Villanueva State Park - A Charming, Secluded, Get Away.

Gazing out from the overlook trail at Villanueva State Park one can see the Pecos River sparkling in the sunlight as it meanders through the scenic valley below.

It’s a short but steep climb to the top of the hill overlooking this tidy little state park, but the rewards are spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and countryside.

The state park located about 60 miles east of Santa Fe has long been a draw for locals but others are also finding their way down into this secluded, picturesque valley along the Pecos river.

During a recent mid-week visit a French tourist and a Wyoming retiree were found hiking along the park’s popular overlook trail while at the bank of the river a couple of locals cleaned a fish they’d caught.

There’s a reason Villanueva State Park has long been known as a locals park and that’s in part because it is, having been created back in 1967 with land donated by the San Miguel del Bado Land Grant Board of Trustees.

“This is the only state park I know of initially created by a land grant board of trustees,” says Malcolm Ebright, director of the Center for Land Grant Studies of Guadalupita in a 2009 report to the state regarding the park.

The report, found online at http://www.newmexicohistory.org/featured_projects/Legislative%20Reports/documents/Villanueva.pdf provides a fascinating historical perspective of how the park was born during a tumultuous time in the state’s land grant history.

The report notes that the land grant trustees not only transferred 67 acres including 4,800 feet of river front access to the park but that an additional 3.5 miles of the Pecos River flowing through the grant would be opened up to the public for fishing and other recreational purposes.

The nearby village of Villanueva where most of the land grant members lived at the time was expected to benefit from the increased commerce from those frequenting the park, the report notes.

Visitors to the village may want to drive up to the top of the hill overlooking the town to see the grotto containing santos and other religious items. The village boasts a beautiful church constructed of local rock back in 1830 and a stop at the village mercantile is a must for those who cherish local, mom and pop, stores.

Bill Dolsonconverted this old goat barn into a studio at his home in Villanueva.

The park is located just a few miles down the road from Villanueva and has proven to be very popular.

“The locals love it here on weekends and especially on Easter Sunday,” says Ramon Gallegos Jr. a 25-year State Park veteran and Villanueva’s Acting Manager. “But during mid week it’s peaceful and a great place to come relax and enjoy the scenery.”

Today the park spans about 1,600 acres with a pleasant campground featuring 33 sites, 12 of which provide electricity. There’s a bathhouse with showers and a modern playground for the kids to play in.

The river is regularly stocked from fall through spring and provides good fishing while swimming and wading becomes the favored activity during the summer months.

A visitor center with a classic adobe-colored stucco exterior and a small cupola on a metal roof features brochures, pamphlets and small informative displays inside.

Visitors will find numerous appealing campsites nestled among shade trees along the streamside while newly rehabilitated camping shelters atop a hill overlooking the lower campground are equally attractive to campers.

The Pecos River at Villanueva State Parks as it flows downstream.

Hikers will find by crossing an attractive iron bridge spanning the river a 2.5 mile loop trail that heads up to the ravine overlooking the campground and river below.

Upon first heading upstream on the trail hikers will encounter a small butte jutting out over the river where the remains of rock walls can be seen. Native Indians and later Spanish settlers both apparently made good use of this spot and hikers can too.

Continuing on, the trail then switches back and begins a short but steep climb to the top of the overlook where visitors will find several rustic picnic shelters and an observation deck.

This is a superb spot to relax and enjoy a couple of cold beverages. Visitors need to pack out what they bring in and well-behaved, leashed pets are welcome.

Pat Lambert, a railroad retiree from Sheridan, Wyoming, enjoys a hike along the Overlook Trail.

Hikers can then continue their hike along the ridgeline and return to the bottom just downstream of the bridge.

Gallegos notes that the river is popular among kayakers and canoeists during years of ample spring runoff. One can take a day-long float through rugged, remote canyon lands covering about 19 miles to a take out at U.S. 84 at Tecolotito.

The river runs primarily through National Forest land starting a couple miles downstream of the state park and is reported to be a delightful float of relative ease with excellent fishing along the way.

