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1962 the government took the villages and farms of an estimated 200 mostly hispanic families for this reservoir its creation flooded the three fertile river valleys of the los pinos san juan and piedra rivers the reservoir sits in the mineral juicy san juan basin and what was probably not included in the valuation of the villagers condemned land was future oil and gas revenue it s unlikely surface owners knew the extent of the mineral resources under their land or their rights regarding leases but it s extremely likely others did drilling in the san juan basin boomed in the fifties as demand expanded with new gas pipelines around the state and to california today all of the land around the lake including within the state park itself is a pattern of wells well pads roads storage tanks and piping infrastructure they paint it all green but doesn t help unless you squint block your ears and don t drink the water have you heard about fracking this place is beautiful anyway which is saying something my camp assemblage included dry wood that i was confident i could use after all the rain fire restrictions had been lifted everywhere but this park red tape around fire rings and grill hung limp in the mud so i started a fire state park law enforcement pulled up just as i got it going he wore sunglasses and his thumbs were hooked in his bullet proof vest that s not a propane fire is it he swaggered a little no obviously i wanted to add but just tried to smile sheepishly he said there were fire restrictions i looked up at the overcast sky which i thought must have looked even darker through those sunglasses i said seriously he got stern you ll have to put that out now it was infuriating but i walked dejectedly over to the fire began moving logs with the tongs did i mention that the gas compressor sound is 24 7 it grew louder as the world grew quiet and dark the monstrous noise seemed to fill the sky and eat the trees and stars i set up my bedroll in the car and slept deeply anyway medusa verde august 10 2026 camping and forgeting something was the considered title here as was what is it nowww but a glance in the rear view after sleeping in the car sealed it looong house this time forgot the coffee pot and seriously weighed turning around and going back for it at the one hour mark but i continued northward to mesa verde imagining all the different ways to make coffee most mornings i use the stainless steel bialetti 9 cup mocha pot from italy to make the near espresso that i drink with date sugar oat milk and a big dash of mesquite powder my heart sinks at the image of years old tea bags in the bottom of the camp box i thought of jerry again at mesa verde he remembers going there as a kid with his family the first time and many times since he recalled standing on the edge of the canyon across from the magnificent cliff palace on the 100th anniversary of the weatherill brothers first seeing the ruin in 1888 the morefield campground is run by a concessionaire so while recreation gov does the tours of ruins it doesn t include the campground reservations minor panic moment the great thing is that the check in enables you to pick your site on the given loop and they serve coffee and breakfast beginning at 7am thirty foot ladders in those the mesa verde morning tour of impressive balcony house on chapin mesa begins with a lecture about safety late arrivals and rules thankfully thin the ranks after the tour i visited the picnic area that in the early time of jerry s first visits was the campground the little pull outs are scaled for the era of much smaller vehicles and the remnants of the little stone restrooms are adorable and there s shade it s a perfect place to sit awhile at the campground the store manager tells me to take any space on ute loop and to secure my food she also mentioned the morning breakfast and coffee so i didn t remember anything else she said i parked at a shady space in the scrub oaks i d seen on google earth after dinner i cleaned up thoroughly and put everything in a locking cooler lesson learned as evening progressed the dark spaces between trees grew blacker the blackest of these was right by the tent pad it looked like a portal to the world of night creatures i made the decision to sleep in the car with no regrets during the tour of longhouse on weatherill mesa the next day i overheard the park ranger s radio and an exchange about hazing a nuisance bear on ute loop i asked her about it and she responded very quietly i wish they d haze the campers that feed them no regrets collard lizard don t you dare call me common august 10 2026 weed farm ancient towers and trees july 30 2026 jerry favors the aaa indian country map that covers parts of arizona colorado new mexico and utah it s published by the automobile club of southern california and still sold about the only thing wrong with this map is that is can t possibly cover all of indian country apacheria is completely outside