Santa Rosa, New Mexico ~ Blue Hole Plunge

 

 

Within walking distance of Park Lake in downtown Santa Rosa is the famous Blue Hole, a mecca for SCUBA diving enthusiasts and a unique local swimming hole.

Blue Hole was produced from a cave system near the well's bottom (the access to this cave system has been permanently sealed with a steel grate for safety). Spring water flows into the 60 ft wide by 81 feet deep hole at 3,000 gallons per minute (!!), recycling the water every six hours. And the water temperature remains a constant temperature of 61F degrees year round.

 

The excess water overflows into this small creek.

The creek eventually joins the Pecos River.

The spring water is crystal clear and the creek is a fun place to hunt for crawdads.

Blue Hole is a very popular spot for SCUBA divers and can be an extremely busy place to visit. There are several permanent diving platforms installed within Blue Hole, too. The spring is 4,600' above sea level making the bottom equivalent of over 100' of depth in the ocean. Considering this, diving to the bottom would be considered an "altitude" dive and specialty SCUBA courses in Altitude Diving are often taught here.

Since driving to a higher elevation after a dive would basically be the same as flying after diving, divers have to observe special rules after conducting an altitude dive. Divers heading back to Albuquerque after diving the Blue Hole have to off-gas several hours because the highway crosses a mountain ridge of more than 7,000 feet.

We actually stopped by on Friday before heading to the campground because we wanted to get the lay of the land and also search for a couple letterboxes in the area. We had also brought a letterbox to place there, too.

It was fun to watch the folks jumping into the water and we could see evidence of SCUBA divers via their bubble trails on the surface.

And on Saturday, we all came back after playing in Park Lake, to have some fun and take the plunge into Blue Hole.

This was the first time my twinlings have ever jumped off anything so high as that cliff. Jax was excited but also a little bit unsure…………….

 

 Jem said it looked a long way down from that cliff and he wasn’t sure how deep he would plunge down into Blue Hole before he could swim back up to the surface.

 

Apparently it was quite a rush because immediately upon coming up to the surface again, they were both calling out how awesome it was to plunge into Blue Hole.

Apparently it was also very cold, too.  61F degrees is very refreshing on a hot summer day, but quite a shock when plunging your entire body into it all at once. Jem had goose bumps on top of goose bumps.  

 

Jen and I just hung out on the stairs only going about as deep as our knees.

 

The boys decided they wanted to jump into Blue Hole again. Jem went for a cannon ball plunge this time around.

 

Jax did the same thing, but didn’t like the water in his nose.

 

This picture of my daughter makes me smile.

 

On one side of Blue Hole there is also a diving platform for those who don’t want to jump from the high cliff. Jax wanted to try that one out, too.

And Jem decided to walk on water.

 

 

We had a great time exploring Santa Rosa and would love to go back again some day. We did end up finding two letterboxes and we placed one. I love hanging out with my kidlets because they are so much fun to be around.  There are many more activities I’d like to enjoy with them and lots of great places I’d like to travel with them, too. I’m glad summer has just begun because we have many fun things planned.

How are you spending this summer?

Santa Rosa, New Mexico ~ Fun in the Sun

 

After eating breakfast at our campsite, we headed the 7 miles into Santa Rosa to Park Lake, “The Largest Swimming Pool in the Southwest”, located just off Rt 66 in downtown Santa Rosa.

Santa Rosa, population of less than 3,000 residents is known as New Mexico’s “City of Lakes”, due to it’s plethora of natural lakes, an anomaly in the dry desert climate surrounding it. Most of these lakes are sinkholes that form in the limestone bedrock of the area that fill with spring water, and are connected by a network of underground, water-filled tunnels.

One of those natural lakes is Park Lake, which is continually filled by a spring that bubbles up from the floor of the lake, with the overflow draining into the adjacent creek. Tree-lined Park Lake was transformed into a huge community swimming pool with a sandy beach, diving board, pier, water slide and peddle boats. It’s ironic that Park Lake is less than a mile from I-40 yet not many interstate travelers are aware of this beautiful, unique oasis, in eastern New Mexico, on the barren, high plains desert surrounding Santa Rosa.

We met up with Jax and Jem’s Boy Scout Troop as soon as we arrived. They had brought canoes and kayaks. 

 

For only $2.00 a person, you receive unlimited use of the water slide and pedal boats. Swimming and picnicking at the lake are free. 

 

Jax and Jem spent the first hour canoeing…….. 

 

 

And Kayaking .

 

While Jen was happier than a clam just floating on her raft.

 

The water was a very comfortable temperature and safely shallow at the edges of the lake, getting deeper towards the middle. There were lifeguards watching out for the kids and even though a lot more people showed up in the afternoon, it never really felt crowded.

 

Jem enjoyed jumping off the diving board.

 

I think Jax enjoyed the diving board even more. 

 

During our lunch of grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, some friendly ducks showed up begging for scraps.

 

 

Jax and Jen had fun feeding the ducks while protecting them from some mean kids who tried to throw rocks at their feathered friends.

 

Dobbie girl and I spent most of the day watching the kidlets, while relaxing in the shade beneath the cottonwood trees.

 

 

But we also had a few boat rides, too.

 

This was Dobbie’s first time ever to ride in a boat. She really seemed to enjoy herself and was very relaxed.

 

 

Jem was our Pedal Boat Captain.

 

 

While Jen and I rode in the back of the pedal boat with Dobbie. We had a great time and went back out again a second time.

 

 

While we were walking around the lake later in the day, a group of people smiled at Dobbie and called her the “Water Puppy”, because she had been the only dog to go for a boat ride that day. I thought that name was cute. 

