Profile NM - Bob Gerding Hunting and Fishing Promoter

Bob Gerding, Winter, 2008.

Just when cabin fever has you climbing the walls, Bob Gerding’s annual hunting and fishing show comes along to bring the great outdoors inside for a few days.

“It’s a great way to bust out of those winter blues,” says Gerding who celebrates his 10th anniversary of hosting the show at the state fairgrounds in Albuquerque.

For three days, outdoor enthusiasts can find hunting and fishing guides, lodge operators, outfitters, outdoors equipment retailers and nonprofit organizations manning booths at the Manuel Lujan Complex on the state fairgrounds in Albuquerque.
There’ll be events for kids, including a rock-climbing wall, laser and BB gun shooting ranges and a fly-casting pool.

Visitors will find seminars on dog training, fly-fishing the San Juan River in New Mexico or the Arkansas River in Colorado, African safaris and quail hunting.

There’ll be recreational vehicles of all types on display and informational booths from organizations such as the state Department of Game and Fish, Trout Unlimited, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, Federation of Fly Fishers and the New Mexico Wildlife Federation.

To celebrate the show’s 10th anniversary, Gerding is giving away an Alaskan fishing trip including lodging, meals and airfare.

Door prizes and giveaways include an elk hunting permit on Ted Turner’s Vermejo Park Ranch and a Chama trip including passes on the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad.

The show runs from noon on Friday, Feb. 8th , to 7 p.m. and then 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, the 9th , and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, the 10th. Admission is $7 for adults and kids under 12 years old get in for free. Parking at the fairgrounds is $4.

So who is Bob Gerding anyhow and why does he do this?

“I just love it, these are my people,” Gerding, 69, of Albuquerque says.” It’s like a family reunion. It’s fun work.”

Gerding’s family and friends are all involved in making the show work, as are many of the business associates he’s come to know over his years from his work in the outdoor arena.

You may know Gerding from his deep, distinctive voice, tall stature and mane of silver hair. He hosts the weekend television show “Wild New Mexico,” talks fishing on 94Rock radio every Thursday and takes calls from viewers of KRQE-TV 13’s noon, news show on Wednesdays. He’s even done some voice-over work for commercials over the years.

Gerding says he ended up on the bawdy, heavy metal, radio show because the popular DJ, T.J. Trout, likes to fish.

“He’d come into the store and one day I asked him why he didn’t do a feature like TJ’s Trout picks or something like that on the radio?” Gerding said. “And he said ‘why don’t you?’ ”Gerding has made a lot of friends during his 20 years of working the counter at Charlies Sporting Goods in Albuquerque where he also taught fly-fishing, fly-tying, and published some books.

Then about 10 years ago he left the Domenici family business to start one of his own, putting clients together with outfitters through his company, Bob Gerding’s Outdoor Adventures.

Gerding got the idea for the annual hunting and fishing show while attending outdoor shows in Arizona and Colorado where he was marketing a book. He decided it was time to find a show closer to home and the idea was born.

The shows have proven to be very popular with up to 8,000 people attending last year, he said.

“And that’s not counting the kids,” he adds.

With all the friends Gerding has made over the years, has he every considered going into politics?

Gerding says he did in college for a brief time but after dabbling in the process a bit he decided it wasn’t for him.

“I realized I had too many ethics and not enough money,” he said.

Gerding is a longtime Albuquerque resident who graduated Highland High School.

He holds a business degree from the University of New Mexico where he has been named to the Anderson School of Business’ Hall of Fame.

He is an Army vet who served in the reserves during his college years and spent his two weeks of active duty each summer down at Fort Bliss in Texas.Gerding followed in his dad’s footsteps by going into the insurance business after college but he didn’t like the work and soon found himself managing Albuquerque’s first Orvis fly shop before moving on to Charlie’s.

Gerding and his wife, Harriet, a retired financial advisor, have two sons, Patrick, of Phoenix and Mike, of Denver, both of whom work in the business field.

