managing all of our stuff and kids in such a tiny (our car) and secluded space, we're exhausted and doubtful if we're doing right by them. So we have a similar conversation most nights in the very little time we have together alone, which usually consists of us trying to gauge how much is ok to ask of them/put them through and weighing the pros and cons. 

For posterity, and just in case we're actually traumatizing them, here is the list we came up with of pros and cons, just in case they want to know why we did it. 

What it boiled down to is: we're fortunate to be able to do this at this time, and we may not be able to do it in the future. It's not easy, but life wasn't easy in Austin under COVID either, so at least we're doing the hard work somewhere beautiful and 40 degrees cooler. 

Spring & Summer 2020 Reflections and the Lincoln National Forest (NM)

By the end of January, Cara and I had finally decided on what our summer adventure would be.  The plan was to combine the best of both worlds and take a road trip to visit friends and family and go camping while also going on an international adventure.  We would drive west and then book a flight from San Francisco to Japan for a 2 week trip abroad.  We started saving money in earnest and acquired a passport for Parker.  We were ready to go and starting to look for airline tickets to Japan.

Around March 18th, during Spring Break, we found out that Austin ISD had extended our break by one week in response to the outbreak of the Corona virus (COVID 19).  As the outbreak would quickly become a worldwide pandemic, our school was conducted online for the rest of the school year.  Cara and I were juggling teaching our classes while caring for and teaching Sybil and Parker at home.  

Given the new circumstances and the new normal of quarantine, we changed our summer adventure plans and decided on escaping to the US National Forests of New Mexico to enjoy the outdoors safely.  Dispersed camping is not something we can do easily in Texas because almost all of our land (besides our few national and state parks) are private.  We are hoping the higher elevations of the New Mexico mountains will provide some relief from the summer heat and an opportunity for us to challenge ourselves by "being bored" with plenty of time to be with the girls without an agenda.

On February 23rd Ahmaud Arbery (a black male) was murdered by two white civilians while jogging in Georgia.  It took over two weeks for the civilians to finally be arrested.  On May 25th, Amy Cooper (a white woman) called the police on Christian Cooper (a black man) over an argument about her dog being off leash and lied saying that he was threatening her and to send the police immediately clearly showing she understood that she had power over him when it came to police protection and the benefit of the doubt.  On the same day, George Floyd (a black man originally from Houston) was killed by a Minneapolis police officer setting off nationwide protests and unrest.  

It is odd sitting down to write a post about the amazing week we just had in the Lincoln National Forest while the country is grappling with tough questions about policing and facing our racist past and present.  We recognize that a part of why we can have these summer adventures is due to the privilege we've experienced our whole lives.  Financially we are able to enjoy these adventures because we have good jobs and a home that were easier for us to come by because of the hard work but also privileges our parents experienced while seeking their careers and providing for us.  We also have the privilege of traveling anywhere in the country and feel comfortable because we can expect to find others that look like us and that locals will give us the benefit of the doubt that we are not a threat and that we should be welcomed in to any situation.  These are huge privileges that are not experienced by a lot of our minority communities and needs to be recognized.

We believe our sphere of influence is mostly through teaching, but if you are interested in learning more about the issues which are being debated and protested right now I encourage you to watch and read the following.  I've been interested in equity as it pertains to education, and these are a few of the most influential books and a movie I've consumed to help inform me.

• Watch 13th (Available on Netflix)
• Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.  This is a powerful documentary that describes how the legal system and police force have been utilized in our systems to continue to enslave black americans through punishments for crimes and the legal system.  
• Trevor Noah's reflections on the riots spurred by Ahmad Arbery, Amy Cooper, and George Floyd
• The Autobiography of Malcom X: As told to Alex Haley
• Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race by Thomas Chatterton Williams
• provides a great perspective on race.
• The First Next Time by James Baldwin
• Writings on the Wall by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
• I have so much respect for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and he has become one of my favorite thinkers/authors
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Given the current state of affairs in our country we loaded our car with reflective and appreciative hearts and hit the road.  First stop, the Lincoln National Forest of New Mexico.

We maximized every square inch of our Mazda CX-5 and got really close to the total allowed weight.  Our trailer hitch storage rack allows us to carve out a little space for Hudson.

Obligatory family photo to go on our National Parks hallway bulletin board!

Our first stop near Queen, NM had some pretty hot temps during the day, but the night and morning cooled off nicely.  Here is Sybil taking an early morning hike around our first campsite bundled up in Cara's vest.  We quickly learned we needed to bring in warm clothes for the girls the night before so that they could comfortably come out of their sleeping bags in the morning.

Enjoying a book after a mother skunk and her tiny kit came to say hello while we were eating breakfast.

Our first hike on Little Apache near Cloudcroft, NM.  We are discovering that 5 to 6 miles is going to be our limit, and that we travel on average, 1 mph, with all of the exploratory, snack, and bathroom related stops of a 4 year old.  Parker is in our hiking backpack and gets freedom to roam whenever we do stop.

Hudson enjoying a rare moment of comfort at our mountain top campsite near Cloudcroft.  He was filthy by the end of our first week and was always eager to go to sleep in our tent to get some relief from the elements.

Little Apache trail

Patiently waiting for breakfast on a chilly morning at our campsite near Ruidoso, NM.  We experienced our coldest night here, dropping below freezing.  It was 30º at 6am when Parker and I made it to the car to warm up.

Grindstone Lake near Ruidoso, NM

The girls love splashing in water.  This man-made lake was COLD.

Parker post swim loving life. :-)

That is a bag full of our dirty clothes after 6 nights of camping! And we had done laundry at our campsite only 3 days before. A good indicator that it was time to leave the woods for civilization and recharge.  We booked an AirBNB in Las Cruces to clean up, take naps, and refresh before heading to the Gila National Forest.

Hiking on the Argentina Trail near Ruidoso.