Trail building equestrians of New Mexico

["Debbie Spickermann" <d_obermaier AT cybermesa.com>]

Dear everyone,

 

We had a good turnout for the clean-up. We filled a dump truck full of trash that was provided by one of the local cattle ranchers. The cattle rancher also brought a backhoe that proved useful for picking up large items. Some of the large items that were removed included bedsprings and carpet. The crème de la crème was the removal of a burned out car that was stolen and abandoned over 2 years ago. It was loaded on a trailer and hauled out. Miles Standish from the Espanola Ranger District and his co-worker, Mary Orr, were very pleased. Miles has even offered to bring his sand blasting equipment on the next pass to remove graffiti from a once beautiful window rock. While we made a huge dent in the mess there, it is evident that there needs to be another pass and try to get higher up the valley. Both Miles and Mary are up for scheduling another clean-up of the area. We are looking at dates in October. When we get the date arranged, we will do more flyers and advertising. We hope that the Sierra Club will again be gracious and post the news.

 

We didn't get a chance to do the hike to the top of the mesa and view the ruins. So we will save that for next time. I learned that it was called "Ku" or "Cu" Owingeh and maybe

one of the district's archeologists could come on the next clean-up and talk about it.

 

Another interesting note, I learned from Mary that the road is not only the old wagon road to San Lorenzo ( a ghost village of sorts) but, the original historic road to Abiquiu.

 

Anyway, it was very gratifying to see the area get cleaned-up. I have been riding in there before the era of ATV's, when it was just you and the cows. It is amazing how much

the land can change and be so quickly ruined. The scars from the ATV's won't go away until the area is closed to motorized traffic. Meanwhile the trash will continue.

 

A big THANK YOU! to all who worked so hard and contributed time, vehicles, and labor. It was a huge success!

 

Debbie Spickermann, Sec/Trees BCH-SF