A daughter, Laura, died at the age of 40 due to breast cancer, Gerding said.

He has a twin, Dick, a Farmington attorney whose likeness to his brother has come in handy on occasion.

“I’ve had him fill in for me once,” Gerding says of an instance involving a family
emergency. “He did some live (television) interviews and nobody knew the difference.”

Gerding said he and his brother took an interest in the outdoors as kids and their dad accommodated them with vacations to places like the Brazos River near Chama.

There the boys learned to fish from mentors like an elderly spinster from Albuquerque who took summers off from her job as a bookkeeper to relax and fish on the river.

Gerding said in those days they learned to fish with worms, salmon eggs and flies like a gray-hackled peacock or the Rio Grande King. Inevitably, they stuck to fly-fishing out of pure laziness because it was easier than baiting a hook all the time, Gerding said.

As teenagers, the two boys then got jobs at the Lazy Ray dude ranch up in the Jemez mountains. Located on the Rio Cebolla above Seven Springs Fish Hatchery, the ranch was where Gerding took on his first client, in teaching a woman to fish.

Gerding said he liked that job because he got to fish twice a day, once in the morning while the clients were getting ready to go out and later in the evening while they were all at happy hour.

He turned out to be such a good fisherman that one of his additional duties was to provide trout for the traditional Friday night fish fry, Gerding said.

It was here that he also discovered the beauty of the Valles Caldera. The ranch was then known as the Baca and was a neighbor of the Lazy Ray’s.

The ranch hands were free to visit and fish on each other’s property in those days and they all took full advantage of the opportunity, Gerding said.Nowadays Gerding still returns to the Valles Caldera to conduct fly-fishing clinics for the public visiting the preserve.

And while fly-fishing might be a very popular outdoor pursuit today, it wasn’t always so, Gerding said. It was a little known fishing method back when he was a youth, he said.

“I’d be fishing down on the Rio Grande by the Taos Junction bridge and people on the road would stop just to watch,” he said. “I’d draw a crowd.”

Then fly-fishing really took off after the Robert Redford’s movie “A River Runs Through It” came out in the 1990s, Gerding said. The yuppie era’s lifestyle and affluence also helped fuel interest in fly-fishing and other outdoor recreational pursuits, he added.

“I can’t tell you the number of outfits I sold and people I taught whom I never ever saw again,” Gerding said.

Gerding figures he’s taught at least 2,000 people how to fish during the course of his career.

Gerding speculates that the next “undiscovered” outdoor activity in New Mexico would be small-mouth bass fishing and Navajo dam would be the hot spot for pursuing that sport.

Gerding says the state needs to do a better job of promoting recreational tourism.

“Outdoor recreation in New Mexico is the most important rural industry we have,” Gerding says.

In the meantime, Gerding is doing his part promoting the industry and one of the primary benefits of his show is potential clients have a chance to personally meet guides, outfitters and lodge operators in the business.

“And there’s no one in these exhibit halls I wouldn’t personally recommend,” he says.


If You Go:

Take I-25 south to Albuquerque, get off at the Louisiana exit and follow it down to Lomas, turn right and head down to San Pedro, take a left and head down to the fairgrounds (now called Expo New Mexico). If to hit Central, you’ve gone to far. The show begins at noon on Friday, Feb 8th and runs until 7 p.m. It picks back again at on Saturday, Feb. 9, starting at 9 a.m. and continuing to 6 p.m. and then again on Sunday, Feb. 10, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $7 for adults and kids under 12 years old get in for free. Parking at the fairgrounds is $4.

This article also appeared in the Santa Fe New Mexican's Outdoors section.

Roadtrip NM -Snowmobiling Chama's Mountains

Bill Koozer gazed out across the deep, sparkling snow and towering pines of the high mountains above Chama and sighed with satisfaction.

“It’s so exhilarating,” he said. ”I feel very fortunate to be here.”

