The drive up to Pojoaque, Espanola and Abiquiu was really nice. There was no traffic and I love driving in the early morning. There were spots of snow here and there and I always love the beautiful views around Abiquiu. Anyway, I made it to Heron Lake and found the parking area for the Rio Chama Trail.
The lot was covered in snow. I guess I thought since we don't really have much snow in Santa Fe that there wouldn't be much at Heron Lake - well I was wrong. But since I was here I grabbed my things and headed for the trail. First it was down some wooden steps (about 28 or so), most of them covered in snow and then still heading downhill on the trail with railroad ties every so often. And again the trail had a lot of snow on it. But I continued. I got to a wooden suspension (swinging) bridge and carefully crossed it. Once on the far end of the bridge I had to go uphill in mid calf deep snow. It was rough but thankfully it was only a short distance and then the trail leveled out. Next I had to find a sign and then go 57 paces. The sign was pretty close to the end of the bridge so it didn't take long to find it. Then I counted 57 steps and reread the clues and realized it said paces so I went 57 more steps. When I stopped I didn't see any boulders on my right which was the next part of the clue. So I went back to the place I stopped at first. There were two boulders near there and I started clearing snow from around them but my hands got really cold. I looked for a stick I could use and kept digging. Eventually I found some smaller rocks along one edge of one of the boulders. Unfortunately I couldn't move them. Either they were frozen in place or just bigger than I thought and I wasn't in the right place. So I looked around a little more and then decided I wasn't going to find the box today. So I retraced my steps back to the parking area. I have to say even though I didn't get the box the area was beautiful and I had a great hike.
So back on NM84 I made my way back toward Abiquiu. I made a decision to bypass Chimney Rock and head to Chimayo to look for El Santuario de Chimayo. I arrived in Chimayo and parked. Before I got out of the car I read the clues and figured out where I needed to start. Some of the clues confused me and I wasn't able to follow them. But then I located an area and thought I had found the right spot. So I headed there and it was covered in snow. I kind of looked for the box but my hands were cold and I didn't feel like digging too much in the snow again and besides I wasn't even sure I was in the right place. So I walked around and took some pictures and then decided to call it a day. I headed back home without any letterboxes but I still had a great day. I will wait for the Spring to go back and look for these boxes again.
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