Ghost Ranch is located in gorgeous area of New Mexico halfway between Espanola and Chama off of Rt 84. It is owned and operated by the Presbyterian Church , but anyone is welcome to come and hike by checking in at the office between 8:30 and 4:30 daily. Just say you planning to hike to Box Canyon (about 4mi round trip) and you will be given a map and instructions on where to go to start. From the far parking lot pick up the Box Canyon trail and continue on it straight while the Kitchen Mesa trail quickly turns off right. Pass three hogans on your left, an irrigation pond on your right, and some unusual gravestones on your left. Cross an irrigation ditch and go under an aqueduct, continuing to cross and recross Arroyo del Yeso many times. (Black coffee cans numbered 1 through 8 help guide your way.) Bear right with the upper camp trail - part of the proposed route for the Continental Divide Trail - takes off the mesa. Pass a small waterfall on your left and carefully pull yourself over the last few big rocks to find yourself boxed in at the end of the canyon. From the middle of a large flatish rock about 20 feet long, take about 15 steps at 230 degrees to find the Sunnyside letterbox tucked under an overhanging rock behind several smaller stones (a stilted twin trunked Douglas Fir will be to your right). Carefully replace the rock and make your way back down the arroyo. Other great hikes in this area include those to the top of Kitchen Mesa and Chimney Rock. Hope you have a good time and drink lots of water.

The Sandias are the beautiful rugged mountains just to the east of Albuquerque. "Sandia" is the Spanish word for "watermelon", and is perhaps reflective of their reddish sunset coloration, or the squash growing nearby that reminded early Spanish explorers of watermelons from their homeland. In any case, there is now a whole watermelon available for a high elevation picnic, in addition to the slice already waiting at "Sandia Crest"! This particular watermelon was carved by Laurette for a picnic party at our home in RI a while back, and we simply couldn't think of a lovelier, more appropriate place to plant it than out here in these gorgeous "watermelon mountains"!

To reach the trailhead for this 3.8 mile loop hike (or 1/4 mile nature loop if you take the Tram or ski lift), drive east from Albuquerque on I-40 to exit 176 and take route 14 six miles north, then route 536, the Sandia Crest Scenic Highway, about 14 miles to its end at the Sandia Crest Visitor Center. Presently there is a $3 parking fee good for all day at any of the many trail heads and picnic areas throughout Cibola National Forest. Please remember also that you will be hiking at over 10,000 feet here, so the air is thinner, cooler, and windier than down in town.

From just south of the gift shop complex, take the short Nature loop about halfway around to pick up the Crest Trail #130 taking off 1.75 miles to the top of the Tram. (You'll probably want to stop for Silver Eagle's "Sandia Crest" box while you're out here, too!) Continue along the shady path, past Kiwanis Meadows to another nature trail loop near the Tram terminal.

Find the Snowberry sign located 15 steps north along the nature trail from the end of an iron railing. Climb over some rocks at 220 degrees another 15 steps. Look to your right behind two boulders to spot a third boulder. Hop over and have a seat on the adjacent flat topped boulder and enjoy the view out over Albuquerque. Then look under the east side of that third boulder beneath a piece of wood and a small flat stone. Please replace everything carefully just as you found it.

You can return the way you came, but for a more interesting loop, continue to the Tram station, then take the "flat" portion of the "La Luz" trail back towards the Sandia Crest Visitor Center, remembering to turn off to the right at the well-marked junction for the 6/10 mile climb back up to the top. Hope you have a great day for a picnic!

Alive and well as of Jun 13, 2005

We always seem to have such a nice time visiting "Georgia O'Keeffe country" in north central New Mexico, so when Laurette (from RI) sent us out with a box called "Simple Pleasures", we decided to plant it in the little town of Abiquiu off route 44 between Espanola and Tierra Amarilla. While driving through this splendid high desert setting, simply turn off at the sign for the library and head up the hill on the paved road to the left just before the Abiquiu post office. Within less than a minute, the road turns to dirt and you almost feel like you've been transported back 200 years into the Spanish colonial period as you enter the earthen town plaza with its adobe walls and Church of San Tomas. You can park here near the library, if you wish, then continue on the dirt road to the east that you passed just before the entrance to the plaza.

This road will take you along the adobe walls of what was artist Georgia O'Keeffe's home for much of her later life. (She purportedly bought the ranch in 1945 for $10 and a sizeable donation to the local church!) The house itself is only open to visitors who have made reservations months in advance, but you can catch a glimpse as you go past, and then shortly thereafter, bear right uphill to view another interesting vestige of the past. The narrow windowless adobe to your left is a "penitente morada", a stopover place for members of a wandering penitential brotherhood, thought to be the first such location for one in New Mexico. No trespassing here, but continue uphill to the first big juniper on your right. From its south side you can see a fence corner about 12 steps away at 240 degrees, and another 12 steps at 220 degrees will take you to a big rock with several smaller stones filling the overhang. Removing a few of them will reveal "Simple Pleasures", Laurette's lovely little vase of flowers, blooming here in the desert in a spirit akin to that of Georgia O'Keeffe. After replacing the flowers carefully for others to enjoy, consider traveling on up route 44 several miles to Ghost Ranch, another place where O'Keeffe lived and painted for many years. This is a spot just brimming full of simple pleasures, and another letterbox of rtrw's that we planted here in a box canyon on a previous CDT work trip. Hope you take some time to enjoy this high desert country!

Reported as OK on April 6, 2009

When I decided to quick-carve this stamp at the last minute before flying out to New Mexico on a rather unplanned trip in late fall 2007, I really didn't know where I would have a chance to plant it. However, having seen this name used on maps for locations on either side of the Rio Grande, I figured I'd find some suitable place for it! Well, I didn't get to either of the places I originally had in mind, but hopefully this one will do, as it, too, features a scenic "box canyon"!

To find this semi-mystery location, go about "veinte millas al oeste" from a former mountain retreat /complex called in Spanish "The Cottonwoods" (although, if you added some fear and trembling, they could equally well be aspens!) There find a trailhead called in Spanish "The Shells", about "una tercera milla al oeste" of a fishing access by the same name. Take trail "cien treinta y siete" down the "escalera de madera" and follow the rio "cerca dos millas", crossing about "seis puentes de varios tipos". After the main trail turns left, continue a bit further along the rio towards the box canyon entrance, passing through "una cerca de alambre de puas". Immediately turn left and go up several switchbacks to see "cerca cinquenta pasos al norte" a large natural "parapeto de piedra", with a fine box canyon vista to its left. Standing with your back to "el centro del parapeto", walk back "cerca siete pasos/dos cientos y veinte grados" to find yourself in the midst of a little "circulo de rocas". Searching carefully under bark and several small stones on the south side of the one to the west as you stepped through should net you a small yellow "caja de pildora" for a quirky little "caja del rio impresion"!

After you have made your mark and replaced everything as found, you may either return the way you came, or, if you plan ahead and have a shuttle waiting at the East Fork trailhead about 3.5 miles further west down the road, continue from the switchbacks up the diminishing trail to rejoin the main trail after a brief brushy cross-country stretch, then follow along the canyon rim for a couple more miles of beautiful trail, perhaps even making a half-mile steep detour to the other side of the box canyon, where some folks will certainly be glad I didn't leave a box! At any rate, please keep in mind that this is generally considered a 3-season hike, with ice and snow making stream crossings potentially dangerous from late November through April. Plan your trip accordingly, and enjoy these lovely mountains safely!

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