Jemez Blues

From Taos, we passed through the Rio Grande River gorge and headed toward the Jemez Mountains northwest of Santa Fe to camp.

Sixteen years ago, Michele and I spent several nights there on my first New Mexico trip. We had told the boys many times about one camp site and its mutant chipmunks swelled to unnatural sizes by all the dropped or stolen Doritos and hot dogs they gobbled. This always provoked a laugh, and the little camp thieves became an anticipated trip attraction.

So in the early evening, we climb the switchbacks from Los Alomos and its secret laboratories, so exciting to the back seat crowd, into the Jemez. The road and the caldera -- a giant, grassy basin left over from a massive volcanic explosion millions of years ago -- looked familiar. We kept our eyes peeled for Greedy Rodent Campgrounds, better known as Jemez Falls. Ah, there it was, up ahead. And it was ... closed to the public.

Wow. No chipmunks, a bitter pill. But Michele and I remembered another site down the road. At least, we thought we did. Nothing but Ponderosa pines appeared for a while. It grew darker, and we grew nervous. Then, around a corner, appeared the Redondo site. We were saved! But our happiness was short-lived.

Our site was nice enough, tucked into a rocky, pine-covered hillside. But there was no water, and we were low, having counted on Jemez Falls and its public supply. Not a chipmunk was to be seen. On top of that, our considerate neighbors and others in the campground lit roaring fires, despite the signs saying the wildfire danger was extreme because of the dry conditions. There wasn't a ban, at least not one posted at the entrance, so we couldn't really do anything about it. We tried to cheer ourselves up with a supper of Sara Lee cherry cheesecake -- we had eaten a massive late lunch of great New Mexico dishes covered in green chile at an Espanola restaurant on the way over -- but we were anxious about a wildfire racing though the camp. The boys were so nervous they had trouble getting to sleep.

At the crack of dawn, we broke camp and left without so much as a drop of coffee or hot cocoa.