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eubank · 10-21-2010, 01:47 PM

I'm planning a little trip in a week or so (alas, for myself while Maria is visiting her mom). The trip will take me from AF the l-o-n-g way around to Socorro/San Antonio, NM to visit the Bosque del Apache closer to high season. I'll probably stay at the Bosque Birdwatchers park. It's a gravel parking lot, but quite close to the preserve and to the green chili cheeseburgers at San Antonio.

From there, the plan is to head out Highway 60 past the VLA and then on up to the Ramah area at El Morro RV Park. From there, visit El Morro, Wolf Spirit, Zuni, and maybe the ice caves.

Questions: Has anybody stayed at that rv park at Ramah? I doubt that wifi will be available anywhere, so plan to use the public library at Socorro, but Ramah is questionable. Anybody know if the library at Zuni has it?

Lynn

TBRich · 10-21-2010, 02:05 PM

Lynn... Sounds like a nice trip... I can't help with the Ramah area...BUT there is a wonderful BLM campground just west of the VLA, about a mile west of the town of Datil, NM...it's called Datil Wells Campground...There is a small sign for it on Rt 60...turn left (south)....it's just off the main road... I think it was $5/night when we were there about a year ago...nice pull through sites, dry camping, shelters with tables and fire rings at the sites...water available, and toilets... Great place for an overnight or a few days...

kingfisher24 · 10-21-2010, 02:22 PM

When is the annual celebration and when is the best time to be there to see the greatest amount of birds arriving?

eubank · 10-21-2010, 02:29 PM

Yep, I know about Datil Wells and plan to stop by. If it's late in the day, I'll probably stay there, but it all depends on how many birds I get to photograph at Bosque (and how many green chilli cheeseburgers one person can consume in San Antonio).

The Festival of the Cranes is scheduled for Nov 16-21 this year. I don't necessarily want to be there during that period -- though, if I reverse course on the trip, maybe that's a possibility. The problem is that I haven't really figured out the tail end of the trip. Maybe head back towards AF after Ramah, but maybe go on up to Canyon de Chelly. Kind of depends on what the weather looks like at that point and how much time I've spent. I have to pick Maria up at Abq around the third week of Nov, too.

Lynn

eubank · 10-21-2010, 02:36 PM

Oh, if you are planning to attend the festival, they have a website that includes the schedule of activities (which look pretty inviting!):

Events Tours Workshops Lectures Festival of the Cranes Refuge Tours Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge Sandhill Cranes New Mexico Southwest NWR

And if anybody else is interested in the Wild Spirt Wolf Sanctuary, they also have a site:

http://wildspiritwolfsanctuary.org/

Lynn

elfirebob · 10-21-2010, 03:59 PM

Hmmm, sounds like a great loop. We were at El Morro in the past, no wi-fi. Gallop has some connections though.
Bosque is still on my "gotta see, gotta paddle" list.
Now, back to those green chili cheeseburgers...

eubank · 10-21-2010, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elfirebob

Now, back to those green chili cheeseburgers...

Yessiree! The Buckhorn Tavern is the place that beat Bobby Flay in the Throwdown on green chili cheeseburgers. (That said, the Buckhorn has been competing with the old Owl Cafe just down the street in San Antonio for years. The Owl is ok, but I have tasted better burgers, to tell the truth, including at Five Star in Taos!)

Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog » Manny’s Buckhorn Tavern – San Antonio, New Mexico
Five Star Burgers

Lynn

kingfisher24 · 10-22-2010, 05:09 AM

DHC2 provided us , at his home in Spokane one of the better GCCburgers one could ask for as we came through there in August,,,,

I had one at the Owl cafe in Soccoro when we came through there in Feb and did not care for it....gonna try the Buckhorn this trip

when is the best time to see the most birds arriving??????

eubank · 10-22-2010, 06:57 AM

Just about the time of the festival in mid-November would probably be the best. We were there in late October a year or so ago, and that was too early.