Unfortunately the runoff forecast for this year is poor and it remains to be seen how good the river running will be. Equally disturbing is the fire threat this year which has forced parks such as Villanueva to prohibit open fires.

“We’re not allowing anything but propane right now,” Gallegos said.

In the meantime though with spring descending on the valley visitors will find the wildflowers in bloom, trees budding and the fishing biting at one of New Mexico’s more secluded get aways.

A Descanso on the road to Villanueva State Park  honors the dead and serves to caution us all.

If You Go:

From Santa Fe take I-25 east towards Las Vegas and get off at exit 323 and follow St. Rd 3 to the outskirts of Villanueva. Note the sign at the intersection with County Road B 28 A which leads down to Villanueva State Park. Beer is available on the way at El Pueblo. Groceries and fishing supplies can be had at the General Store in Villanueva. A sit down meal can be had at the landmark La Risa Cafe in Ribera.

Newly Reopened Acomita Lake is Hot Spot for Trout, Scenery and a Good Time

Tim Davidson, 57, of Shiprock shows off a nice rainbow trout he caught at Acomita Lake this spring.

It’s a Saturday morning and the sounds of kids playing drifts across Acomita Lake on a slight breeze.

Waves lap at the shoreline while the lonely wail of train’s horn sounds in the distance.

Mount Taylor looms on the horizon and the shoreline is busy with early spring anglers, despite the fact that Acomita Lake is one of New Mexico’s better kept, top secret, fishing holes.

“We used to come here years ago,” said Tim Davidson, 57, a school teacher out of Shiprock. “It’s my first time back since and it’s nice to be here again.”

Holding a stringer full of nice fat trout, Davidson, says the fishing was pretty good this late March morning.

Mount Taylor serves as a backdrop at Acomita Lake.

Like many other tribal operators around the state, Acoma Pueblo’s Acomita Lake, is gearing up for an influx of stir crazy anglers looking for relief.

The lake had been closed for years while pueblo officials pondered what to do with an aging dam, declining irrigation use and other factors, says Ian Tator, 32, formerly of Lumberton, Director of Game and Fish for the pueblo.

Having reopened last year to rave reviews from serious anglers, one would be hard pressed to find any information about the lake online or in fishing reports.

But that’s changing this year with radio and billboard ads now appearing and web pages to be posted so interested anglers can find out more about this hot spot on the angling circuit.

Spreading the word ?

Tator, a New Mexico State University graduate with degrees in wildlife and fisheries science, says the trout population in the lake is good since it was stocked several years ago but hadn’t been opened yet to fishing until last year.

The 75-acre lake is up to 45-feet deep in places and the trout population has held up well without experiencing any winter or summer die-offs due to extreme temperatures.

Nonetheless, it’s Tator’s hope that they will be able to purchase oxygen diffusers to help enrich the water and improve the fishery sometime in the near future. The lake holds mostly rainbow trout but brown and Snake River cutthroats trout are scheduled for stocking this year.

Tator says those using small boats and float tubes outfitted with battery-operated trolling motors have done well due to their ability to move about the lake to locate schools of fish. No boats over 20 feet long are allowed and gas motors are prohibited also.

Tator says typical flies such as wooley boogers and bead-head nymphs fished deep on sinking tip fly lines are working well while those fishing the bank with spinning lures, worms or power bait have had success too.

Trout caught and released on a Fisher-Chick single, barbless, hook, spinning lure.

Tator recommends those who don’t mind wading should work the marshier, north end of the lake where many fish have been congregating.

“We strive for a nice clean environment here,” Tator says. “The fishing is excellent and it’s just a great place to get away from it all.”

Fishing costs $20 for adults with a five-fish bag limit, kids under 12 years old fish for $8 with a three-fish bag limit.

Well behaved dogs, leashed or under voice command, are allowed while alcohol, guns and swimming are not. There is no handicap access as of yet.

The lake is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday through Sunday and a limited supply of tackle, snacks and refreshments are available at the small store on site. 

