Camp Hosts at Storrie Lake

We just wrapped up our 2 months as CG Hosts at Storrie Lake and are now back at Eagle Nest, NM (elevation approx. 8,200’).   It was a pretty easy “job” for 2 months as our section of the campground only has four campsites and a group shelter.  We resided in one of the four sites so keeping track of the other three sites and the group shelter was pretty darn easy!!   There are two other sections to the campground and those Hosts have more sites/issues to deal with so we feel pretty lucky.  Would we do it again?  Sure but again only for a few months.

  

Initially when we arrived at Storrie Lake every day was SO windy starting about 10 am and continuing for the rest of the day.  After several weeks of that, that got really old.  The lake is pretty much at the base of the Santa Fe Mountains and every day for most of the time we were there the mountains would brew up their own clouds and thunder would rumble through later in the afternoon.  Mornings were almost always sunny and beautiful.   By early Mid-June we were already getting days at or near 90° so the afternoon thunder was good to help cool things off.  A/C was often needed!!

During the 2 months there we enjoyed an assortment of things:  an afternoon matinee at the Indigo Theater (which was rather unique looking from the outside) and saw Wonder Woman (pretty good), discovered a tasty smoked meat restaurant, weekly visits to Santa Fe to hit the thrift shops, on one of the really hot afternoons took a drive into the mountains to have a picnic lunch up on Johnson’s Mesa at just over 8,000’ which was slightly cooler than down at the lake and the views were awesome.  Barbara also made a trip to Seattle to help with some family matters for a few weeks.   We also started making pretty specific plans for our Colorado travels for August and half of September.

We put up a bird feeder and were constantly entertained by the variety of birds who visited. One of the more entertaining ones were the Cummings Kingbirds that had a nest of young ones in the rafters of our picnic shelter. We enjoyed watching the aerial acrobatics as they caught a myriad of insects to feed the little peeps. Of course, we had Hummingbirds, Oriels, Magpies, Finches and Red Wing Blackbirds visit as well.

One of the more exciting events that occurred while at Storrie Lake was the hail storm that rolled through!  If you've never been inside a 10' x 20' aluminum can with marble size hail peppering you for 10 minutes straight, you're missing out on some great adrenaline rush! The sound was deafening, to say the least.  Fortunately, no huge damage occurred.  Barbara's car got dented up a little and as for our home, we lost two running light covers which were easily replaced.

For now we are spending the rest of July at Eagle Nest.  We LOVE this place and have even toyed with the idea of spending a winter here.  Words just can’t do this place justice but try to imagine a high elevation (8,200’) valley surrounded entirely by mountains with a large lake at the north end of the valley.   The valley is approx. 15 miles in length.  There so many ‘moods’ to the ever changing weather and the weather at one end of the valley can be quite different than the other end.  Most mornings are sunny and beautiful.  The tree line is above the valley floor.  It’s just beautiful here!!

By August 1^st we’ll start moving up into Colorado and plan to stay in the 8,000’-10,000’ elevation which should be some pleasant summer temps.  Lots of new territory to cover and we’ll try to keep you posted.

Bud & Barbara

Eagle Nest, New Mexico