Koozer operates Cumbres Adventure Tours out of a roadside cabin off State Road 17 in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado.

And at age 76, it’s something this retired farmer and Marine Corps veteran still enjoys immensely.

“I like to see people having fun and enjoying the mountains like I do,” he says of his many customers who venture into the backcountry on his snowmobiles. ”And most of them seem to come back with a smile on their face, too.”

Koozer talks about retiring someday soon to spend more time with his family down in the warmer, sunnier climate of southern Arizona.

But when you see him gunning a powerful Skidoo up a hill of snow, the flaps of his mad bomber cap splayed out in the breeze, one might question that notion.

Koozer grew up on a farm in western Nebraska near the town of Alliance where his family did well raising wheat and potatoes during World War II.

Koozer went on to play football at Chadron College in Nebraska where he majored in physical education. But upon graduation, he discovered coaching jobs didn’t pay very well and instead of coaching he joined the Marine Corps.

“You know, I’m not sure what I was thinking,” he said of that decision. “I had some friends going in, there was a group of us.”

So at the height of the Korean War, Koozer shipped off to Officer Candidates School at Quantico, Va.

“It was tough,” he said. “We had four guys die during training.”

Koozer went on to earn his commission as a second lieutenant, but by that time a truce had been called in the war and he ended up as the company commander of a transportation unit at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Koozer served his two-year term and then walked away from the Corps, returning to his roots in western Nebraska.

Koozer decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and tried farming for a living. As his career progressed, Koozer gravitated to the distribution side of the business and eventually opened a packing shed in Hereford, Texas.

“It was very profitable,” he said. “But the problem was I wanted to make too much money too fast.”

And thus Koozer learned his first hard lesson about the agriculture business when a torrential rainstorm wiped out a huge onion crop he had backed with most of his money.

“It put me in pretty bad shape,” he said.

But he learned from the experience and moved on to successfully manage several different farms and agricultural operations over the years, primarily in southern Colorado.

But despite his diligence he was to encounter hard luck again when a business deal with a partner on a lucrative farming operation went sour and he incurred another heavy loss.

“It still bothers me to talk about,” he says of that affair.Koozer doggedly stuck with the farming business but kept his eyes open for an opportunity to get out.

“It’s probably the best way to grow up, living on a farm,” he said. “But it can be a frustrating business.”

Koozer said as a kid he remembered working in the farm fields of western Nebraska and straining to see the far off mountains where he vowed to work and live someday.

So as Koozer worked the farms of the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado he also enjoyed visiting the mountains surrounding them, like those above Chama.

“And one day I saw these guys out running around on one of these (snowmobiles) and I decided then I had to have one,” Koozer said.

Koozer liked the machines so much he decided to turn others on to them and thus his touring business was born.

“Those guys out there with the snowmobiles are the greatest,” said Billy Plagens, 53, of Franklin, Texas, a roofing company owner who along with family went riding with Koozer’s guides in mid-January. “The best part was seeing all that country.

It’s really pretty. I mean this is something everybody should do at least once in their life.”

Koozer said the recent and much publicized plight of two Farmington, N.M., families who got lost in a blizzard while snowmobiling in the mountains above Chama shouldn’t scare off potential riders.

“It can happen when you don’t know the area and aren’t watching the weather,” he said. “People get to having a good time, get careless and the first thing you know a storm comes up behind you.“

Those families had to hole up in the Cumbres and Toltec train station at Osier and ride out several nights until the weather broke and help arrived.

“But in the end they did the right thing, they hunkered down and waited for help,” Koozer said.

Koozer said his guides, Dwayne Abeyta, 37, of Foxcreek, Colo., Joe Pacheco, 32, of Antonito, Colo., and Jerry Gravley, 61, of Chama, are experienced, well prepared and don’t take chances.

Koozer’s riders are also provided snowsuits, helmets and other outdoor equipment so they’re prepared to deal with backcountry conditions. Rides can last just a couple of hours or for as long as half or full day. Check out www.cumbresadventuretours.com for prices and other details.

