Plaza Blanca and Echo Amphitheater

More New Mexico

In the last post, I said we were leaving Abiquiu Lake but I was wrong. I was having problems with Blogger. It erased this part of the previous post and posted it before I was ready. I am sure it was Blogger not my fat little sausage fingers hitting the enter button too many times.

 Abiquiu Lake was down about 15 feet due to the low snow last winter in the Sangre de Cristos. I almost cut off the top of the Cerro Pendernal. I guess my camera which I lost, was acting up too.

More sight seeing and hiking were a short drive.

The red and yellow cliffs kept our attention.

 

Echo Amphitheater

The entrance is about 17 miles west of Abiquiú and four miles from Ghost Ranch. Echo Amphitheatre is part of the Carson National Forest Recreation Area and had a free 9 site campground No one was there.

 

It  is not a real hike but a nice paved sidewalk that has stairs as you get closer to the end. Our voices would echo off the walls as we spoke to each other.

According to legend the curved stone cliff wall now known as Echo Amphitheater was the site where a group of Navajo took some settlers to the top of the cliff and killed them, their blood running down the cliff wall and permanently staining it. Another story says that years later a number of Navajo were in turn murdered in the same spot, once again staining the cliff wall with their blood.

Now the natural echoing caused by the site’s geography is said to be the voices of the unquiet dead. 

There seems to be little truth to the tales, but the colorful sandstone may have inspired the myths.



Our next stop in Abiquiu was Plaza Blanca.

 

The rock formations are on the grounds of the Dar Al Islam mosque and Islamic education center.  The Center welcomes visitors to their land and no prior arrangements are required.

There is a retreat center for almost every religion in this area. The Benedictine Monastery of Christ in the Desert is 13 miles south of the highway on a dirt road. It is open to the public for day or overnight visits. We did not head down that road but did see several of the monks at Bodes (the gas station) in Abiquiu having lunch.

 

We only hiked a few easy miles but enjoyed the early morning all by ourselves.

Moonscape

Walking up the creek bed we entered a slot canyon.

We have had a great summer but it is time to move west.