Revealed Truth on the Road to Wagon Mound

Over the top and into the valley

Frequent readers of my blog may remember the Revealed Truth on the Road to Raton series. The road to Raton has a huge fire burning. The Ute Park Fire is the first time in my memory a fire was actually named for the place where it began. The Hondo Fire began in Lama, NM. I wanted to call it the Cinco de Mayo Fire because that was the day it began because a person burning their trash in a barrel went to get a beer with his buddies. May is a bad month for fires in New Mexico after a dry winter.

The canyon walls

 But because of the Ute Park Fire US64 is closed between Eagle Nest and Cimarron. And if you want to get to Raton or points east or north of Raton you have to go NM120 through Ocate to Wagon Mound. My first revealed truth about this route is I rather like it. My post office is in Ocate and if you turn south from the center of town you can get to La Cuerva and the raspberry ranch. I visit this area frequently but not to get my mail.

There is probably no longer a town of Ocate beyond the post office. But the remains are in the middle of a broad and beautiful valley abutted on the east by last of the Clayton/Raton Volcanic plateau. I rather love volcanoes. So yesterday I found myself wondering why I had not ventured on down the road toward Wagon Mound and the conjunction of NM120 and I25. Maybe because I lingered too long in Ocate taking photos of the melting adobes.

Shotgun house up close

Shotgun house from side

Fix it Upper with Laughlin Peak in the distance

The story is the wagon trains followed the string of volcanoes across the high plains on the Santa Fe Trail. Just north of where NM120 travels. Along US64. But obviously some settlers drifted a bit to the south following closer to the string of volcanic peaks, buttes and plateaus. The ash makes for very rich grasslands and lots of large ranches. I found a back gate to the UU Bar Ranch. The front gate is on US 64.

I love the mountains but there is some secret place within my soul which resonates on the high plains. I could say it was because I was born in St. Joseph, Missouri but I only spent three days there. Maybe it was all the Little House on the Prairie books I read. Or the Zane Grey novels once my mother gave permission for me to use the adult section of the library. 

If I had a horse I would ride to that one tree on the left slope of the right butte and see if there were any other trees on the other side. Or just that one all by itself. 

I confess I did not make it all the way to the town of Wagon Mound. I was on this road yesterday to meet up with the gallery owner from Trinidad and take possession of my 21 photographs which were in the May Exhibit. Tomorrow those photographs will be hung at the Enchanted Circle Brewery. I do plan a return trip to this area and the town of Wagon Mound when it is less busy. Since it is a detour there is entirely too much traffic for my taste. All in too much of a hurry. 

Note: Shotgun houses were so called because you could stand at the front door and shoot straight to the backdoor. All the rooms were lined up with doors going from room to room lined up with the front door. I think I first learned that in a Zane Grey book.