Koozer said he still accompanies tour groups on occasion but prefers to let his crew handle the rigors of leading new riders out across the snow.

And with up to six feet of snow on the ground and more expected in the coming week, Koozer said he expects the snowmobiling season to last well into April.

“I haven’t seen it like this in the 14 years I’ve been up here,” he said.
Koozer said those interested in seeing the snow blanketed, high country from the seat of a high-powered snowmobile need only give him a call at 719-376-2161 to arrange a tour.If You Go: Take US 84/285 north out of Santa Fe and at the first light in Española cross the river and continue on US 84 through Abiquiu to Chama. Pass through town past the railroad depot. Continue on up State Road 17 past the railroad station at the crest of the mountain. Continue on down the highway until you come to a sweeping curve in the road with a wide valley and several cabins and homes on the right. Look for the steak house and saloon and the Cumbres Adventure Tours sign. Pull in there. About 260 miles roundtrip. For an alternative return trip continue on Highway 17 over the mountain down to the Conejos River and the little village of Horca. Continue on Highway 17 past Foxcreek and on to the outskirts of Antonito and then take US 285 south through Ojo Caliente to Española and then back to Santa Fe on US 84/285. Adds about 10 miles to trip.


This article also appeared in the Santa Fe New Mexican's Outdoors section.

NM News - Game Commissioners Mull Two Fly Rule

In an effort to reduce inadvertent damage and deaths to fish, state game commissioners are slated to consider adoption of a rule to limit anglers to the use of just two flies on quality waters.

The rule targets anglers who fly fish and applies to the state’s “quality waters” where anglers are restricted to the use of flies or natural lures and harvesting is reduced or eliminated to improve fishing quality.

Anglers who use bait would be unaffected by the proposed rule change.

Currently there is no restriction on the number of flies that an angler may use while fly-fishing and some say that’s a problem on quality waters such as the San Juan River, the state’s blue-ribbon trout fishery below Navajo Dam.

“ I don’t see how anyone who loves this river can be opposed to this,” said T. J. Massey , 32, of San Juan River Outfitters. “ It’s about conserving the fishery so my kids and others can experience it like I have.”

Massey says the practice of stringing three, four or more flies on a line to improve the chance of catching a fish is harming the San Juan River’s trout population and doesn’t provide fish with a sporting chance.

“Fishing with multiple flies is brutal,” Massey said. "I just cringe thinking about it."

Fish easily become entangled and wrapped up in multiple fly rigs, are much more likely to become foul-hooked, and appear to be dying more often from these kinds of encounters, Massey said.

Guides and anglers on the San Juan have reported seeing more injured and dead fish on the river in recent years and they find it disturbing. Many lay much of the blame on the use of multiple flies.

Thus Massey has been a driving force behind an effort to adopt the limitation, which he claims enjoys considerable support among many other guides, anglers and state Department of Game and Fish staff.

But while Massey’s petition in support of the rule boasts some of the best-known names in the business, at least one guide who also works on the San Juan River has bucked the trend and opposes the rule.

Jude Duran, 28, of Flora Vista, is an independent guide with six years work experience on the river and he questions the need for such a rule.

“I just question whether it’s even necessary, hardly anybody even uses them,” Duran said of the multiple fly rigs. “Sure it wouldn’t hurt, but will it be effective? Or will this just be another useless law on the books?”

Duran says he’d rather retain his right to use the questionable rigs rather than lose it and also notes there’s no evidence to prove more fish are being injured and killed by multiple fly rigs.

Yet Duran said he rarely uses the questionable rigs although he calls their use a “valid technique” if done properly.

Duran considers the rule adoption a waste of time and money for the state because new signs will have to be posted, new fishing proclamations printed and anglers educated.

“I worry about them having enough to do as it is,” he said.

Duran said he’d rather see the state spending the same time and money on enforcing the prohibition against the use of barbed hooks which he suspects causes more damage than the use of multiple flies on the San Juan River’s quality waters.