Lynn

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingfisher24

DHC2 provided us , at his home in Spokane one of the better GCCburgers one could ask for as we came through there in August,,,,

I had one at the Owl cafe in Soccoro when we came through there in Feb and did not care for it....gonna try the Buckhorn this trip

when is the best time to see the most birds arriving??????

Lumatic · 10-22-2010, 07:19 AM

A couple of weeks ago stayed at the campground at El Morro, cheap and almost empty.

I don't remember the name of the joint but ate at a nearby restaurant on the south side of the highway east of El Morro. The place looked like a campy hippie joint including the old hippy owner in the 1960s hat and the Grateful Dead decor. Even though we were the only people in the place we were ignored and they screwed around and screwed up our order. I really thing they were all stoned, which is quite a statement from yours truly if you care to check out my profile picture.

eubank · 10-22-2010, 05:08 PM

I suspect that was the place I'd be staying at, too. Argh. Well, I'm not going to El Morro for the hamburgers, thankfully.

Lynn

Mike Leary · 10-22-2010, 05:17 PM

A really nice park is right across the road from the VLA, they have wi-fi, but check before you settle down, some of the sites on the outer loop are a little far from the base station.

Montosa RV Park - & Campground

eubank · 10-22-2010, 07:57 PM

Ah, in Magdalena! That would be a neat place to stay. And wifi would certainly be welcome. Alas, it's a bit far up to Ramah, where the wolf preserve is.

Lynn

silverback · 10-22-2010, 11:38 PM

Hi Lynn,
We loved the Datil Well BLM campground (stayed there a couple days after we were in Angel Fire). We brought our own WiFi, a Verizon MiFi and it worked surprisingly well there. They also have free firewood. As for the El Morro RV park in Ramah, we have stayed there a couple times. It has been for sale and may be under new management. The last time we were there it was pretty basic (power & water), but it is a good base camp for the area attractions. We were almost washed away there on that trip in a summer monsoon storm. I remember looking out the trailer door as water flowed underneath. I recommend the higher ground pull through sites.

Ken & Linda

eubank · 10-23-2010, 07:16 AM

Datil Wells has been mentioned by so many that I have to stop by there, at least for a peek! It's sort of halfway in between San Antonio (birds) and Ramah (wolves), so lenth of stay depends on when I will get away from San Antonio.

To tell the truth -- sometimes this hurts -- there is one more stop-over on that route. Pie Town. I hear that they do indeed make some good pies there!

Lynn

Lumatic · 10-23-2010, 07:49 AM

Picked up one of my all time favorite bumper stickers at the Datil store. "Jesus loves cowboys and cowgirls" Hint: The local pronunciation is Dah tul, (rhymes with cattle).

Airstream25 · 10-23-2010, 09:25 AM

Hi Lynn,
Sounds like a nice loop trip.

Silverback has the right idea, forget your dependence on short range WiFi and go with 3g. 3g is normally available in cities and along Interstate corridors however the sparsely populated entire NW corner of NM has very good 3g coverage. Why you ask? Seems the oil and gas industry twisted Alltel's arm to get 3g service. Verizon inherited the coverage when they bought Alltel.
If you don't want to spring for a separate device like the MiFi, just get a cell phone that supports tethering to your computer via a USB cable.

Mike Leary · 10-23-2010, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Airstream25

If you don't want to spring for a separate device like the MiFi, just get a cell phone that supports tethering to your computer via a USB cable.

Is the MiFi a one-time price or monthly? We have Verizon phones, but I don't think they support tethering.

eubank · 10-23-2010, 09:58 AM

If we were on the road more, we'd definitely consider getting tethered service. As it stands, though, probably not. (We're already tied to a hefty monthly service bill to provide wifi here at the park.)

Lynn

eubank · 10-23-2010, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Leary

A really nice park is right across the road from the VLA, they have wi-fi, but check before you settle down, some of the sites on the outer loop are a little far from the base station.

Montosa RV Park - & Campground

Mike, I was just looking at RVParkReviews, and the two most recent reviewers indicate that Montosa is closed. Durn.

Lynn