©2015 Lydia Hinshaw
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SANTA FE, NM -- We came to Black Canyon Campground intending to stay a night or two. But we will soon have been here a week.
We don't have showers or even flush toilets, but we do have location, location and location and the price is right, $5 per night with our geezer passes. We are in the Santa Fe National Forest, but it's less than 10 miles downhill to Santa Fe, a place we've always enjoyed, although it is a bit cultured for us. We won't be
attending the opera or the symphony, but we have visited a few art galleries.
And we've hit Whole Foods for lunch nearly every day. Its hot bar is a favorite, wherever we can find one of the pricey supermarkets.
On the way to town, we pass a recreation center with workout facilities, including a pool and hot showers. A senior citizen day pass costs $2 per person, by far the best such deal we've ever found in the U.S. or Canada.
It is unusual, if not rare, to find a Forest Service campground so close to a city. In the past, we've priced private campgrounds in Santa Fe, and found them going for $50 per night, for a parking spot in a crowded RV park. Granted, that includes showers, flush toilets and perhaps a hot tub too.
We are camped at 8,500 feet, and nights have been cold, in the 30s and, on two mornings, 28. We have campfires every evening (except for the two evenings when the rain poured), and again in the morning. The need to split firewood gives Prince Charming the chance to channel his inner Paul Bunyan. It also sometimes tires him out.
Our campsite comes with a hummingbird, who has actually flown into the Magic Bus once, and another time flew right up to the Prince's face while he was doing in his camp chair.
The campground hosts are a friendly couple from Texas. They keep reminding us the rules allow us to camp here 14 days. But we need to be in Tucson, 378 miles away, by May 29, and we'd like to see some othr areas along the way. So on Memorial Day we will hit the road in search of new adventures.
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