Long Walk Home

October 31, 2021

Hello again,

Now, to pick up where I last left off, I'm going to continue with the story of our long walk home from Barillas Peak. Last week I covered the first half of our 15 mile hike, this week I'm going to relate our adventures during the second half of our walk. At this point in our walk we were completely following old farm and ranch roads that would be very difficult to drive on without a 4WD. We had transitioned out of the Santa Fe National Forest and were going through a little bit of BLM(Borough of Land Management) land when we stumbled right into an old stone ruin that was perched on a little hill with absolutely immaculate views in all directions. It was a small, rectangular structure that was divided evenly into two equally-sized rooms. To the east was a huge, beautiful meadow, there was a smaller ruin to the north with the big mountains looming behind it, a devastating view of Rowe Mesa to the south and the open, broken country of the transition zone between the mountains and plains rolling off to the west. Even though the sun was rapidly beginning to get low in the western sky, we stopped for almost a half hour to explore inside and outside of the ruins. The views from the house were amazing and it just led one to ponder the mysteries of who used to live here, what did they do, where did they come from and where did they go? At this point we had probably made it about ten miles and only had two to two and a half hours before the sun would set, so we threw our packs back on and kept going.

Shortly after the ruins, we hit the corner of the big, 8000-acre ranch that we live on(divided into 20 lots) and picked our way through the now myriad old roads that were braided through this old cattle country, going off in all directions, so that we could get ourselves onto the nearly ten-mile-long ranch road that we live on. We are the very first ranch on the way in and I have never been past our driveway, other than going about a mile further to see where there was a gate that we can use to get down to the Pecos River, if we ever needed to. Now, after this escapade, I feel that I have a much better feel for the lay of the land here, both within the ranch and all around it...especially to the north as the land shoots up thousands of feet from where we're at. And, as we were pretty drained at this point, it was all that we could do to keep our pace up so that we could pound out the last few miles before we got to the end of our journey. At the beginning of our hike we weren't too sure about having worn sneakers, instead of hikers, but as we still had about five miles to cover with the sunset looming imminently, we both felt that they had actually been the appropriate choice. We tapped into our workingman reserves of energy that we go to when we are having trouble getting through a tough day at work and made it to the end of our drive, where Erin met us and took us both back down to Valentin's where my car was waiting(with a flat from the jobsite, of course!). Erin waited while he helped me change the tire quickly as the last few strands of daylight filtered away, and then we all drank a beer while gazing northwards to Barillas Peak gleaming in the last few minutes of sun for the day. Erin's rescue shaved off about a half mile of walking for me, but another mile or so for Valentin, so we were both quite content at that point not having walked the 'whole' thing...still, 14.9 miles, instead of 15.5 or 16, not too bad! And, in only six hours!

Now, for the second batch of pictures from our trip. First, a shot looking south as the country was opening up and really starting to flatten out. Next, a shot of the types of roads that we were walking on at this point, followed by one showing how we kept incrementally getting closer and closer to Rowe Mesa. Then, a series of a dozen shots from the ruins that we found: first, two shots of how the house sat on its hill; then, a shot of the northern wall of the structure; then, a shot of Loka hanging out in the doorway, just as I'm sure a dog did a hundred years ago at the same spot; next, three shots of the southern, interior room, showing its kiva fireplace and view through the window; then, a shot of the view through the bigger window on the northern wall; next, a shot of Valentin and his dog pondering the whole thing; and, finally, three shots showing some old, metal hardware, a separate set of ruins, and then the name of one of the original inhabitants...I just noticed a report about a Grieco in the Las Vegas paper, clearly showing that this name has been out here for a while. The next three shots are of the land as we entered onto the ranch and everything started to clear out and really open up. Then, another three shots from the upper ranch road: first, looking back at Barillas Peak; then, a shot of the road itself; and, also, us taking our last break before finishing up for the day. And, finally, the last three shots of the day as we neared the finish line: one last look back at Barillas; a shot of the sun setting behind Rowe Mesa; and, lastly, our destination, San Jose. What a day! What a hike!

Have a good week.