Acomita Lake is located about 18 miles shy of Grants, just off I-40, at the San Fidel exit. Potential visitors can call (505) 552-9866 for more info.

Tator noted that pueblo will host a fishing derby on Father’s Day in June with a top prize of $50,000 for the lucky angler who catches the tagged fish. Entry is $50 and there will be other prizes awarded for those who catch an additional 14 tagged fish, Tator said.

Those looking for tribal fishing a little closer to Santa Fe can head up to San Ildefonso Pueblo where a fabled, giant trout sporting a red plastic tag has still yet to be caught and cashed in for $200, says Ray Flores, Director of Parks and Wildlife for the Pueblo.

Fred Vigil, 46, of Pojoaque shows of his prize catch from San Ildefonso Lake last spring. 

The fish is reported to be in the 25- to 27-inch range and was stocked with many other monster trout a couple of years ago, Flores says.

“People have caught him but nobody can seem to land him,” Flores says. “A kid just got him within six feet of the bank but then he broke him off.”

San Ildefonso’s friendly informal fishing pond sits amid the shade of the Bosque and is easily navigated by the handicapped and elderly, Flores says. Senior groups and school classes are welcome and can obtain steeply discounted rates, he says.

Fishing at San Ildefonso costs $12 for adults with a six-fish bag limit, kids, veterans and seniors pay just $6. The pond is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends. Well behaved leashed dogs are welcome.

Nambe Lake.

And those in the mood for a little high country fishing need only head up to Nambe Lake and Falls where the heavily stocked waters, cool climate and expansive vistas make for an enjoyable day.

Adults pay $15 with a new limit of just five fish, down from seven in years past, says Joe Vigil, Chief Ranger.

“The costs of buying fish have gone up along with everything else,“ Vigil said.

Nambe Lake features good bank fishing and allows small boats with electric motors, float tubes and rafts. Well behaved dogs on leashes are welcome. Anglers will find some fishing supplies and a limited amount of groceries and ice at the ranger’s shed at the entrance to the lake.

If You Go:

Acomita Lake is located off I-40, between Albuquerque and Grants. Take the San Fidel exit, # 100. San Ildefonso Pueblo is off State Road 502 on the way to Los Alamos, follow the signs. Nambe Lake and Falls is off State Road 503, the back road to Chimayo, follow the signs.

Tent Rocks National Monument Delivers Spectacular Scenery

It can be a challenging and exciting climb to the top of the Canyon Trail at Tent Rocks National Monument but those who make it are rewarded with a striking panoramic view of the valley floor below.

From on high one can see the sparkling waters of the Rio Grande forming the lake at Cochiti dam, the spreading plains to the east, the Ortiz mountains looming in the south and the Sangre de Cristo and Jemez Moutains to the north and west.

But it is the view from behind, from where the hiker just came, that may be the most impressive as the eerie tent-shaped hoodoos for which this place is named dominate the scene.

Rising from the ground like so many dusty colored Christmas trees, the late afternoon light here in the canyon makes for impressive shadows, stunning contrasts and intriguing memories of these rock formations.

Located just south of Santa Fe near Cochiti Pueblo, the national monument has seen many improvements of late making it worth a return visit.

Gone is the bone-jarring, five-mile dirt road that used to lead to the Canyon and Cave Loop trailheads.

It has since been replaced by a smooth ribbon of asphalt and concrete pads where the road crosses several arroyos.

Visitors to the trailhead will find the easy, 1.2 mile Cave Loop trail and the more challenging and rewarding Canyon trail awaiting.

The Cave Loop trail provides a good view of the surrounding tent rocks and multi-colored hillsides along with access to a small cave carved into the rock wall by ancient dwellers.

The compelling Canyon Trail leads visitors up into a tight high-walled canyon where lone Ponderosa pines have taken root and stretch mightily for the skies.

Working one’s way up the sandy floor, squeezing at one point underneath a boulder wedged between the walls, one can’t help but feel a touch of claustrophobia.

