Bluewater Creek Canyon

We took a road that we had seen deer, elk, and turkey on many years before. It was rough and got rougher until we found we had come to the end of the road. We decided to step over the barbed wire fence where others had done the same before us. We walked out to the edge of a canyon and looked down, or tried to. We couldn't see the bottom. We could see many miles to the northwest beyond the canyon. The rock ledge was intriguing. There were black streaks down the almost smooth rock at one place. I wondered what could have caused the streaks like that. Had it been water falling over the ledge some time in the past when there wasn't the drought we are having now?
     Suddenly we heard an eagle scream. The big bird did it over and over. And then we saw the birds flying against the side of the ledge. Knowing that they are such big birds they looked small up against the side of the huge rock wall. They disappeared but then were back to fly right over our heads. We were so interested in looking at the eagles we almost forgot to try to get some photos and the only one I got was blurred.
       It was a wonderful experience to see the eagles. I think they were golden eagles. They just didn't look right to be juvenile bald eagles that have the dark heads. We agreed that rock wall would make the perfect place for an eagle nest but as much as we looked we couldn't see any sign of one. But we could only see the wall across from us and not the one right under our feet.

      When we got back I goggled around until I found out that the canyon was the head of Bluewater Creek Canyon that runs into Bluewater Lake that is just west of Grants according to the Cibola National Forest website. There is a hiking trail along the creek that is about 2 miles long. I would  love to be able to take the hike but old age doesn't make for good hikes. 

Rough Roads

the roads going up Mt. Taylor are rough. From just past the outskirts of Grants the pavement stops and it is dirt roads all the rest of the way. Here are a few photos I took leaning out the window as we drove. As you can guess we were glad to have 4-wheel drive in our little Chevy pickup. Sorry if the photos are a bit blurry but we were moving as you don't stop on this kind of road unless it is a real have too. Of course some of the road is graveled which really doesn't make it any better as it seems to make the road slick even without being wet. In the winter with snow on the gravel it can really be bad if I remember right. We used to bring snowmobiles up here to play in the snow. Of course the fact that the mountain is a lava bed since it was a volcano doesn't help. When you get close to the top (the last 4 miles or so) it is nothing but bump, bump, bump over the lava rocks embedded in the road. We didn't do the last four miles to the top where the firetower is. What a great job it must have been to be the fire lookout on top of a volcano mountain. That is except during a lightning storm.