Day 9: Dulce to Navajo Dam

September 20, 2017

Today is a long day but the climbing is reasonable. I go west all day but the weather forecast calls for much lighter southwest wind than yesterday. Up at 7, on the road at 8:45 after breakfast at the casino's restaurant and a grocery stop at the tribe-owned supermarket adjacent to the casino. Today has no services so I bought a breakfast burrito for lunch. It turned out to be the best breakfast burrito of the trip. Similar to a Mexican chorizo and egg burrito but not dripping grease.

In the morning I have my first good look at the town of Dulce. It's the main town of the Jicarilla Apache tribe. Not many businesses other than the casino, supermarket, and gas station. But it doesn't look impoverished either. There is a decent park and the town is tidy.

I left town continuing west on US 64. The first 10 miles are uphill, climbing 800 feet into forest.

Looking back at Dulce, the main town of the Jicarilla Apache nation.

Today is a beautiful day for touring. About 55F/13C early in the morning, high of 82F/28C in the afternoon. Cloud free blue sky all day. The gentle southwest wind didn't slow me down very much.

Last night I had to stay in a smoking room because the motel was filled with construction workers. Today I enjoy the benefit of their labor. Silky smooth unpainted new pavement.

New pavement on low-traffic US 64 in the Jicarilla Apache reservation.

I really enjoyed pedaling through the Jicarilla Apache reservation. Beautiful grassy valleys surrounded by forested mountains. Unspoiled, with no houses and very few roads. Very low traffic. It seems almost like a park.

Nearly everything is fenced and the tribe does post low key No Trespassing signs.

They especially don't want you to gather valuable Piñon nuts.

The Jicarilla Apache reservation is the most scenic Indian reservation that I traveled through during this tour. Also the largest reservation.

I suppose there was a similar sign when I entered the reservation after dark yesterday.

The landscape didn't change very much when I departed the reservation and entered Carson National Forest. Still unspoiled. The scenery is still quite nice, with many rock outcroppings.

Carson National Forest is just as unspoiled as the Jicarilla Apache reservation.

During the morning I was mostly above 7000 feet elevation. Much of the surrounding land is juniper and piñon forest. I like traveling through the transition zone between desert and forest.

US 64 climbing into forest. North facing slopes have more and taller trees than south facing slopes.

Things changed dramatically when I exited the National Forest. Suddenly there were oil wells, storage tanks, many roads, power lines, and the occasional compressor station. And suddenly there was more traffic, mostly white pickup trucks with big tall safety flags. Trucks servicing the wells. I'm now in oil and gas country. I didn't know that northwest New Mexico is oil and gas country.

Oil and gas activity appears after I exit the National Forest.

Big wide valley. I like it. The stream is dry now.

The scenery is not quite spectacular but it's very nice. Alternating between forested hills and desert valleys. It's interesting to see how north facing slopes and shady canyons have denser and taller trees than sun-baked south facing slopes.

Oil and gas development changes the character of the landscape. What was once pastoral ranches is now industrialized. Not just the wells and tanks, but roads and power lines.

More rocks. The shade is behind a fence.

The afternoon had a few notable hills but was mostly downhill. Transitioning from piñon to juniper and sagebrush.

The rabbit brush was especially vivid. It must be at peak bloom now. In September and October you can depend on rabbit brush to add a splash of yellow to the high desert.

Rabbit brush growing to the edge of the road.

Traffic became gradually heavier as I traveled west, deeper into oil country and closer to Farmington where most of the oil and gas traffic originates.

It was a relief to turn right onto NM 539 towards Navajo Dam. Suddenly there was no traffic, maybe 1 car every 5 minutes. Good thing because it's barely 2 lanes. NM 539 descends to Navajo Dam. Back into the desert, with a huge reservoir down below.

Navajo Dam and reservoir. I descended to the road in the lower right, pedaled across the top of the dam, then descended on the dam.

The road configuration at Navajo Dam is unusual. NM 539 descends to the top of the earthen dam, then goes across the top of the dam. Then I made a hairpin turn at the spillway to begin descending the actual dam. I've never seen a public road descend the side of an earthen dam. Earthen dams are usually off limits to the public.

Navajo Dam is a 402 foot (122 m) tall earthen dam on the San Juan river. My first time to see a road descend on a dam.

A marina is a mile past the spillway. I didn't go there, only saw a portion of it from a distance.

Telephoto view of the marina from near the spillway.

Navajo Dam was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to provide irrigation water to farms downstream. To "reclaim" desert by converting it to productive farmland. The agency is successful if you measure success by the amount of land irrigated. But the agency completely failed to obey the law that created it. The water was mandated to be supplied ONLY to homesteaders who farmed 160 acre parcels. Instead, all the water goes to private and corporate farms that are thousands of acres in size. I can't judge whether the result is good or bad but it's easy to judge the agency for doing the opposite of what the law mandates.

I don't understand why it's called Navajo Dam and reservoir. The dam and reservoir are not in the Navajo reservation. Little of the impounded water is used by the Navajo reservation. Most of the water is used by farms in the white-owned valley downstream.

Plaque that motorists never notice. The dam was built by the Bureau of Reclamation.

Pedaling on the dam I had a great view of the San Juan river below the dam. The San Juan river is a world class trout fishing stream. People come from around the world to fish here.

Rebirth of the San Juan river below Navajo dam. The power plant was added in the 1980's.

Tonight's destination is a village called Navajo Dam which is actually 5 hilly miles downstream from the dam. It's purely a fishing village. Nearly everything in the village is owned by one company that owns Abe's motel, an RV park, a cafe, a fly and tackle shop, a gas station and store, and a boat storage facility. I expected Abe's motel to be a tiny 10 room motel but it has more than 100 rooms. Best I could tell I was the only non-fisherman staying there. The room was a reasonable $67. First motel room I've ever had with an evaporative cooler for air conditioning.

San Juan river after sunset, from the bridge in the fishing village of Navajo Dam.

Today was long but not very difficult. I traveled west but the wind was mercifully calm. It helps to end the day 1000 feet (300 m) lower than where I started. Now only 5750 feet (1742 m) elevation.

Distance: 62.7 mi. (100.3 km)
Ascent/Descent: +2224/-3263 ft. (+674/-989 m)
Average Speed: 9.7 mph (15.5 km/h)

Today's ride: 63 miles (101 km)
Total: 344 miles (554 km)

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