TranslateDay 6: Santa Fe, NM to Kayenta, AZ
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5 to 10 inches of snow overnight almost stopped me. The roads in Santa Fe were a mess. The highway north was a little bit better and there was no traffic; so I managed to get through - slowly but surely.
Too bad I couldn't stop on the dam just to the right. The nightly storms had collected masses of tumbleweeds that got stuck. As a result, only 1 lane across the dam was open for traffic.
New Mexico State Route 96 is still treacherous near Gallina, about 80 miles northwest of Santa Fe. The temperature dropped, the pine trees start getting white, but much less snow than up in Santa Fe.
Angel Peak Scenic Area, New Mexico
At 6,988 feet, Angel Peak is only a minor summit, rising just a little way above the high desert plains of northwest New Mexico, and sits in the middle of a rolling expanse of pastel-colored badlands, cliffs and dry washes, similar to the Bisti and De-Na-Zin wilderness areas 25 miles southwest - all are part of a general collection of eroded landscapes known as the San Juan Basin Badlands. The undulating scenery around Angel Peak lacks the great variety of hoodoos found elsewhere in the basin, so the place is not as good for hiking or photography, yet the region is peaceful, desolate and empty, well worth visiting for a few hours or staying overnight; most is protected as a BLM Scenic Area which has several excellent free campsites on promontories above the badlands.
