Rio Grande Recreation Area

Yesterday Hulin and I left Red River, NM and drove to Santa Fe. On the way, we did a short stop to see some of the Recreation Area.  This has camping, and hiking along the Rio Grand River, off Highway 68.

I wanted to see the river so searched for and found a trail that wove through the willows, shrubs, and grasses to the river.  I stood at the edge to  get a couple of pictures. By the time I got back to the car, Hulin was already working on his afternoon nap.  I saw a hiking trail in front of the car and went up it for about 15 minutes. I managed to take a side trail to a bluff overlooking the river and got some more pictures. The sky was cloudy but the plants were wonderful. This was the first place I've been in all summer where I've found cactus.  Several species were growing here, amidst lots of rabbitbush and some sage. There were also the most numbers and kinds of birds that I had seen this week.  But my binoculars were in the car and I didn't want to wake Hulin. So I just enjoyed the flashes of color and bird calls.

The Rio Grand looking downstream

The Rio Grande looking upstream

The first chipmunk that volunteered to pose for me

Cactus fruit

View across the river

Nature's painting along the trail

Looking down from a bluff at a sandbar in the river

The view across highway 68 from the recreation area

 After we were back on the highway, we passed several put-in - take-out places for rafts. In places, the river looked almost too low for paddlers but lots of them were just putting in at one place we stopped.  

Rafts and rubber duckies on the Rio Grande

Highway 68 view

About an hour after this little stop, Hulin and I were in Santa Fe, having a very different vacation. Next blog, The High Life.