the map area for example ismay trading post many many tribes and pueblos have connections to the region of southwest colorado and southeast utah author r e burrillo writes about this vast landscape referring to its borderlands nature where the practices and traditions of different peoples have blended into intricate patterns seen nowhere else in the world hovenweep the collection of ancient tower villages that make up hovenweep national monument straddle the colorado utah border northwest of cortez colorado ancient architects of hovenweep constructed magnificent masonry towers at the heads of canyons over springs hovenweep holly unit the concentration of 800 year old masonry tower structures was established as a national monument in 1923 the monument protects five of these ancestral puebloan villages the difficult roads leading to a couple of them serve to protect them as well instead of taking the recommended counterclockwise drive beginning at the canyons of the ancients museum i went clockwise west up mcelmo canyon to the cajon unit of hovenweep first after i finally found it signage is minimal the roads to the cajon and holly units required high clearance and minor drama of climbing up and down ledges of sandstone i was all alone at the cajon ruin it was fiercely quiet when i heard quail ticking ticking around below the stone towers where a spring still barely seeps view of sleeping ute mountain from tent at the hovenweep campground i commenced with the ritual struggle of erecting the tent in the wind efforts were witnessed by a nice guy from georgia sitting at his nearby camp and a huge raven croaking from a nearby tree the two of them had become loosely acquainted through a trash rifling incident that i completely disregarded believing myself smarter than a bird i stored food and trash well i was experienced ha i croaked back at the giant bird and the next morning i left to see ruins i took the trail from the hovenweep visitor center that circles the canyon of spectacular towers but 30 minutes later a little voice in my head started asked questions little questions that gave me a sense of being on the edge of a sinking feeling the swirling question in this moment was check out time it varies a lot between campgrounds i don t know why i thought it was noon but it was not it was five minutes ago there was at least an hour of packing and loading and i was over a mile from the car i pictured an angry family and a uniformed park ranger at my campsite looking over my things checking the time tapping their feet maybe a ticket getting scorned sweating and panting i finally got back to the campground everything was quiet a little too quiet no guy no bird no ranger no waiting family i took down the tent and was trying to stuff it into the bag when i got another sinking feeling and looked over at the picnic table something was different the top of the food box was on the ground and there was oatmeal scattered everywhere as i picked up the torn bag the remainder of tomorrow s breakfast fell out into the dirt too the raven was conspicuously gone so was a half loaf of sliced sourdough and some of my dark chocolate my dinner a precooked pouch of everyday dal had been pecked which i didnt discover until that evening after much of the liquid had leaked all over everything else in the food basket gratefully no one came along to witness my shame mcphee recreation area on us160 headed east two lanes fast a lot of truck traffic as it s the only highway across southern colorado up ahead suddenly there are brake lights cars and trucks are pulled over on both sides i imagine a tragedy then i see through the stopped cars gawping a young bear tearing apart roadkill elk or deer grabbing hold and yanking jumping up and down with the rib cage it is gross but almost cute my fast glance captured the dead animal s head flopping in rhythm mcphee s big junipers unsure about what i d eat for breakfast thanks to the raven i was double doubtful when i got an email saying there was no water in the mcphee recreation area campground but i decided to check it out perhaps as a result of this email it was nearly empty the site i d chosen online was next to huge old gorgeous junipers and pinyons i decided to sit in the car until the wind died down but it never did and i slept in my car i woke up at about 3am to flashlights shining around my camp my spidey sense didnt register this as danger so i tucked back into my nest in the morning a man was still walking around the woods in circles carrying a now useless flashlight have you seen a cat i woman stumbled up beside him two cats one is wearing a little red scarf and then other no very sorry i find this sad and stupid but i don t say so after coffee i join in the unproductive search mcphee who killed cricket coogler april 5 2026 they found her broken body on easter morning 1949 like other sundays they were hunting rabbits on the mesa after church the village of mesquite is 12 miles south of las cruces new mexico the