“Enforce that rule and do more catch-and-release education, that would be more helpful than this,” Duran said.

Marc Wethington-Summer-2007.

The state Department of Game and Fish’s fisheries biologist on the San Juan River, Marc Wethington, says he hasn’t done a specific study to determine the impact multiple fly rigs or barbed hooks may be having upon the trout population in the river.

However, anecdotal evidence, such as fish inspections conducted during frequent and routine electro shocking, reveals almost all trout in the San Juan River’s quality waters show signs of having been hooked or injured by anglers.

Wethington, who has worked on the river for 13 years and holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental science, suspects that most fish in the San Juan River’s quality waters will die inevitably from some form of angler induced mortality.

“Very few of these fish are going to die from old age,” he said.

So common sense dictates that anything that can be done to decrease harm to the river’s trout population will help increase the quality of the fishing experience there, he said.

And while most fly fishing anglers are generally law abiding and use barbless hooks as required, many have experimented with and use multiple fly rigs because there is no rule prohibiting them, he said.

Wethington said he supports the rule adoption. He would also like to see more guides and anglers consider quality, not quantity, when gauging their fishing experience on the San Juan River and act accordingly.

And so far the majority of comments received by the state Department of Game and Fish’s Albuquerque office seem to support just that, expressing an interest in preserving the quality of the San Juan’s fishing experience and decrying the implicit “greed” behind the use of multiple fly combinations, said Rick Castell, state Department of Game and Fish’s fisheries manager for the Northwest Area, which includes the San Juan River below Navajo Dam.

“A lot of this is aesthetics too,” he said.

People are just sick and tired of seeing so many dead and maimed fish on the San Juan River and they want to do something about it, he said.

Castell said he wouldn’t expect any problem from the fly fishing community in enforcing the rule if it’s adopted, as they tend to police themselves well.

Those interested in wading in on the proposed rule debate can use the email link under the public comment section of the Department’s website.

The proposed rule change is scheduled to go before the state Game Commission for consideration at its scheduled meeting in Santa Fe on Feb. 21, 2008, at the state Capitol in Room 322.

For more information such as the proposed regulation, agenda briefings, and other information, just look under the commission tab on the Department’s website.

The San Juan is one of the West’s top trout waters, a legendary, trophy-class trout fishery fueled by consistent flows and clear, cold water. The river lures anglers from all over the world to fish its quality waters, which are home to an estimated 75,000 trout.

The first quarter mile of the river below Navajo Dam is strictly catch and release and the remaining four miles have a bag limit of one trout over 20 inches with the angler required to stop fishing once they have taken a fish of that size, that day.

The use of barbless hooks on flies is required in the quality waters but the number of flies on a single line is currently not restricted.

Below the quality waters, anglers can use bait and the normal bag limit is in effect on public access to another 3.5 miles of the San Juan River River including the Cottonwood Campground area.

Anglers spend about 250,000 hours a year fishing on the San Juan River below Navajo Dam and contribute an estimated $20 million to $30 million to the state’s economy annually, according to Wethington.

This article also appeared in the Santa Fe New Mexican's Outdoors section.

Road Trip NM - T or C or Bust!

We fled northern New Mexico’s icy grip in our little Suzuki station wagon and left behind mid-January’s heavy snows, freezing temps and biting wind.

We were headed about 200 miles south to Truth or Consequences and a cheap room at the Belair Inn.

At $50 bucks a night I envisioned a swaybacked bed, bare bulbs and thin walls.

Instead we found two big, firm beds covered in soft, warm comforters with four fluffy pillows waiting on each. The lighting was soft and inviting and the walls, thick and quieting.

The dog settled right in and we kicked back with a cold beer from the little fridge.

Me and my wife, Wren, looked at each other and grinned. Go figure.

We were here for the town’s natural hot springs, hoping to melt away weeks of heavy snow, bitter cold and biting wind that had chilled our bones.

