We arrived fairly frazzled at Angel Fire RV Resort at about 6:00 PM on Thursday, August 26th. What a long day it was. Walt had seen glowing recommendations for this park on Facebook, and we were not disappointed. It is a fairly new park on US 64 just to the west of the Angel Fire ski resort and the town of Angel Fire, New Mexico. The grounds are immaculately landscaped with native plants and flowers. The pads are all pull-thru and concrete and the trees though young have grown enough to provide some good shade. We are on the south end of the park next to a long meadow and a great view of the mountains to the east. We can see Baldy Mountain and Mt. Phillips on Philmont Scout Ranch.
We were treated to Waffles on Friday, August 27th, by the staff of the Angel Fire RV Resort. This resort has lots of special activities, including waffles on Friday, Saturday & Sunday morning, ice cream socials, S’Mores by the campfire, music on Sunday nights, art classes on Monday nights, etc… We plan to have fun here. Walt did laundry while he relaxed in the hot tub. Relaxed until it started raining. However, the weather here was best described on visits to Philmont, just to the east of here, as “It rains every afternoon for about a ½ hour then stops”. It was a nice lazy day.
On Saturday, August 28th, we drove north about 30 miles to Bobcat Pass, the home of Bobcat Pass Wilderness Adventures (https://bobcatpass.com/). Bobcat Pass is at the north end of the Moreno Valley, the valley that stretches north to south within the peaks of the Sangre de Christo mountains. To the east is Philmont Scout Ranch and the peaks of Baldy (12,441’) and Mount Phillips (11,770’) and in the west is Wheeler Peak, the highest point in New Mexico (13,167’). Bobcat Pass, at 9,820’ is the highest paved road in New Mexico. We went on a guided ATV ride with guide Michael, that started at Bobcast Pass and traveled west through the Kit Carson National Forest to Foster Meadow. We saw the aqueduct that was constructed in 1868 to transfer water from the Rio Grande watershed to the Cimarron River watershed to provide water for the gold mining towns of Elizabethtown and Baldy Town. We drove to a great overlook for Wheeler Peak and the town of Red River, then back to Bobcast Pass. Martha and Walt had a Honda side by side ATV that was a bit of a tight fit for legroom, tighter than the Kawasaki, the CanAm Maverick and the Polaris Razor that we had previously rented in the Black Hills, Yellowstone and at Ouray. As we finished the ride, the clouds rolled in, the lightning and thunder began and the rain fell. Right when we arrived back at Bobcat Pass, it started hailing. Our guide, Michael, told us that the hail was and extra that he planned at no charge. Michael, one of the other male guests and Walt had a reminiscence about Philmont. All of them are Eagle Scouts and had been to Philmont at least once and two of them were wearing their Philmont belts. The other guest was wearing the leather belt that he got when he was 15. Walt wishes that the leather belt he got when he was 15 still fit!
On our return to Angel Fire RV Resort we passed lots of cyclists climbing up the Bobcat Pass and on US 64 between Angel Fire and Eagle Nest Lake. There was an organized ride of the 85 mile Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway, starting in Red River (just north of Bobcat Pass), to Questa, to Taos, up the Taos Canyon to Angel Fire, to Eagles Nest Lake and then a return to Red River. They had all gotten caught out in the hail and rain and look a bit miserable. Back at our motor home, we walked the puppies, took a nap, and drove back to Bobcat Pass for the Cowboy Evening. This was a tremendous steak dinner with entertainment by cowboy singer Syd Masters (https://sydmasters.com/). They have these nights twice a week in the summer and have been doing so for over 30 years. It was a lot of fun, one of those moments that you long remember.
We got waffles again on Sunday, August 29th, but were so full after the great dinner the night before to eat them for breakfast. However, they still tasted good for lunch. Another relaxing day – we’re starting to get good at doing this.
From our campsite, you can see Philmont Scout Ranch, so on Monday, August 30th, we drove US 64 East through the Cimarron Canyon. The drive took us past Cimarron Canyon State Park, the village of Ute Park, then through Philmont. Exciting the canyon at Cimarron, New Mexico, we turned south on New Mexico highway 21 to Philmont Scout Ranch (www.philmontscoutranch.org/). Philmont is the Scout’s backpacking high adventure camp. With over 100,000 acres, the ranch spreads about 60 miles north to south and about 20 miles east to west. On the east side, the Great Plains begin and spread all the way to Texas, Oklahoma and beyond. On the east side of the ranch are the administrative buildings the large Philmont Training Center (training for staff and volunteer Scouters), the Villa Philmonte (the former residence of the original owner of the ranch, oilman Waite Phillips) and Tent City where the backpacking treks begin and end. All of the ranch was quiet in this break between summer and fall programs (the last backpacking crews left the ranch for home on August 22nd). Walt had backpacked at Philmont in 1972 (15 years old), 1975 (18 years old) and 2004 (47 years old). In 2004, Michael (14 years old) accompanied him. Walking thru tent city brought back all those memories.
