Campgrounds: Faces of the Namib Tours (www.facesofthenamib.com) has one of the few concessions to lead tours and camping in the region described above and will handle all the gear.
Activities: Wildlife viewing, four-wheel driving.
Brilliantly shaded cliffs mark much of the course of the Rio Chama.
New Mexico
RIO CHAMA
RECOMMENDED BY Stephen Bohannon
“I came out to New Mexico from Indiana following a woman,” Stephen Bohannon reminisced. “It turned out that she was the wrong woman, but she brought me to the right state. My first trip to Rio Chama struck home the splendor of New Mexico. I left Albuquerque at eleven at night and drove north, accompanied through the deep darkness by a silvery full moon. We set up camp late that night above the river and went to sleep. I woke up to an amazing display of color and was blown away by the scope and scale of the rocks around me. I went from a desaturated landscape to a place awash in Technicolor.”
The Rio Chama begins in Colorado and flows roughly 130 miles through northern New Mexico before reaching the Rio Grande north of Santa Fe. The section of the river that’s of greatest interest to recreationists is the 31-mile segment that flows out of El Vado Dam into the Santa Fe National Forest and the Chama River Canyon Wilderness, above Abiquiú Dam. Rafters and kayakers come from far and wide to float through multicolored sandstone canyons that soar to heights eclipsing 1,500 feet. Here, paddling enthusiasts can experience all the grandeur that’s summed up in New Mexico’s slogan, “Land of Enchantment.” “The stretch of river above Abiquiú is not too scary, in terms of rapids,” Stephen continued. “There are some Class IIs and Class IIIs, but nothing too daunting. The real appeals are the tremendous vistas and the chance to explore the many side canyons. The cliff faces are like a giant scoop of Neapolitan ice cream—shifting layers of red, cream, and brown. It seems that there’s another vibrant rock formation around every bend. The side canyons on this stretch of river are another great attraction. It’s very worthwhile to tie up your raft or kayak at these canyons and do some exploring for Native American artifacts. Almost all of the canyons have petroglyphs (rock engravings made by removing a portion of rock surface by incising or carving); many have pottery shards or flakes from the creation of arrowheads. It’s a very rich cultural area. (No artifacts should be removed from the canyons, of course.) In one spot, called Dark Canyon, there are dinosaur tracks in the sandstone, probably those of a hadrosaur [a duck-billed dinosaur].”
In addition to fine paddling, this section of Rio Chama is considered one of New Mexico’s best-kept secrets for trout anglers. Brown trout are the main target here, with fish averaging twelve to eighteen inches. The state’s record brown trout—20.5 pounds—came from these fertile waters in 1946. Animal life above the water is equally plentiful along the wooded canyons of Rio Chama and includes elk, mule deer, and black bear.
Some people will float the entire wilderness section of Rio Chama over several days, camping along the river. For those wishing to do day floats, there are a number of options along the lower stretches of the river. “Forest Road 151 joins the river near the Big Eddy Boat Take-out and parallels the Chama for twelve or fifteen miles,” Stephen explained. “At Big Eddy, there’s a no-frills Forest Service campground. There’s no potable water or hookups, but the views are beautiful and some of the sites are right on the water. There are a number of unofficial camping spots along the road further upstream, where you can set up a tent or smaller RV. Many times, I’ll come in on a Friday night and set up a little camp in this section. I’ll arrange for a shuttle driver to take me and my kayak upstream in the morning. When I come off the river, I’m right at my camp and it’s already set up.”
Given northern New Mexico’s incredible color palette and play of light, it’s no surprise that many painters have been drawn to the region. Perhaps none of the region’s artists are better known than Georgia O’Keeffe. O’Keeffe had garnered attention for her iconoclastic renderings of flowers and cityscapes while living in New York, but is best remembered for her at times surreal paintings of the Southwest—many, like Summer Days, featuring a motif of deer, cattle, or ram skulls. She first visited the Rio Chama area—specifically Ghost Ranch, which had been established as a retreat—in 1934, and was so taken with the place that she eventually bought a home there in 1940 and made it her permanent residence in 1949. Today, Ghost Ranch operates as an education and retreat center. In addition to tours that highlight O’Keeffe’s life and inspirations, Ghost Ranch also offers excursions exploring the region’s rich archeological and paleontological offerings. “You’ll drive right past Ghost Ranch as you head toward Rio Chama,” Stephen added. “It’s definitely worth a stop. Further up Forest Road 151, you’ll find the Monastery of Christ in the Desert. If you enjoy beer, you’ll want to visit here too, as the monks grow their own hops and brew a number of products.”