Perhaps the steaming, hot spring waters would clear our congested heads, loosen our aching muscles and bring relaxation to our harried minds.

It was the same reason the Chiricahua Apache leader Geronimo came here, to relax and heal up in the hot waters bubbling from the ground.

The downtown museum bears his name and provides more details about this legendary Indian and plenty more about the history of the region.

For instance, the town was once called Palomas Springs because of the doves that roosted in its trees. Then that was shortened to Hot Springs, just like so many other towns throughout the country that had sprung up around geothermal attractions.

So in 1950 when Ralph Edwards of the popular television show Truth or Consequences offered to televise his 10th anniversary special from the first town to adopt his show’s name, the residents here bit at it.

The feeling was the town’s tourist business could use the free publicity and finally dump what was a very common and a dead-end name.

The name change wasn’t without controversy though and has since been put up again for a vote three times, but the majority of residents have each time elected to retain the Truth or Consequences name.

And Ralph Edwards? Well, he proved to be a stand up guy, coming back to this dusty, little town, year after year, to help celebrate its Fiesta celebration in May. The town responded by naming its beautiful, downtown, riverside park after him.


Edwards died in November 2005 at the age of 92 at his home in West Hollywood, Calif., in his sleep, like all those who have lived good lives do.

Truth or Consequences, or T or C as the locals call it, is just a blink of a town.

Most folks just blow right by it on I-25 without ever stopping. Those who do usually end up at one the typical businesses normally found clustered around the highway ramps located at either end of town.

But those who take the time to roll through T or C will find much to enjoy in this funky, desert, hideaway.

We started with a soak in a private tub at the Riverbend Hot Springs, just $50 for the two of us for two wonderfully, long hours. We giggled like kids as we peeled off layers of wool, fleece and denim, kicked our winter boots into a corner and then climbed into the deep stone tub.

Ahhhhh we exhaled as we sunk into the bubbling, hot water. With heavy sighs, we settled back and let the steaming water do its work.

Within minutes our faces were flushed red, sweat beaded upon our brows and our hair lay matted and wet.

Within minutes we were forced to climb out and lay in the warm winter sun, a gentle breeze quickly cooling our skin. As we lounged naked by the riverside, our privacy was ensured by a nicely constructed, rattan screen enclosure, its open front facing the river and the slate, gray mountains looming across the far bank.
We watched as an eagle circled overhead against a brilliant, blue sky while several smaller birds gave chase. On the river, ducks paddled upstream against the river’s current, dipping under to feed and then emerging later further upstream.

The sun blessed our bodies and Santa Fe’s artic grip seemed a million miles away.

Upon emerging from our soak we scheduled a reservation for the next morning and took a stroll around town to check out some of the fabulous, Depression era architecture it boasts.

Many of these buildings are painted bright and lively colors giving the place a feel like that of old Mexico. There are rows upon rows of apartments that harkens back to its heyday as a resort.
And we saw many people out and about, walking through the small town. When we said “hello,” it was interesting that most complained about the weather; apparently it was still too cold for them.

To us it was absolutely delightful. We were stripped down to sweatshirts while the locals were all bundled up in jackets.

It was maybe 50 degrees out and very sunny.

I guess the locals were used to even balmier weather but this latest artic blast had even left its impression down here.
We came across a couple coming out of a row of apartments and asked about the building. The woman said she was the manager and stated that there was room available for a “lady” with a private bath for $290 a month. There was also another room available for a gentleman that could be had for $235 with the use of a shared bath.

Wow! A person could actually survive on a Social Security pension here and it looked like many people did as we passed row upon row of travel trailers and recreational vehicles parked along the town’s back streets.

This part of town had that “Mad Max” kind of a feel to it and I envisioned people huddled around a campfire on any given night, sharing a toke and nip off the bottle, smoke curling about their bodies in the shimmering light of the fire.