Any anxiety produced by the tight confines soon diminishes though as one begins to climb up and out to the mesa top above. On the way one need only stop and look back to see the towering tent rocks and softly hued rock walls that make this place such a rare find.

The Canyon trail is listed at 1.6 miles with a short but steep, 630 foot ascent. The trail itself is well worn, with easily managed switchbacks and the resulting view is one of the more rewarding to be found in the state.

Upon climbing back down the canyon, hikers can take the Cave Loop trail at its intersection and find the hike is not much longer than just heading straight back to the lot. The trail ends as it threads its way through a well defined group of the tent rock formations.

The tent rocks are the byproduct of volcanic eruptions thousands of years ago that helped shape and form the Jemez region. Formed of soft pumice and tuff many of the tent rocks are protected from erosion by a cap rock perched precariously upon its peak.

The multi-colored bands seen in cliff faced walls were formed by different layers of ash piling up during long ago, volcanic events.

Posted on the BLM’s webpage dedicated to the monument is an extremely informative student trail guide that can printed out and taken along for a more inclusive hike.

A map and guide specifically dedicated to the monument published by High Desert Field Guides of Santa Fe and authored by geologists Kirt Kempter and Dick Huelster can also be obtained at the convienance store in the nearby town of Cochiti Lake or through the Public Lands Information Center which operates a store off St. Rd 14 on Dinosaur Trail.

And just a few miles up the road from the monument trailheads, visitors will find a new mile long, wheelchair suitable, hiking loop has been installed along with new picnic shelters, a modern outhouse and improved parking at the Veterans Memorial Overlook.

Here the surrounding peaks of the Jemez Mountains and views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains dominate the horizon while Peralta Canyon and its impressive rock formations can be seen below.

The windswept bluff at the overlook is a quiet, contemplative kind of place where one might be inclined to have a picnic or relax with a good book.

Tent Rocks National Monument is also called Kasha-Katuwe (white cliffs) and is jointly managed by the BLM and Cochiti Pueblo. In 2009 the monument recorded about 50,000 visitors including 45 school groups, according to latest available manager’s report posted on the BLM’s website.

Specific rules are in place at the monument including no alcohol, mountain bikes or dogs allowed, not even those to be left in a vehicle. For more info see the BLM’s website at http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/recreation/rio_puerco/kasha_katuwe_tent_rocks.html

The site is open during the summer hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and costs $5 for entrance.

 If You Go:

From Santa Fe take I-25 south to the turn off to Cochiti Lake at the bottom of La Bajada and follow St. Rd 16 to the intersection of St. Rd 22. Head west towards the mountains and Cochiti Dam. Just past the base of the dam turn south on 22 towards Cochiti Pueblo and the town of Sile. Follow the signs to the monument entrance.

Looking up and out from the bottom of Canyon Trail at Tent Rocks National Monument in  New Mexico.

Visit Wildlife West Nature Park to See Wild Animals Up Close

If it’s wolves you’re looking for, then the Wildlife West Nature Park in Edgewood is a good place of find them, along with plenty of other enlightening and entertaining animals.

The 122-acre park offers sanctuary for wildlife that for one reason or another could no longer survive on their own.

And for a lucky few, they have found a comfortable, natural, environment where they can live out the rest of their lives while also serving to educate and entertain the public.

The non-profit nature park is the lifework of Roger Alink, a Vietnam era Army veteran and retired high school shop teacher and host of some 4,000 school kids each year on field trips.

Roger Alink and Lucky the Deer.

Alink proudly notes that the park may be the world’s only zoo constructed entirely by youth, many of whom were Youth Conservation Corps members.

Alink, who earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial education and a master’s degree in outdoor recreation, both from the University of New Mexico, believes most kids these days suffer from “Nature Deficit Disorder.”

Alink, who grew up on a farm in Minnesota, did his best to combat that condition among his students while serving as shop teacher for Albuquerque’s Valley High School, where he ran an after-school stock car racing club and a mountaineering club.

The clubs helped give kids confidence, experience and skills they’d need in the outside world.

