San Lorenzo Canyon

Kara and I spent the federal holiday traipsing around San Lorenzo Canyon.  This is BLM recreation site reached from the I-25 Lemitar exit.  You go about five miles north on the western frontage road until you reach a tee where the roadway turns to dirt.  Take the left fork and head west, paralleling the border to the Sevilleta Wildlife refuge.  There is one sign and one arrow along the way to steer you right. This view shows the canyon looking east across the Rio Grande to the start of Chupadera Mesa.  That is Sepultura Canyon in the shadows on the western slope, where mexican gray wolves have been kept before release in the Gila.

Unlike the arroyos in the Quebradas on the east side of the Rio Grande, San Lorenzo Canyon was cut from only sandstone.  The bottom is very sandy and passable by motor vehicle.  We tried biking this day, but the sandy bottom made movement extremely difficult.  So we ditched the mountain bikes and hoofed it.  The BLM land dead ends at a basaltic/granite rock dam across the canyon that marks the start of the Sevilleta refuge, where human wanderers are not permitted, on foot or wheel.