On The Chama River Road. 05-27-2026

Greetings from San Cristobal, NM. I hope everyone had a great week. This week, a flashback to 21 years ago and photos I shot on the Chama River road to the desert monastery. I was looking for other subject matter, but went down a gopher hole and found myself looking at images of trips made with my friend Dwain and our kids.

Dwain is driving the truck in the photo. I saw it come over the rise in my rear view mirror, stopped got out and had him back down the hill and to drive my way again. This is the shot I got. It has been a best seller since and a true remembrance of a great friendship. This dead tree fell a few weeks later and no doubt wound up in someones campfire. Dwain passed away in 2010. I’ll always treasure our friendship

This was the time of year when the kids got out of school and the first camping trip of summer was always along the Chama River road. We went camping and made trips elsewhere but this was the first of the summer and always the favorite.

Below, if you expand the image you can see our camp site. The tall cottonwood fell down shortly after Dwain passed. Dwain was a master wood and stone carver. I like to picture Dwain and the cootonwood together wherever that may be.

The view from our go to campsite. The kids favorite place to wallow in the river and sandy mud.

Ten minutes upstream is an old bridge with this vista.

Two minutes upstream for our campsite is this bend in the river. A tranquil spot to watch the river flow and the sun setting. The evening continued with marshmallows and smores and Dwain telling stories around the campfire.

As always, thanks for looking. Thanks for indulging me. Have a great week. G