Alink, 63, is married to Terrie and is the father of two of his own children. His son, Brian, works in finance in Dallas and his daughter, Emily, is an industrial designer living in Seattle. Alink is the proud grandfather of six.

But Alink had an even bigger dream for helping kids, and that’s why he undertook creation of the nature park.

It’s a place where “education, nature, and hands-on experience with everything from animal husbandry to construction and conservation, provides a unique learning and development experience for young people,” Alink states on his website at www.wildlifewest.org.

During a recent visit to the park, Alink, a licensed contractor, pointed out how many of the park facilities incorporate recycled materials including animal enclosures made out of used tires encased in stucco.

The park’s amphitheatre is constructed of steel beams, poles and siding recovered from a defunct Albuquerque nursery.

There’s a water catchment and containment system to provide additional water for the facility, gardens that produce vegetables for the animals and even a small pond and wetland area to provide natural habitat.

Alink notes out that many of the park’s animal enclosures incorporate native trees, rocks and other features which provide the animal with a natural environment in which to live.

Feeding too is done in such a manner as to encourage the animals’ natural tendencies, such as placing meat in a tree to encourage climbing or hiding it to stimulate an animal’s problem solving abilities.

What’s apparent during a visit to the park on a quiet, late winter’s day is how well cared for and happy the animals appear.

An antelope approaches a visitor and beckons to have its head scratched and its rubbery horns wrestled with. A curious javelina comes out of its hiding spot at the sound of a human voice and ambles over to the plastic viewing window to find out who’s there, sniffing heavily around the window’s seams.

There’s a perky looking but aloof bobcat, much too intent on watching something off in the distance to pay a visitor any mind.

And behind another plastic window in an enclosure lounges a luxurious mountain lion in the dirt while a sleepy bear with an inquisitive nose greets Alink and his visitor this balmy winter’s day.

The park has a large contingent of raptors and other birds under its care, including a colorful pair of Crested Caracaras, the national bird of Mexico, and a one-eyed golden eagle kept in a large screened enclosure where it has some room to fly.

A Crested Caracaras,the national bird of Mexico.

Other birds include owls and even a turkey vulture.

But it’s the recent addition of three young male wolves that really has the park buzzing as the spirited group grows accustomed to their new home.

Members of a pack raised in captivity for eventual release by the United State Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the three never made it into the wild and were instead moved to the nature park to make room for others in the release program, according to Tom Buckley, Public Affairs Specialist with the USFWS in Albuquerque.

Those interested in hanging out with the wolves need not venture all the way into the Gila Wilderness to do so as visitors to the park in Edgewood can spend a night in a “blind” where they can unobtrusively observe, photograph and listen to the animals.

“If you spend the night, you’ll hear them and it’s pretty special,” Alink says.

Photographers have shown a lot of interest in the new pack and the blind operation, he added.

Visitors can also spend the night at the mountain lion enclosure and both programs are part of many innovative ideas the park utilizes to support its operations.

Take the back road to Edgewood and see some of what makes New Mexico so special.

The park plays host to a wind festival in May featuring kite flying, then there’s the Hammers and Hooves Horse Fair and Blacksmith Competition in June and a highly popular summer music festival in July and in the fall a harvest festival.

Also throughout the summer months, visitors will find regularly scheduled Saturday night Chuck Wagon dinners featuring classic BBQ and the fixings, hay rides, western music and animal shows.

The park also provides regular classes for the park’s many volunteers and members of the public including bird handling and animal keeping, there’s a summer camp for junior zoo keepers and guided educational field trips to the park.

The park has facilities for rent and Alink, the executive director of the operation, is always open to new ideas. More info about the park and its many programs can be found on its website at www.wildlifewest.org.

The doorway to nowhere on State Road 14.

Fly Fishing Film Festival Proceeds to Benefit the San Juan River

Aaron Carithers of Anasazi Anglers and a native San Juan River Brown trout.

By Karl Moffatt
Fly fishing fanatics can get their fix and do some good by attending an upcoming film tour in which proceeds will go to trout habitat improvements and other worthy projects on the state’s top angling attraction, the San Juan River below Navajo Dam, sponsors say.

