One last little gem for now

The I-40 is our normal route to Texas and the Southeast. It’s also about a 7 hour drive from Vegas, so when we set out to go East, it is our normal first night stop. But in all the times we have been here, we never discovered Red Rock Park.

Red Rock might be the most elaborate city park we have ever seen. The complex hosts significant rodeo events in a massive dirt arena area, has an open air amphitheater for major entertainment events, and has water and electric hooks up for all the vendors and contestants you could ever want. The park also contains a very nice campground, which we took advantage of.

But what makes this so much more special is the location and nearby attraction – the red rocks. In the heart of Navajo country, the park is nestled in among towering red walls that glow when caressed by the sun. This is what a sunrise looks like in Red Rock Park.

There are two impressive hiking trails here, and we did both of them. Both of the trails take you out of the basin where the park rests and up onto the plateau that it has been carved from through years of wind and water erosion. Church Rock trail takes you to visit this formation that is considered sacred to the Navajo – a significant Navajo community has developed in the shadow of the formation. On this trail, we hiked up near and looped around Church Rock. All the while we were hiking up, we had dramatic views of Gallup in the old Route 66 corridor through the most navigable pass through the local mountain ranges.

The other trail up from the floor is the Pyramid Rock Trail. While on the trail, we learned a couple interesting things. These trails were developed not by the CCC as we had assumed, but by the YCC. The State of New Mexico has a state funded youth development program designed to help youth develop desirable job skills while at the same time improving New Mexico. The kinds of projects taken on by the YCC are very much like those of the CCC. The work on these trails was done well, including retaining walls as well as steps carved in the stone walls were otherwise extreme scrambling would have been necessary.

We learned that the city was named for David Gallup, a local paymaster for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. Apparently the pass in which the city lies is the only corridor that had been covered in the Atlantic Pacific Railroad Land Grant Act of 1868, so in 1881, the site was chosen to set up the railroads offices. As always happened during that time, a town to support this railroad junction quickly established itself.

Finally, we learned that Gallup was the site of Fort Wingate. Originally established to deal with Indian Affairs in the area after the treaty of 1868, the fort soon became the primary distributor of Navajo Treaty Goods. After WWI, the fort became a storage area for surplus armament and ordinance. The Nation’s need for safe military armament storage resulted in Fort Wingate Ordinance Depot. While no longer an active base, the bunkers that held the munitions in storage are still visible – easy to see from our 7,500 foot vantage point on top of Pyramid Rock Peak.

The reason for the name Church Rock obviously came from the spires that very much have the look of massive organ pipes. The reason for the name Pyramid Rock seemed pretty obvious to us as we stood near its base and gazed upon the massive structure. It was hard for us to believe that we had actually hiked up the 800 foot elevation gain when we were on the top.

The Woman didn't actually make it the last few hundred yards to the peak. As we were nearing the finish line, we hear the young boy who had passed us early on the trail scream somewhere ahead of us. As we passed the family, the dad said the boy had screamed because he had been standing next to a rattlesnake. In fact, the dad said they had come across 3 rattlesnakes lying in the sun on the center of the trail. He said one of them was a green rattlesnake, which he said there was no anti-venom for should you happen to get bit. That pretty much halted the Woman dead in her tracks.

So I scrambled up the last few hundred yards to the peak – camera in hand, searching very intently for the rattlesnakes. But no such luck – the family and the screaming must have scattered the rattlesnakes because there was no sign of them. So I was relegated to just taking in the spectacular view and snapping a few selfies for proof.

In the morning we will leave on our last leg to Vegas, and put Colectiva to bed for a bit. So, this will be the last blog for a while.

Talk to you next time we are on the road again, which we hope is soon!