Tuesday, September 27, 2022 A Week In Camp
Drove just outside Cloudcroft on Saturday afternoon, maybe 12 miles, on Hwy 130 called the Sunspot Scenic Byway. Can see the White Sands National Park far below. Pulled into various little side roads looking for a free place to camp. Most had locked gates at some point, so we’d try another spot. Eventually found a little forest service road off the main road that opened up into a big graveled pullout. This is a big spot and there are at least 7-10 rock campfire rings right here, so this is an “established” campsite on public land, and the rules say we can camp here free for 14 days. Of course there is no water (we have 25 gallons with us and use 4-5 gallons per day when we aren’t being careful), no trashcans (pack it out), and no toilets (we have a port-a-potty, but will have to bury our refuse or pack it out), plus we have plenty of food with us and are going to see if we can manage to stay here for the whole week. Free camping plus less driving around should help us meet our money saving goals. We’ll see if we can stay still for that long.
We are on our fourth day here right now and the longer we are here, it seems we relax more and more and are not in any big hurry to wander on. This is a good spot. We get one or two bars of T-Mobile here, so we’re not completely cut off, and we get radio news and music on the shortwave radio. This location is open to the sky, but there are shady trees nearby in case it gets really hot (unlikely since it’s about 65 degrees daytime high at 9000 feet). It does get cold at night (42 degrees low last night), but we don’t really have any issue with that. We wear warm pajamas, have a reflective tarp under our mattress plus up onto our feet, which traps our body heat, plus wool blankets or sleeping bags if we need them. Warm hats help us feel cozy too. When we wake up, we run the van heater for an hour to take the chill off. We have calculated that an hour of heat uses 1/2 gallon of gasoline. We still cook outside, and by the time we have made and drunk tea or coffee, and get breakfast going, we are changing into shorts because the sun at this elevation feels very warm. The breeze keeps the temp coolish, though. Each afternoon it clouds up and threatens rain. We just get a few drops, but we put all our cooking things away at night to keep them dry and to discourage bears. Other things we want to keep dry (like chairs) go under the van till morning. The only animals we have seen in our camp are cows, since this is open range. They showed up one morning to check us out, but have not come back again. Hunters with their camp trailers and their ATVs are common, though. They drive past us all the time. Or unload their ATVs here and leave their pickup behind. We hear gunfire sometimes, but it must be target practice, because if they are truly hunting I think we would hear just the occasional gunshot, not a long barrage. We heard what we thought were elk bugling on Sunday at dawn. Since then, the elk have been calling at dawn and again at twilight each day. I don't know how loud they are, but it seems very close.