As we walked, we came across a little diner on a side street just up the street from the downtown Baptist Church. It was called the Sunset Grill and the grilled, patty melt here was to die for - the fries? just perfect.
And while we found the young waitress to be a little too much of a wise-ass for us, it was just what you’d expect from a good, small-town diner, the likes of which are a rapidly fading institution in this country.

However, the veteran waitress who served us breakfast at the same place the next day brewed a fresh pot of decaf before taking our order and had every condiment any one would ever want before we had a chance to ask for it.

The downtown area, which has its share of empty storefronts, features a small assortment of galleries and tourist shops, many offering the nicely priced work of local artists, both long-timers and those more transient.
The work of local potters is especially good and we have in the past picked up several nice items from Ken Merrick’s Spectrum Pottery studio at 411 North Date St. located on Motel Row.

While there on our latest trip we noticed several locals – with personal travel cups in hand -- looking disappointed upon finding the local coffee bar closed for the holiday weekend.

What’s impressive about this town is their main street appears to be as important to the locals as it is to the visitors as is evidenced by the steady flow of traffic at the local, downtown supermarket and drugstore.

No chain stores here.

We round out our trip with a drive up to the state park below Elephant Butte dam where we could take a nice walk along the river.

It was here that many years ago when I was hiding out in Las Cruces and cooking at another great diner, Dick’s, that I had a memorable fishing moment.

I had taken a day off and came up to T or C to fish below the great dam. The current was ripping along pretty good and there I was with my fly rod in hand chucking a heavily weighted Wooly Booger into the churning waters.

I watched helplessly as it was swept away in a flash. Well, at least I was out fishing, I thought to myself.

Suddenly a big Chevy Suburban with tinted windows came roaring down the dirt drive and stopped amid a swirling, cloud of dust by the river’s edge.

A couple of guys in diver’s suits, armed with spear guns, climbed out. They backed their way into the water and disappeared.

I stood dumb-founded until a few minutes later one of the divers poked his head up from the water over by the far bank, behind a couple of big rocks. Then he held up his spear gun with a giant fish impaled upon it.

I looked over to the Suburban where their driver stood grinning broadly, nodding his head up and down.

I felt like a fool, standing there in hip waders, armed with a fly rod, and sheepishly walked away.

They sure do things differently down here, I remember thinking to myself.

We topped off our most recent trip with a visit to the recently restored guesthouse at the Elephant Butte Dam Site Resort and Marina located just a short drive out of T or C.

Just take 3rd Street out of town, this becomes State Road 51. Do not take the turn off at State Road 179 to the town of Elephant Butte, but instead stay on State Road 51 headed towards the dam and the town of Engle.

At the top of the hill take the road leading down to the dam site and marina. Here you’ll find fine examples of the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) work done at the dam, including the historic restaurant, guesthouses and park. See this New Mexico State Parks document for more information about the CCC work at Elephant Butte Dam.

We found the hilltop day use area above the marina offered great views and a wonderful location for a picnic or perhaps even a wedding party. See the dam site for more information about the park and historic cabins for rent.

And on driving back home we took State Road 195, also known as Lake Shore Drive or Rock Canyon Road, from the town of Elephant Butte north along the western edge of the lake. We pased by several empty camping and fishing areas which piqued our interest and were filed away for reference on future trips.


The Butte, as it is known to locals, is a huge reservoir that spans many miles of remote shoreline, sandy beaches and offers plenty of warm water fishing. This great, little back road emerges at exit 89 on I-25 at the Monticello Point turnoff.

But don’t bother trying to find this road on a Richardson administration state transportation map, these maps are now virtually useless for identifying anything but the most heavily traveled routes.

The New Mexico Road and Recreation Atlas or the Roads of New Mexico atlas provide much better details of these kinds of back roads and should be made part of any New Mexico explorer’s road trip kit.

Anyone seeking to discover the true spirit of southern New Mexico should consider Truth or Consequences as a vacation destination, especially in the middle of the winter.

