Sugarite Canyon State Park

"Home, home on the range!  Where the buffalo ( and cattle) roam... and the deer and the antelope play!"

We arrived at Sugarite Canyon State Park on June 15, 2009.   We are volunteer camp hosts at their Lake Alice Campground.  The people here are great!  We share our campground host duties with another couple who have been coming here for nine years!

We haven't seen the buffalo that they say are at some nearby ranches, but we've seen the deer, antelope and lots of birds.... especially hummingbirds!  They don't even wait until we get the feeders out the door. They land on the feeders as they are being hung!

Many around us have seen the bears in the area, but we haven't.  We had signs of them coming through our camp site during the night, though.

This bear track was fresh along the Little Horse Mesa Trail, which we hiked.

There is also supposed to be two of the biggest skunks you have never seen!  They waddle through, but of course the wildlife tends to evade our presence!  In this case, it would be a blessing, but it would sure be interesting to see how big these two really are.

Meanwhile, we have begun our adventures in northeastern New Mexico:

We have hiked five trails within the park.

Lake Alice Trail  

Distance: 1 mile

Difficulty: Moderate

Elevation: 6,900' to 7,200'

Did you know that ladybugs bite?

Little Horse Mesa

Distance: 3/4 mile

Difficulty: Strenuous

Elevation: 8,000' to 8,320'

Lake Maloya Trail

Distance: 2.8 miles

Difficulty: Easy to Moderate

Elevation: 7,500'

(We only went about half way on this hike, which seemed to be the easiest part!)

Grand Vista Trail  

Distance: 1/2 mile

Difficulty: Moderate

Elevation: 7,900' to 8,050'

We went on a hike with a botanist to identify the many plants and flowers everywhere!

Deer Run Trail

Distance: 1.8 miles

Difficulty: Moderate to Strenuous

Elevation: 7,100' to 7,800'

We went to a Mountain Man Rendezvous where we were able to photograph enthusiasts of life during the pioneer days.  It was very much the equivalent to a Renaissance Faire.

We enjoyed quite an entertaining conversation with this pioneer craftsman of hats.

We had dessert of homemade ice cream at the "local restaurant."

We have been literally on top of the world through the ranch lands of Johnson Mesa, where we photographed old dilapidated farm houses of yesteryear:

We walked the rim of Capulin Volcano, an old cinder cone, where we could see four states, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado:

All over the wildflowers are dynamic!

Just about everyday we have had monsoon clouds gather overhead (even now as I daringly continue to write this) and keep things cool for us.  How appropriate for God to shower His own fireworks on this Fourth of July!