If you make it to camp along Rio Chama, you’ll want to experience Echo Amphitheater, just north of Ghost Ranch. “It’s a neat escarpment that was formed in the colorful sandstone,” Stephen described. “There’s a paved trail that leads to the natural amphitheater. All vocalizations are echoed back to you. You can only imagine what significance this spot must have had for indigenous people.”
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STEPHEN BOHANNON is New Mexico Magazine’s assistant art director. Though he’s proud of his Louisville roots, he quickly fell in love with New Mexico. Whether he’s playing disc golf, brewing craft beer, or organizing board-game meet-ups, Bohannon is elated to have landed in a state that embraces his curiosity and diverse interests. Two of his passions—graphic design and paleontology—collided in the March 2014 issue, when he illustrated the story of a boy on a hunt for traces of ancient life (“The Land of the Giants,” www.mynm.us/nmdinos). Stephen serves on the board of the Albuquerque Wildlife Federation and helps run volunteer efforts to restore and create wetland habitats. He calls New Mexico’s wilderness the “connective tissue” that binds him to the state—especially the Gila, the world’s oldest protected wilderness area, where he enjoys backpacking to Jordan Hot Springs.
If You Go
Getting There: The town of Abiquiú is roughly two hours north of Albuquerque, which is served by most major carriers.
Best Time to Visit: Summers can be quite warm in the high desert around Abiquiú and Rio Chama, so many visitors prefer spring and early fall.
Campgrounds: Both the established campground along the Rio Chama and the less formal sites are very basic, with no potable water provided. Sites are free and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Campers should bring everything they need. Sites with more amenities are available at nearby Ghost Ranch (505-685-4333; www.ghostranch.org).
Activities: Boating, fishing, hiking/backpacking, wildlife viewing, and cultural tours at Ghost Ranch. If you plan to do any paddling, Up the Creek Shuttle (at 575-588-7704) can transport you and your raft/kayak upstream (or your automobile downstream).
Adirondack Park boasts more than 3,000 lakes and ponds, many of which have surrounding campsites.
New York
ADIRONDACK PARK
RECOMMENDED BY Karin Tate
“After my first few trips out west, I was a bit worried about what it would be like to be back in the Adirondacks,” Karin Tate ventured. “The landscapes there are gorgeous, awe-inspiring. The Adirondacks are more intimate; the landscape is not as grand and imposing. It’s more welcoming. The mountains here are not in ranges per se, but jumbled together, with many lakes in between. For me, the landscape creates an enfolding kind of experience. It’s easy to understand why so many people fall in love with the area.”
Adirondack Park encompasses more than six million acres of northeastern New York State—much of the area north of a line that would stretch from above the state capital in Albany, west to Utica. (It comprises the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States, the equivalent of Yosemite, Yellowstone, Glacier, the Grand Canyon, and th
e Great Smokies National Parks combined.) The park is a unique pastiche of private lands, state-owned wilderness areas, and more than 100 small towns, replete with forty-two 4,000-plus-foot peaks, 3,000 lakes and ponds, 30,000 miles of white-water rivers and gurgling trout streams, and 2,000 miles of hiking trails and the headwaters of the mighty Hudson.
The park is divided into seven geographical regions: the Adirondack Wild, Lake George Region, Adirondack Coast, Adirondack Lakes, Lake Placid, Adirondacks–Tug Hill, and the Adirondack Seaway. Each has its special appeals, but wherever you go, water activities and hiking are likely to be on the trip’s agenda. “There are so many lakes and ponds in the Adirondacks, you can really have some great canoeing adventures,” Karin continued. “In the southern part of the park, many of the lakes are connected and you can paddle from one to the other. In the north, you have the beginning of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, which goes seven hundred and forty miles from Saranac Lake to Fort Kent, Maine, passing through Vermont, Québec, and New Hampshire along the way.” The trail follows old Native American travel routes. Though acid rain impacted many of the Adirondacks’ fisheries some decades ago, many rivers and lakes have bounced back, offering healthy populations of wild trout, as well as smallmouth bass, northern pike, and walleye.