cemetery was remote but familiar to the three boys who spotted her body partially buried in a shallow arroyo a couple of reporters are why the story didn t die justice was pursued based largely on their work cricket s killer was never found but coverage uncovered a cover up the efforts sheriff happy apodoca made to destroy and ignore evidence and witness testimony was the start reporters interviewed witnesses who described what hadn t made it into the sheriff s reports the boys who found her body described how he appeared to deliberately drive over tire tracks at the scene a man told the sheriff he had seen cricket getting into a car with official state plates and a car matching the description was later found burned these didn t make it into the official report either cricket s body was buried without ceremony and when she was exhumed they found that lime had been used to speed decomposition the sheriff tried to frame a popular college football player who d been seen with cricket when that didn t work he tortured a black veteran to get a confession that resulted in a ground breaking civil rights case and made the cover of time the involvement of new mexico sheriffs in illegal gambling had become obvious by 1949 a grand jury convened in dona ana county hired their own lawyers and got hold of sheriff happy apodaca s bank records they found the gambling money then they drove down to the gambling joints in their pickup trucks confiscated illegal slot machines and dumped them on the dona ana courthouse lawn the sheriff went to prison for some but not all of his crimes sadly he was pardoned by president truman he served as a justice of the peace until his death in 1981 he and cricket are buried in the same las cruces cemetery the sheriff s deputy got the worst deal he didn t get a pardon and after serving his full sentence he publically vowed to solve the murder and was shot dead the official report said it was suicide but the coroner told a reporter the bullet entered the back of the deputy s head cricket s death created upheaval but was never solved people that knew the killer have likely all gone to their graves with that secret the story is not unique secrets protect evil men hopeful views say their careless deceit makes them vulnerable eventually until then we re cut by sharp sad pieces of a construction like a wind chime of razor blades amerind and texas canyon march 31 2026 rose henley hayden fulton 1881 1968 william shirley fulton 1880 1964 dragoon arizona exhibits upstairs in the back is the room devoted to the folgers who established all this in 1937 he was crazy about archaeology she was crazy about quarter horses from archaeologysouthwest pictures show pastures of foals frolicking between the texas canyon boulders founding sires stand square and chunky their names make me smile ben hur ii canyon tom texas tom from azmemory azlibrary gov i finger the phone in my pocket reaching for it as a natural reflex when i see anything i want to remember and record no photos here though and so i return again and again taking the comically tight exit ramp off i 10 and driving the short distance to the old ranch this time there are hundreds of people there for a competitive run through the boulders the museum is empty but for devoted docents i go back to my favorite exhibits trying to burn them into my brain the pots and artifacts the room built to resemble paquimé the zuni and diné jewelry the contemporary art by native american and western artists and the exhibit ma fulton s ff ranch relevant macbeth march 31 2026 scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day and with thy bloody and invisible hand cancel and tear to pieces that great bond which keeps me pale light thickens and the crow makes wing to th rooky wood good things of day begin to droop and drowse whiles nights black agents to their preys do rouse thou marvel st at my words but hold thee still things bad begun make strong themselves by ill act iii scene ii counting angels march 29 2026 en route to tucson visiting the luna county historical society s deming luna mimbres museum in the old armory building again down the long hall past the not great paintings are the gems and minerals i was staring at the apache tears like my brother collected in the jemez in the 1950s when i heard a loud person they are everywhere but this particular guy was enthralled with rocks moving from case to case pointing out specimens he repeatedly compared these to those at the show what show i finally asked you haven t been to the show you re better get out there because it closes in three hours three hours later i had some serious quartz crystal energy swirling around my motel room rock hound roundup was full of collectors and characters from everywhere and tables crammed with gems crystals sculptures jewelry orbs fossils and things with teeth i d never seen before there were even more heaping tables outside vendors of gorgeous rocks remarked on the gorgeous weather ancients there is a ro...