I kicked off the weekend with the Fort Bayard Wilderness run. Fort Bayard was established in 1866 as a way to protect early miners, settlers and travelers from the Apache Indians. In 1899 Fort Bayard became the first sanatorium dedicated to the treatment of US soldiers. In 1965 the State of New Mexico assumed control of Fort Bayard as a long-term health care facility.
Fort Bayard is located at the foothills of the Pinos Altos Mountain Range outside of the Gila Wilderness. The run was eight miles and traversed through the foothills. The course was challenging and a bit deceptive because of the rolling hills. It didn't seem like there was much elevation gain but my GPS clocked 1550 vertical feet gained. It was hot, dry and only had two water stations. I think I'm starting to adjust to the elevation and the dryness but not the heat. At mile five I was getting dizzy and dumped the rest of my water bottle on my head to cool down, luckily there was another water station at mile six!
Due to the heat I lazed around for the rest of the day and waited for Brice to get off work. Then we headed into the Pinos Altos Mountain Range to camp. Our destination, Lake Roberts. As you may imagine New Mexico doesn't have much water. I've been bound and determined to find water and get the doggies a nice dip. They miss the water so much, even though they are adjusting to being down here.
On our way to the lake we saw some New Mexican wildlife, Javalina! I was so excited. Javalina are basically like pigs or wort hogs. I guess they can be a bit mean as well. We ran into a large family of about seven to ten and we didn't get the best picture but we got one.
When we finally got to the lake we found out the lake has swimmers itch. Yuck! The only water within one-hour of Silver City and you can't even go in it. I felt bad for the dogs, they could smell the fresh water but they couldn't go for a dip. So we headed into the forest to find a primitive camping spot.
We found a nice spot under tall ponderosa pine and oak trees. Brice cooked dinner because I was having a low blood sugar melt down. After dinner we just hung out and talked. There is a stage 1 fire restriction right now that restrict camp fires so we hung out under the stars. I was on a mission to drink Fireball Whiskey and Brice was on a mission to go to bed early. I won the battle and we sat in the back of the Element with the suicide doors open and drank whiskey and talked. As all marriages should go a bit of imbibing and a lot of having fun should keep the marriage strong. This evening proved that we could definitely have a lot of fun together, he really is my best friend! And yes we did drink the entire bottle.
On our way home Sunday we stopped at Little Toad Creek. It's a combination of a hotel, restaurant, micro brewery and distillery. We ate some breakfast and hung out until noon, the witching hour where we could order a beer. Then we headed home. The dogs were tired, we were tired and it was a great over night trip. When we got home I decided to take a picture of us to remember this fun trip, we look rough and tired but we're happy and in love.
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