Roadtrip NM - Cerrillos Hills Historic Park

A sunny winter’s day is a great time to take a hike out around the Cerrillos Hills Historic Park south of Santa Fe where one can learn more about the area’s mining history while taking in some great scenery.

Operated by Santa Fe County’s Open Space Division, the park, located about 25 miles south Santa Fe, covers about 1,100 acres of rolling foothills just outside the historic mining town of Cerrillos.

Visitors to the park will find a clean restroom, plenty of informative signs and brochures, picnic tables and thoughtful seating but above all - spectacular views.
The park is open dawn to dusk, is free of charge and leashed dogs are welcome.

During a recent hike up the Jane Calvin Sanchez (marked the Mountain Lion Trail on the informational brochure) the author found the quiet of the afternoon enlivened by the spirited, howls of a nearby pack of coyotes and then the long, lonely wail of a freight train off in the valley.

The Sanchez trail provides several vigorous, uphill climbs to strategically placed benches where one can catch their breath and the views before proceeding on.
Located along the trail are several fenced-off, mineshafts with interpretive signs posted to enlighten visitors.


Hiking amid these piñon and juniper studded hills, one can only imagine the hard work that miners during the mining boom of the late 1800s must have endured searching for silver and gold in these hills.

The Sanchez trail tops out after about a mile and then wends its way around and down a hill to drop back down to the road, Camino Turquesa, below. Here a natural spring bubbles out from under the sloping hillside and willows, cottonwoods and other vegetation flourish in the iron stained water.

Across the road, a hiker can proceed up the Escalante trail to another hilltop resting and viewing area or stop by the roadside just downstream of the spring at a shaded, picnic area with more interpretive signs. It’s a short walk back down the road to the parking area.

The Sanchez trail covered just over two miles and provided several good, strenuous climbs that got the heart pumping and muscles working.

Back at the parking area one can find the wonderful concrete and iron kiosk built to house a sundial with a sign explaining how it works and more information about the surrounding ecosystem.

From here one can also take a wheelchair accessible, graded and graveled trail a short distance to a hilltop viewing area. Here one can look down upon the village of Cerrillos below and compare what they see to a posted map showing how the village looked at the height of its boom days.

Nearby a beautifully built, iron ramada offers visitors a spot to relax and take it all in.

But a trip out to Cerrillos wouldn’t be complete without venturing into town for a cold beer at Mary’s Bar or a stop at the Casa Grande Trading Post - Petting Zoo and Cerrillos Turquoise Mining Museum. Check out their website for more information.


Those traveling out to Cerrillos Hills Park can make a roundtrip adventure of it by taking I-25 south to exit 267 located at the top of La Bajada Hill, just past the rest area.

Go under the highway and then head straight for the mountains on Santa Fe County Road (SFCR) 57, also known as Waldo Canyon Road. This paved road turns to dirt after about a mile and about six miles later comes upon the old railroad siding of Waldo.


Here one can find the ruins of massive coke furnaces by the railroad tracks and the shade of several aging cottonwood trees. Amtrak and freight trains still operate on these tracks, trespassing is prohibited and caution is advised.

The road then cuts through a narrow, twisty gorge and eventually comes out at Cerrillos where one takes a left onto SFCR 59, which leads up past the village cemetery to the Cerrillos Hills Historic Park. For more information about the park and its the history visit www.CerrillosHills.org.

Upon leaving, visitors can then head back to Santa Fe through Cerrillos and onto State Road 14 to SFCR 45, also known as Bonzana Creek Road, outside of Lone Butte. This road leads off into the foothills and past the Bonanza Creek movie ranch where from the road visitors can see the movie set used to replicate the Texas capitol in Austin during the 1800s which was used in the television, western, series “Comanche Moon.”

Stay on SFCR 45 back to the frontage road adjacent to I-25 and follow it back to State Road 14 and on into town.


This article also appeared in the Santa Fe New Mexican's Outdoors section.