“Anyone who loves to fish and truly cares about this trophy-class trout stream should come on down to the show,” says Larry Johnson of the San Juan River Guide Association, one the local fly- fishing film tour’s primary sponsors. “The films are great, there’ll be fabulous raffle prizes and it’s a wonderful opportunity to show support for our beautiful San Juan River.”

The San Juan River in northwestern New Mexico draws thousands of fly-fishing enthusiasts to its waters each year for the opportunity to catch and release big trout and is consistently rated among the country’s top ten trout fisheries.

But because of ongoing low flows, the river, one of state’s top tourism draws estimated to bring in up to $40 million a year, is in need of habitat and other improvement projects to keep it special for anglers and trout alike.

E.T.Rock on the San Juan River at Navajo Dam, New Mexico.

Thus members of the angling community have come together to sponsor the fly-fishing film tour in March with shows in Albuquerque and Santa Fe with proceeds to fund future projects on the San Juan River.

The film tour’s New Mexico debut is scheduled for Friday, March 11, at the Hotel Albuquerque in Old Town at 800 Rio Grande Blvd. NW and is sponsored by Charlie’s Sporting Goods and the Los Pinos Fly Shop.

T.J. Trout of 94 Rock, an avid trout fisherman, will emcee the event, which will feature a no-host bar, food carts, vendors’ booths and a raffle at intermission for prizes such as rods and reels or guided trips and lodging on the San Juan River.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with over two hours of films slated to begin at 7 p.m.

And in Santa Fe the film tour will show at the Lodge at Santa Fe, 750 North St. Francis Drive, on March 25 with the Reel Life and High Desert Anglers fly shops sponsoring.

The event will feature similar attractions to those found in Albuquerque with the doors opening at 5:30 p.m. and the show to begin at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $15 at the door or $10 when purchased at the sponsors’ stores.

Proceeds will go to yet to be determined projects on the San Juan that have been endorsed by New Mexico Trout, the Truchas Chapter of Trout Unlimited and the San Juan River Guide Association.

Baetis Bend on the San Juan River at Navajo Dam, New Mexico.

Heritage Hotels, which operates both the Hotel Albuquerque and the Lodge at Santa Fe, donated cinemagraphic accommodations for the film festival, Johnson said.

Films to be shown include a documentary of the exploits of four die-hard fishermen doing whatever it takes to survive on the open road for nearly four months on an epic, overland, fly-fishing adventure.

Beginning in Portland, Oregon, the crew converts a diesel truck to run on vegetable oil, while they beg, borrow, and barter ways to fuel their 8,000-mile journey to the tip of Baja and across mainland Mexico to the beaches of the Yucatan Peninsula.

While en route to their fishing destinations, the crew tries desperately to avoid harassment from local law enforcement and from being kidnapped and held for ransom by the drug cartels.

Another film features two childhood friends whose lifelong dream of exploring the wilderness of the South Island of New Zealand becomes reality and the experience of a lifetime.

Other segments include films dedicated to Muskie fishing in Wisconsin, fishing the marshes of Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and fly fishing for shark, permit and smallmouth bass in unique locations.

And the show will feature a sneak preview of the first 20 minutes of the film "Low & Clear", a story about a winter fly-fishing trip to Canada that serves as catalyst for two old friends who have gone their separate ways.

Old fishing buddies Glenn May and Karl Moffatt at Texas Hole on the San Juan River in December 2003.

With days spent in icy waters and cramped motel rooms, the two discover they may have grown too far apart as ideologies and egos clash.

A meditation on friendship, the film seeks to examine how for some, life can be about fishing and for others, fishing can be about life.

The Fly Fishing Film Tour is the work of the Webeye Group out of Boulder, Colo., and more information about the national tour can be found at their website at http://www.flyfishingfilmtour.com/

For more info about the local film tour contact Larry Johnson by email at Soaring Eagle Lodge at info@soaringeaglelodge.net or by telephone at (505) 632-3721.