God's Country

Last Friday we traveled north some 175 miles, the van bursting at the seams with luggage, food, dog toys and dogs, for a long weekend in the Northern New Mexico Rockies. The prospect of living without cell phones and Wi-Fi for three nights was worrisome. Though I'd looked forward to this getaway for weeks, I secretly dreaded being off the grid.

Located 30 miles south of the Colorado border in Los Ojos, the Stonehouse Lodge is perched high atop a ridge overlooking El Vado Lake. We rented one of the Lodge's five cabins cozily located in a neat row on the ridge, the lake a few hundred feet below.


Though rustic in every sense of the word, the cabin was spotless. My first order of business: Determine Cell Signal Strength. Glancing at my phone with trepidation, I read, "SEARCHING FOR SERVICE." With no bars, I was officially incommunicado. I shut off my phone and stashed it in a corner, trusting that my anxiety would abate with the device out of sight. I found comfort in knowing the Stone House Cafe has a public computer with satellite internet just 300 feet from our tiny cabin. Nevertheless, I steeled myself to use it as little as possible, determined to bravely face my addiction to electronic communication devices cold turkey. I might even welcome this freedom from the outside world.

The dogs assumed their positions patrolling the cabin and, when the perimeter was secured, they languished at the back door, looking out at the lake...


and this is what they saw.




The lake is accessible a mile away, off a dirt road I would hesitate to negotiate in winter without four-wheel drive. El Vado Lake, a man-made reservoir and part of the San Juan-Chama Drinking Water Project, is home to rainbow trout, browns, and kokanee salmon. The Rio Chama connects El Vado to Heron Lake, just a few miles north. While Heron Lake is a no-wake lake, El Vado hosts water skiers, jet-skis and small boats towing inflatables ridden by squealing children. In spite of motorized craft, the lake was surprisingly tranquil and quiet. And, the fish were jumpin'.

We found a quiet, secluded swimming area where the dogs could romp freely without disturbing anyone. In fact, we saw almost no one at the lake, other than a couple from Albuquerque carrying fishing rods and a cross-legged young man who swam to shore from a pontoon boat in search of a restroom. Telly spent the first two days at our apparently private beach trying to understand the mechanics of swimming in water over her head, and by day three earned her swimming badge. It was great fun watching Murphy and his baby sister play for hours in the lake. It was also fascinating to observe Telly gradually overcoming her fear of water.







Sunset walks along the ridge with the dogs were a wonderful way to end each day.




We were treated to rainbows daily after late afternoon storms that seemed to appear from nowhere like clockwork. By Saturday, both cell phone and internet were removed from memory.