Lots of Driving and Some Letterboxing

Letterboxes in the Farmington area have grown in number over the last few years and I haven't been up to that area in a while so I decided to tag along when Thomas told me he had to work in Farmington this week. On May 30th there is an event in Farmington so I will be back next week as well. I am hoping that these two trips will allow me to chip away at the list of boxes in that area. As I have been planning the trips and mapping out boxes I found out that there are over two hundred boxes available for me to find. I think it will require a few more trips to get caught up. But I am hoping I can at least put a dent in the list. So this morning I left Santa Fe to make my way to Farmington. I am going to meet Thomas there since he has to work this morning and will drive up later with a coworker.
My plan was to find a few boxes along US550 as I made my way north. There were six boxes I hadn't found yet. My first stop was at the Perea Nature Trail near San Ysidro.

View from Perea Nature Trail

Here I walked the one mile loop and found Sunny Delight's Another Duo: Coyote and C4's Another Duo: Roadrunner. They were both pretty easy to find and I enjoyed the morning walk all by myself - and I mean that - there wasn't another person around. I made my way back to the car and continued my drive north. A little past San Ysidro I stopped along the road to find Wronghat's Herma box. I quickly grabbed it and took it back to the car to stamp in. After replacing the box I got back on the road and made my way to Cuba. In Cuba I stopped to find a box from a series that I had found some of the boxes back in the winter. I couldn't get this one box because the rock it was under was frozen in place. Unfortunately I still didn't get the box. The rock I was looking for wasn't there and neither was the box.

Angel Peak

So I continued on until I got to CR 7175 and the entrance to the Angel Peak Scenic Area. I was here this past winter and there was snow everywhere so I couldn't find any boxes. So there were two boxes I needed to look for. I easily found Sunny Delight's Lone Hoodoo box and found a bench to sit on while stamping in - the bench is placed directly in front of Angel Peak so I had wonderful views while stamping in and I could also see the lone hoodoo just to the right of Angel Peak. After getting this box back in place I looked for the next box - C4's Angel's Song. I had no luck with this one - I am not sure if I was just reading the clues wrong or if I just wasn't seeing the right landmarks. After about 20 minutes of going back and forth on the trails I had to give up and move along. The next stop was just before Bloomfield off of CR 4990 on CR 4998 at the East Hammond Cemetery. Here I found Sunny Delight's Orange Jack-o-Lantern. This was a quick and easy find and I was back on the road in no time. I then stopped in Bloomfield to fill the car with gas and get a snack before I continued with my day.

In Bloomfield I drove east on US64 for about 45 miles and then took NM 527 north for 17 miles to the Sims Mesa area of Navajo Lake State Park. I looked for a series of five boxes by Sunny Delight called Animals of Navajo Lake State Park: Sims Mesa. But I only found three of the boxes - Mountain Lion, Rabbit and Bear - the Mouse and Bobcat eluded me or they ran away.

Wines of the San Juan

After spending about 40 minutes here I retraced my drive back to Bloomfield. Before I arrived in Bloomfield I made a stop near Blanco off of NM511 at The Wines of the San Juan. I pulled in and parked and went in search of two letterboxes. I found awty's Blue-Winged Olive quickly and took it back to the car to stamp in. I then replaced it and went in search of a second box. But as I was walking around a man came out and asked if he could help me. I told him I was just looking around and thought I would do a wine tasting. He then informed me that they were closed on Tuesdays but offered to do the tasting and that he was the owner. I was glad he did - they have some wonderful wines and I ended up leaving with three bottles - one for me and the others for friends. After the tasting I asked if I could walk around and take pictures - the owner said yes and I walked around taking pictures and trying to look for the box without being obvious. I found the landmarks but didn't see the box. I may have missed it since I felt uncomfortable knowing that the owner was in his house and could see me from there. So I decided to leave without finding the box. I then made my way to Bloomfield and the Riverwalk at the end of 1st Street. I think I had about six clues for the area. I started going in one direction and tried looking for four boxes - I only ended up finding two of the boxes and they were store bought so I didn't feel like putting too much energy into these boxes. At this point I decided to call it a day and drive to Farmington to the hotel. On the way I stopped and picked up a salad to have for dinner. I finally got checked in to the hotel and settled. It was a long day and a lot of driving but I did see some beautiful areas and had a great time. Now I need to plan what I am doing tomorrow.