Dark Canyon Ride

Adventure Location: Dark Canyon, New Mexico
Teams Location:  Brantley Lake SP

Last year a NP Ranger told me about the road through Dark Canyon.  It was supposed to be a very interesting drive.  With a bum ankle it seemed like a drive would be a reasonable thing to do as the ankle heals.  The Team started at the end that terminates on Hwy 137 and drove toward Carlsbad.

The road is a very good hard surfaced road that runs through ranches and public land.  There were many places along the road that an RV or tents could be well utilized.  It was not what I would call and interesting area in general.  Here in one picture is the summation of the drive and area.

It was definitely not a bad drive but certainly not on my OFM List for a return visit. There are a lot of places like this in the USA where one trip is enough, but is worth the one trip.

On the way back to the Castle in the 98 degree heat, we crossed the Pecos below Brantley Lake Dam.  There is a nice flow of cool water heading for Texas. The lake is very low so it surprised me that that much water was being released.

Back in the park some time was spent letting the Truck meander through the boondocking sections.  This is a boondocking section on the other side of the lake from the developed campground the Teams are staying in.  These folks must be tough to handle the high heat of the afternoons.

Over on our side of the lake is another boondocking area down in the brush. All the brush and water makes for a lot of bugs the Teams can so without.  However there is lots of space for on the water or off the water camping.  This group of folks was setting up camp. The Golden Retriever and Black Lab that they had with them were having a great time in the water.

Meandering the back roads can make for some good trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.