Week 7: The one with the surprise rattle!
From the Capitan Mountains to the Gallinas Mountains
Hi, hello! Hope you had a great week!
I decided to try something new this week and work on my update a little each day. Hoping that this keeps things fresh in my mind and also takes less time overall.
Here goes!
Monday: On to a new camp!
It was getting too hot for comfort (90s!) at Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave Conservation Area in New Mexico at 6,100 feet so we decided to head up to the Capitan Mountains, in the Smokey Bear District of Lincoln National Forest.
See that notch in the center of the photo? That’s where we headed.
The road was rated a “3” in the OnX Off-Road map app, and we’ve taken the van out to Pine Canyon many times at Big Bend which is also a “3” so we figured the van could handle it.
Turns out that the van handled it fine, but WE were super stressed! We stopped when things got too sketchy!
We’re really loving our new home here at 8,850! The temperatures are so much better — the forecast calls for highs in the low 80s and lows in the 50s.
Best of all the air smells like Christmas!
Love that we can see the sunset from camp. Can’t wait to explore the area more.
Tuesday: Camp day.
Today we got caught up on some odds and ends and I finished up a blog post for Art Toolkit all about my art supplies in the van — can’t wait for you to see! It has details about my kit setups and palettes.
Here’s a little preview with my core colors:
Here are the colors I just can’t live without — I have them on every palette — and it’s made it much easier to keep tubes of paint in the van for refills after I narrowed things down:
DS Azo Yellow (PY151) - a beautiful transparent yellow
DS Quinacridone Coral (PR209) - this is my warm red — I love it for sunsets and florals
WN Magenta (PR122) or DS Quinacridone Rose (PV19) — I’ve had some issues with quin rose acting up in hot temperatures so I’ve been replacing it with magenta on all of my palettes
WN Cobalt Turquoise Light (PG50) or DS Cobalt Teal Blue - I love this granulating color so much — it makes beautiful skies mixed with ultramarine, bright greens, and opaque purples. My favorite is the WN version but I’m still using up some DS.
DS Ultramarine Blue (PB29) or H Ultramarine Light - my workhorse blue — it mixes more olive greens and the best purples with magenta
DS Transparent Red Oxide (PR101) - I love this granulating color mixed with ultramarine blue or indigo to make deep dark browns and grays
DS Indigo (PB60 + PBk6) or H Neutral Tint (PBk6, PB15, PV19) for the darkest darks!
I’ll share the Art Toolkit post here when it’s published, so stay tuned! :)
I also had time for a super quick sketch at camp as I listened to the aspens singing and the wind through the pines. It’s a combo of graphite paint and a black brush pen in a toned sketchbook.
Wednesday: Rattlesnake (!), hiking, and a big storm!
Today started off with a big of excitement! Jason went around the back of the van to put some trash in our trash box (which we hope is bear proof, since some ATVers told us they saw a bear about 100 yards from our camp yesterday) and he heard a RATTLE…!
Check out the video to see how close he was to the van! We think he’s an Eastern Black-tailed Rattlesnake — we’d never seen one like this back in Texas, although we did run into many rattlers over the years there.
We left camp and headed off for a hike, hoping Mr. Snake would be gone when we returned.
We ended up going for a 7 mile hike up the mountain — it was so beautiful! We stopped for lunch in a clearing and the views were so amazing I had to do a quick sketch.
There are so many more forbs (flowers) here compared to the Sacramento Mountains — we’re guessing it’s because there aren’t cows here to eat them all. Unlike the Sacramentos we didn’t find any evidence of cows.
Here are just a few of the cool plants we found:
When we got back to camp Mr. Snake was gone yay! We had time for a shower and dinner before a storm rolled in — and what a storm it was!
There’s nothing like the feeling of being in your cozy tiny cabin on wheels while the wind roars and thunder rolls all around you.
Thursday: Short hike, big views!
We went for a little 2 mile hike down the road to see how it was after the storm — the road looked fine, whew. We also had some amazing views!
Cell coverage was back so we got to have a zoom call with J’s family and then I called my Dad. So good to catch up! We were lucky it lasted because it went out again right after we were done.
Friday: Camp day! (The best kinda day!)
The forecast is calling for more storms for four days in row so we decided it would be best to head down off the mountain tomorrow. It’s gonna be hard to leave this beautiful spot but it’s better to be safe.
I spent most of the day getting caught up on my sketchbook, painting a juniper in my perpetual journal and cooking.
I also got caught up posting a video I shot back at our last camp — click to watch over on Instagram.
I also made a big ole batch of black beans and brown rice so that we’d have it to reheat since we’d be driving, and then I tried something I heard about: pizza waffles!!
I used King Arthur’s Gluten Free All-Purpose Biscuit & Baking Mix to make the waffles, with a flax egg to make it vegan and applesauce instead of oil. Then I busted out The Stuffler Waffle Maker (Amazon affiliate link) and loaded it with peppers and onions. So good y’all! Gotta make this again with more fillings!
J foraged these wild raspberries for dessert — yum!
Saturday: On to the Valley of Fires!
What a day!
We set our alarm for 6 am so we wouldn’t sleep in, and got to see the most beautiful sunrise.
Then we put the van in travel mode and headed down the mountain.
We made it down the mountain — yah! Can’t believe we were up there near the second peak from the right at about 8,850 feet. The van did great on the way down!
After a quick stop at the Smokey Bear Museum gift shop to get a tee for me (they were closed when we went to the museum last week) we headed to the Valley of Fires National Recreation Area.
This geology nerd was so excited seeing the lava everywhere! I couldn’t stop taking pictures. And I snagged a fun one of J that he didn’t know I was taking — although he did hear me laughing and wondered what was up! ;D
What a contrast with White Sands National Park a few weeks ago!
We even got a shower and filled up our fresh water tank.
Then it was on to Red Cloud Campground in the Mountainair District of Cibola National Forest in the Gallinas Mountains — but not before we hit another storm:
It was cool watching the storm move across the landscape — what a contrast from our mountain home — and then we had a rainbow!
Sunday:
We had another storm roll in last night and I had an uneasy sleep filled with weird dreams.
Tomorrow we’re heading to Santa Fe — it will be our first city of any size since we left Austin and it will be interesting to see how we react.
I’m really looking forward to going to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Trader Joe’s, and Annapurna’s World Vegetarian Cafe — thanks to reader Catrina Mia for the recommendation! J isn’t looking forward to driving the van in the city, tho.
I’d love to hear how you like the new format — let me know in the comments below.
I like the daily update - it is fun to see how your week evolves. Thanks for sharing your color palette. I was fun to see what others are using.
I like all that you share, no matter how you do it! I'm glad for you if this format makes it easier - I completely understand!
I hope you have a fabulous time in Santa Fe! We loved it there and I think it's a nice size of town for you to make your foray back into "civilization"! There is so much history there - it's definitely a must-see stop while you are in the area!