“There are infinite opportunities for hikers, whether along forested trails to hidden lakes or to mountain peaks,” Karin said. “There’s a club called the Forty-Sixers, whose members strive to climb the forty-six highest peaks in the Adirondacks. [Early climbers Robert and George Marshall arrived at the number forty-six thinking that this was the number of mountain peaks that eclipsed four thousand feet; modern surveys showed that four of the original forty-six are actually just under four thousand feet in elevation.] I’ve hiked quite a few of them. I remember being on top of Cascade Mountain once, one of the forty-six peaks—and not too hard to reach. From the top, you have a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the entire high-peaks area. On a clear day, you can see all the way to the White Mountains in New Hampshire, two states away!”
Wherever you are in the Adirondacks, camping opportunities abound. There are more than a hundred campgrounds and thousands of campsites waiting. “Most of the state-run campgrounds cater to tent campers,” Karin continued. “RVers will find hookups and other services at commercial campgrounds. If you’re looking for a more isolated camping experience, there are many primitive lakeside sites that can be reached by canoe or kayak. And for backpackers, Adirondack Park has an extensive network of lean-tos: two hundred in all. These lean-tos are three-sided structures made of logs, available on a first-come, first-served basis.” If you opt for campgrounds a little closer to civilization, many small-town charms await, be it a community-band concert or a homemade ice-cream cone. “In some communities, like Saranac Lake, people have been coming up forever for vacations,” Karin added. “For the most part, it’s not a fancy place. You find people from all walks of life up there, and everything is low-key . . . a quality I love.”
In her role as a national outings leader for the Sierra Club, Karin has designed itineraries to showcase the natural beauty and recreational opportunities available in the Adirondacks. She shared the details of one five-day itinerary, based at a campground near the center of the park, outside of the village of Indian Lake. “On the first day, I’ll take visitors on a hike—perhaps on a section of Northville–Placid Trail, which runs one hundred thirty-three miles through some of the wildest sections of the Adirondack. The second day, we’ll take to the water with an all-day kayak trip on one of the beautiful lakes in the area. On day three, I like to visit Great Camp Santanoni, one of the estates (or “great camps”) that were built by wealthy downstaters at the turn of the last century. [It’s considered one of the greatest examples of Adirondack craftsmanship.] The next day, we’ll explore some of the great white water the area has to offer. There’s a seventeen-mile stretch of the Indian and Hudson Rivers that I’ve run in the past in a raft (with skilled guides) that has some solid Class III rapids, plus some quieter pools where you can swim.”
If you find yourself in the central region of Adirondack Park, consider a visit to the Adirondack Museum in the village of Blue Mountain Lake. The museum has an extensive collection of boats inspired by the region’s myriad waterways and does an excellent job of chronicling the legacy of outdoor recreation in the mountains.
* * *
KARIN TATE serves as a national outings leader for the Sierra Club. Before joining the Sierra Club, she taught mathematics at the Winsor School in Boston. A Sierra Club member since 1976, her outside adventures include hiking the Appalachian Trail (March–September, 1986), the French and German Alps, and the Cascades.
If You Go
Getting There: The closest commercial airports are in Syracuse and Albany, both roughly two and a half hours away. Both are served by most major domestic carriers.
Best Time to Visit: Campgrounds are generally open from mid-May to mid-October. Summer months are the busiest; black flies can be thick in the early season, September can be beautiful.
Campgrounds: The fifty-two state campgrounds within Adirondack Park are overseen by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (www.dec.ny.gov). Reservations for many of the campgrounds can be made through ReserveAmerica (www.newyorkstateparks.reserveamerica.com). Site prices begin at $20. The many privately operated campgrounds in the area are listed at Visit Adirondacks (www.visitadirondacks.com).
Activities: Hiking, canoeing, white-water rafting, swimming, fishing, rock climbing, sightseeing.
Golden beaches and turquoise seas are just two of the many attractions at Abel Tasman.
New Zealand—Nelson
ABEL TASMAN NATIONAL PARK
RECOMMENDED BY Hugh and Pam Mytton
Many know the southern island of New Zealand for its mountains and fjords, its rushing rivers and adrenaline-fueled outdoor sports. Abel Tasman National Park’s wonders are on a bit of a smaller scale, but are nonetheless beguiling. Resting near the top of the south island, the park extends from Wainui Inlet in the north to Marahau in the south and includes the waters of the Tonga Island Marine Reserve. Though Abel Tasman is New Zealand’s smallest national park (at eighty-seven square miles), it is its most popular, visited by more than 150,000 hikers, beachgoers, campers, and kayakers each year. The first time you set your eyes upon its golden sand beaches, you’ll understand why! Two well-known tracks (trails) traverse the park, one cutting through the rolling terrain of the interior, one along the coast. Kayakers have mapped out another trail of sorts along the coastline, where some visitors will paddle the length of the park over three or four days, camping along the way.