We were able to take a tour of the Villa Philmonte with guide, Gabriela. Built in 1926, this was the home of Waite Phillips and his family until 1941. Mr. Phillips was originally from Iowa, one of 10 children and an identical twin of his brother Wiate. Born in 1883, the twins left home at age 16 and traveled the west learning the value of hard work in lumber camps, mining camps and other such occupations. Their travels ended in Spokane, WA, where Wiate died of a burst appendix. Waite joined his brothers, Frank and L.E., in Tulsa, Oklahoma, working for their oil company, the precursor to Phillips 66. Starting his own oil company, the Waite Phillips Company in the 1910’s, Waite became a very successful businessman. He built the Philtower Building in Tulsa and Philbrook a 32,000 sq ft home. He sold his company for $25 million in 1925, bought a large ranch in New Mexico and built the Villa Philmonte (28,000 sq ft). Besides the Villa, the ranch had rustic outposts at Fish Camp, Crater Lake and other locations in the mountains. His family and guests would enjoy adventures in the mountains. When his business interests again changed (California real estate), he gifted the north portion of the ranch to the Boy Scouts in 1939 and it became the Philturn Scout Ranch. In 1941, he donated the remainder of the ranch, the Villa Philmonte and the Philtower Building to the Scouts and the ranch became the Philmont Scout Ranch. Each summer thousands of young men and women participate in backpacking and horse adventures, supported by many young adults in the staff camps and ranger groups. It’s an incredible place.
Walt and Bessie decided to go for a nice hike on Tuesday, August 31st. Starting at Frontier Park in the town of Angel Fire, they walked a little over a mile west up the meadow and through pine trees on the Deer Trail. At the head of the trail, they turned south on the Coyote Trail for about ½ mile, then turned back east to descend through a beautiful meadow on the Elk Trail, a total distance of about 4 miles. Bessie was able to hike, off leash, for part of the trail, until she took off across the Elk Trail meadow after some scent. These trails are part of the Greenbelt trails of the Angel Fire Resort (www.angelfireresort.com/activities/summer-activities/hiking/#). That evening Martha and Walt went to a wine tasting at the RV Resort. Tasting wines from the Noisy Waters Winery in Riudoso, New Mexico, Walt made sure the taste the wines with the most outrageous names, namely Whitety Tighty, a sweet white wine, not washing machine drainage! His favorite was the Green Chile wine.
4 Wheeling AGAIN! We traveled to Red River on Wednesday, September 1st, to Red River Offroad (www.redriveroffroad.com/). We rode with guide, Gary, in a Jeep with bench seats on the deck in back up the Pioneer Road from the north end of Red River. Red River is a very family oriented resort with a solid downtown community. Gary told us stories about the area and much about aspen trees and the need for fire to keep the forest healthy. We went inside an abandoned mine and a miner’s cabin that was built in the 1880’s. Leaving Red River, we decided to complete the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway, traveling west to Questa (at least 2000’ of descending) then south to Taos. We ate lunch at Orlando’s New Mexican Café (www.facebook.com/OrlandosNewMexicanCafe/), consisting of Chili Relleno and Frito Pie. We were disappointed that the Taos Pueblo (https://taospueblo.com/) was not open. We walked around the Taos Plaza but many of the shops were closed on Wednesday afternoon. We returned to our motorhome in Angel Fire and it started to rain. It poured most of the afternoon and into the evening ending sometime late in the nights.
We discovered on Thursday, September 2nd, that the toilet in our motorhome was broken. The ball valve of the Dometic #321 toilet would not open, so water and waste would not drain. Thinking the valve was stuck, we tried a lubricant fix, but it was unsuccessful. We relaxed most of the day and listened to live music at the RV resort clubhouse that evening. During the live music, Walt was sneaking views of the Tennessee football home opener, a 38-6 win against Bowling Green University. We also discovered the perimeter trail of the resort. It is about 9/10th of a mile around entire resort and is bordered by the most amazing wildflowers.
We talked to Dometic Customer Support and Warranty on Friday, September 3rd, regarding our malfunctioning toilet. No success, but we did open an extended warranty claim and called an RV Technician in Eagle Nest for help. He was hoping to be available that afternoon, but was delayed until Saturday. “It’s always something”!
This was a beautiful day, the morning low in the low 40’s and the high in the high 60’s, so we took the opportunity to ride the chairlift from the ski resort to the top of Agua Fria Peak. What a ride. It took about 20 minutes to make the 2000’ foot climb to 10,660 feet. We looked all around at the countryside seeing the more famous mountains of Philmont, Mt. Phillips (11,770’) named after Waite Phillips (Walt & Michael climbed this peak in 2004) and Mount Baldy (12, 441’): Walt climbed this in 1975. We could see our RV Resort and Wheeler Peak (13,167’) the highest point in New Mexico, and the 2nd highest point in New Mexico, Mount Walter (13,141’). Named after H.D. Walter (couldn’t find out who this was), NOT Walter Vredeveld, this peak is really like a 2nd summit of Wheeler Peak, with only about 50 feet of vertical displacement from the ridge connecting it to Wheeler.
On Saturday, September 4th, Todd, the RV Technician came to help us fix our toilet. He discovered that the foot pedal to flush value connection (plastic) had broken, so he put a screw in it and glued the pieces back together. We had to let the glue set overnight and hope that this will solve the problem.
Waking up on Sunday, September 5th, we discovered that the fix DID NOT WORK. UGH!! Todd said that he would be able to pick up some additional parts in Espanola (almost to Santa Fe) on Monday morning and try this additional fix. We spent the day doing laundry and relaxing. Walt was able to read a lot of his book, House of Rain, a non-fiction description of the Anazazi people in New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona in the 12th to 14th century.