Hiking and Letterboxing

The clues listed for our 5th letterbox required us to do some hiking right below Sandia Mountain in the Open Space and National Forest areas. It was a gorgeous, sunny warm day, perfect for a hike! We were searching for the "Los Vaqueros" letterbox, and the clues also included some fascinating information on cowboys, too. The stamp itself was beautifully handcarved and we were excited to find it!

The beginnning of our hike.

The trail crossed an arroyo filled with sparkling water caused by melted snow running off of the mountains.


Lots of large boulders to climb along the way.


A bird blind overlooking an unlikely pond in this arid location below the mountains. We spied a very large toad beside the pond here.

All along the main path, there were these beautiful tiled information boards. It was liking mixing art with natural history. All of us enjoyed searching out these 'art boards' to read about the area and admire the tiles. (Click on the picture below to enlarge, so you can read the words and enjoy the artwork)


Not too far away from the letterbox location, Jackson and I discovered part of a coyote jaw bone with teeth still attached.

An old historic barn and corral once owned by Elena Gallegos. "Los Vaqueros" was close-by, too.

Two more beautiful tiled information boards.(Click on the photos to enlarge them)


Since we were already in the area and had some more time to enjoy another hike, we decided to hunt for "Domingo Baca" letterbox, our 6th found box! The hike was not as pretty most of the way, though and it followed a mountain bike trail. But once we arrived at the Domingo Baca Arroyo, the hike was more interesting and beautiful trekking beside the gurgling creek. Not too far down the arroyo, we finally came upon the letterbox and enjoyed the pretty handcarved stamp.