Hey hey USA - 22nd October - following the river

We left the red rock area of Wawatowa and followed the Jemez River north towards our campsite. On the side of the road we spotted an interesting rock formation which turned out to be a soda spring, where hot spring water has formed a calcium carbonate and travertine bridge over the river. The spring is heated by volcanic magma underneath the Valles Caldera which we were to visit the next morning. There is evidence that humans lived in caves around here as early as 2,500BC. There were many hot springs in this area but unfortunately the building of the highway in the 60's involved blasting and changed the course of the water so that a number of the springs have stopped flowing entirely.

We arrived at our camping site at Jemez Falls late afternoon. These State, National and Forestry Park sites in the US are absolutely beautiful and the reason why I wanted to to rent a camper van. There are large pitches underneath the trees, often with your own picnic bench and barbecue provided. As it was late we cooked inside the camper and ate and then attempted to get the heater going. It did not work and the temperature was plummeting as it got dark. The back bench seat was very easy to convert into a bed but the bedding proved to be not enough and we shivered our way through the night and rushed to light the gas stove in the morning to get a little heat. The van obviously would not be workable for any sort of comfort. We contacted the owner but he did not have any suggestions!

I had booked some excursions in a couple of days so we decided to use the van as transport until we had done these and then return it. I was very disappointed.