Day 2 6/21

Good morning! This is what Camp Hermes looked like at about 5:20 am. 

Surprisingly, I slept pretty well last night. I was nervous going to sleep because of the bear bag and well, hell, who knows what else is around me! It was so silent I could hear my ears ring. I could hear the leaves falling through the trees and every stick that cracked. But I woke up at about 5 and thought this is as good a time as ever to get up! I took some photos and explored around for a while. Since I forgot my lighter-- stupid-- I drove into town to upload photos and write some. I got some coffee and some breaky. 

The people at Front Porch Bistro were lovely. David welcomed me with a big smile and hello. We chatted for good while and he invited me in the kitchen while he cooked. We got to talking about what I was doing out here and I talked about my whole reason for this trip. I asked him what something small that makes a big difference in his life. He said, "Well, it's not small, but my family is the first thing that comes to mind." That is valid enough for me! He moved to Cloudcroft New Years Eve of 1999, "...and no, it was not because of Y2K", he laughed. He told me they loved it here, "It's beautiful." And that it is. The mountains and the trees alone are breath taking. The people are amazing too. It has that small town feel where people are friendly and everyone says hello with smile. I do love that. 

My new friends at Front Porch Bistro told me I should check out the Solar Observatory. It was down a long Byway called 6563. I was on this stretch of road for about 20 miles. I probably passed three or four cars. The scenery was stunning. It had long curvey roads so I went slow and took it all in. There was no phone service and the only station was country or christian... Ill stick with the good ole sound of wind blowing through my window. 

The observatory wasn't quite what I expected, but it was pretty neat. I got to go on the revolving dome, which your not allowed, but I walked up when a guy who worked there was letting his nephew take photos. Definitely a plus, considering the observing room was a small room with a window! 

This was the second telescope we could walk in. Here they had video monitors in wall that had live feeds from the sun. But don't think they were big screen tv's, they had to have been installed in the 70's and nothing had changed. Below, is the lighting from inside the tall white telescope above. Does that not say 70's all over it?! It was eery in there, not a soul around. It was like a scary movie. All the monitors were on, computers were flickering and changing screens, the chairs were half rolled out from their desks, but no one in sight. 

A storm was blowing in and there was a flash flood warning for the area, so I ate lunch at the observatory and waited to see what it was going to do. My initial plan was to go check out Bluff Springs, a natural spring off of one of the trails. I went and it was small, but pretty. The thunder was rolling loud so I explored and waited to see if it was going to rain before I set up camp. It actually passed and it was all blue skies so I set up for the night.  

Here is where I set up camp, next to the little spring. I drank out of it, cooked with it, and washed my face. It was cold cold, amazing cold. There is a burn ban, so I couldn't make a fire, boo. You know, at night, it's pretty intimidating to be out here alone. I just took hours of star shots to not think about what could be, and just be. The stars out there were incredible, and this is only night two! I can not wait to see the stars at the Moab and the Grand Canyon! 

Im off-- till tomorrow! 

xo