One of the great appeals of Abel Tasman—which is named for the Dutch explorer who is believed to be the first European to set eyes upon modern-day New Zealand—is the park’s tremendous diversity of habitat. There are imposing rocky headlands, river estuaries and lagoons filled with clear water, and the aforementioned beaches. In places, thick forests extend right to the shoreline, creating a vivid contrast of green, gold, and blue. Along the northern coast of the park, you’re likely to find fur seals; further south, there are rookeries of blue penguins, the smallest member of the penguin species. For many, the relaxing ambiance of Totaranui Campground has enough appeal in itself. “We get some visitors who are traveling through the country and might stop for a night or two,” began Hugh Mytton. “Other campers come for two or three weeks. We’ll get people who have stressful jobs—solicitors, bankers—they arrive, put on shorts and T-shirts, and relax. It’s so nice to see them enjoying themselves.” “Many people live in cities, and their lives are very busy,” Pam Mytton chimed in. “Coming here, people have time for one another. They get into a different rhythm. Though there are many attractions around the national park, many of our visitors don’t wander far from the campground.”
Totaranui Campground provides an exceptional base for exploring Abel Tasman National Park . . . or for simply kicking
back. Accessed by a seven-mile gravel road, it sits between Totaranui Beach and a large estuary. The big golden beach (the color is a result of a high percentage of orthoclase minerals in the sand) and crystalline waters on either side of the tent/caravan sites are a great draw. “There are three things that children love,” Hugh continued. “Water, mud, and fire. Totaranui delivers all three. The estuary is a lovely spot for younger children. The water—a beautiful blue-green color—is a bit warmer than the sea off the beach, and there’s not much current. It’s perfect for splashing about and making sand castles. As for the fire—kids can roast marshmallows around the fire pit in the evening. There are also some easy walks that depart from the campground. The Pukatea Walk is just thirty minutes, but it will give you a great sense of the plants and birds of the New Zealand bush.” The trail takes walkers through a number of different habitats, including gorse scrubland, a raupo (bulrush) swamp, and a pukatea forest with glades of nīkau palms (the only palm endemic to New Zealand) and black mamaku tree ferns. You may spy some of the South Island’s inland avian residents, including tui, bell-bird, and kererū. (Kiwi, the flightless bird that’s most closely associated with New Zealand, is not endemic to the region. A population of great spotted kiwi exists to the northwest, though the long-term well-being of these birds—like other kiwi populations in New Zealand—is in question, thanks to predation by mammals that have been introduced to the islands.)
Frequent visitors to Totaranui may be content to enjoy the immediate environs of the campground. But those from further afield may wish to do some exploring. While there are no roads along the water, several fleets of water taxis await to spirit you up and down the coastline. “You can arrange to catch a boat south,” Hugh explained. “You can then hike back to the campground, or you can arrange to be picked up where you’re dropped off or somewhere else along the coast. Outings can be arranged to accommodate many different tastes and activity levels.” Heading north, you might opt to explore Golden Bay and the granite headland of Separation Point. There’s a sizable New Zealand fur seal colony here, and you can hike down to observe them. (Fur seals are not true seals, as they have external ears and forward-rotating hind flippers. They’re in the same family as sea lions.) If you opt to taxi south, you might visit Anchorage Bay. From here, you can hike to the overlook at Te Pukatea Bay, which provides vistas all the way across Tasman Bay. Or, you can visit Cleopatra’s Pool, a freshwater swimming hole that comes with a moss-lined, natural waterslide. Another nearby attraction is a glowworm cave, lit by thousands of Arachnocampae luminosa, an iri-descent worm endemic to New Zealand. There’s also the option of boating to Adele Island, where mammals have been eradicated and native bird species have been reintroduced. From the beach, you can close your eyes and take in an avian symphony. Blue penguins are sometimes spied swimming the calm waters around Adele.
Fifty Places to Camp Before You Die Page 13