Dobbie girl enjoyed all the interesting sights around and in the lake. She didn’t seem to know what to think about the ducks, but she never barked or acted aggressive towards them. At home, she gives our chickens a wide berth. Maybe she thought the ducks were water chickens?

 

 

                                                   Quack! Quack!

 

 

Next up: Blue Hole Plunge

Santa Rosa, New Mexico ~ Camping at the Lake

 

About an hour and 45 minutes drive east from our house is the Santa Rosa Lake State Park. Jax and Jem’s Boy Scout Troop was planning to spend Saturday, picnicking, swimming, canoeing, kayaking, and peddle-boating in Santa Rosa at Park Lake and jumping into the famous Blue Hole in downtown Santa Rosa. The Boy Scout Troop was only going to spend the day in Santa Rosa, but we wanted to make a mini-vacation out of the trip.

When we first moved to New Mexico almost 20 years ago, Ranchman John and I were on a mission to visit and camp in all of New Mexico’s 35 State Parks. So far we have only visited 16….make that 17, because the kidlets and I (John had to work) decided to drive out to Santa Rosa on Friday and spend Friday and Saturday nights at Santa Rosa Lake.

This was our campsite at Santa Rosa Lake.

 

Our tent fit perfectly in this shady nook between these two trees. We were surprised to get such a nice campsite on a summer weekend and even more surprised that the campground with more than 100 sites was less than 10% full. Of course we camped in the section with no hook-ups so most of the people camping were in tents or tent trailers. We didn’t visit the section that had electric and water hook-ups, where most of the RVs camp, because it was on the far side of the lake and we wanted to be closer to Santa Rosa.

We were actually surprised at how noisy it got on Friday night when some partiers showed up to camp and stayed up drinking, being loud and obnoxious all the way past 3am! The females in the group were the worst with their foul, crass language. Very un-lady-like and I was upset that my kidlets had to listen to that trash as they were trying to drift off to sleep.

The groups of college age boys that cruised the campground in packs, farting, burping and guffawing like a bunch of drunk sailors made me want to lock up all our stuff and leave for a motel.

The camp hosts were MIA and no Park Rangers came to the rescue, so we had a rough night. And the next morning we saw beer cans on the road and near the restrooms. In all our years of camping in State Parks, BLM and National Forest Campgrounds we have never had an experience like that. And I hope we never do again. It’s a shame that spending the night at home is quieter than camping outdoors in nature.

But the next evening as we were eating dinner, after a day spent in Santa Rosa, a couple sheriff vehicles, ranger vehicles and a K-9 Unit drove by with spotlights scanning over each campsite. Saturday night was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop. Just the way I like it!

 

This was the view of the lake from our campsite. Jen couldn’t wait to explore.

 

After we got the tent set up the kidlets headed down to the lake while I prepared dinner. Here’s Jem running to catch up with Jax and Jen.

After dinner we all decided to do some exploring together, so we made a detour to explore the Los Tanos Equestrian Camp and Trail located in the Primitive Camping Area within the Santa Rosa Lake State Park.

I tried to do a Babel Fish translation of the word Tanos and apparently it’s not a Spanish Word. But it is derived from a New Mexico Tewa Indian word with this meaning:

“People with the name Tano have a deep inner need for quiet, and a desire to understand and analyze the world they live in, and to learn the deeper truths. They are excited by change, adventure, and excitement. They are dynamic, visionary, optimistic and versatile, able to make constructive use of freedom. They fight being restricted by rules and conventions. “

Sounds like it’s describing me!
The name Los Tanos is a perfect name for a quiet, secluded horse trail that travels across the high plains encircling a big, beautiful, blue lake with vistas that seem to go on forever.

Here is the corral with 4 pens, a hay feeder, a water trough, and a water spigot.

The pens are about 10 x 10 and the area is well maintained.

The trail, which is about 6-8 miles long, but with many side trails on 500 acres of land that can be explored, starts just east of the horse pens. It was obviously planned well to keep the trail only for the use of equestrians. Someday I want to trail ride here.

Afterwards we all hiked down to the lake to explore and watch the sunset. The weather was perfect. About 75 degrees, breezy, and the smoke from the wildfires in AZ hadn’t made it out this far or, unlike our area around the Sandia Mountains, where the smoke ends up being dammed in by the valleys and mountains and becomes thick and acrid, the open plains of the high desert helps disperse the smoke across a wider area.

 

While boulder-hopping, Jax noticed a nice little surprise hiding at the base of a boulder.

 

It’s a Rock Hopper!

Bet you are glad it wasn’t a rattlesnake, eh?

 

We enjoyed exploring and scrambling over the sandstone boulders while skipping rocks and watching the handful of fishing boats, speed boats, water skiers, Skidoos, and kayaks go by.  Considering it was a summer weekend, the lake and campground wasn’t very crowded.

 

The twinlings got really good at skipping rocks and they were able to get 6-7 good skips across the lake with each throw. But it was also very relaxing just gazing at the water sparkling like diamonds in the fading sunlight while listening to it gently slap and curl against the rocks.

 

Jenna has always been an explorer, an adventurer, and one who enjoys camping, hiking and all things outdoors. She reminds me of myself as a young girl.

 

 

And my Dobbie Girl surprises me all the time. From spending the first two years of her life caged in a Puppy Mill so she could be bred over and over, just so they could take her babies away and sell them, to being introduced to new and different environments and experiences on a daily basis. We take Dobbie everywhere we go and she takes it all in stride and insists she be included in all we do. 

 

The Santa Rosa Lake State Park has a lake surface of 3,800 acres at an elevation of 4,800 ft with less than 14.2 inches of precipitation per year, which means more than 330 days of beautiful, sunny blue skies to enjoy all year.

 

Next up: Santa Rosa, New Mexico ~ Park Lake