From Taos we drive about 1 hour to the East Fork Red River Trailhead. Here we have planned a hike in the forest to find two caches that were never found before, something always surprising in a different state than we live in. The trail is relatively flat and quite nicely maintained with a very welcome bridge over the raging river.
The river is quite scenic and the trail follows it closely. There are a few trees fallen on the trail, not a big problem but foreshadowing our troubles in the coming hours.
There are some wildflowers already out, besides dandelions there are quite a few columbines and a lot of fairy slippers.
One of the attractions on the trail is the Big Ditch, we see first the sign before noticing it. It is surprisingly well preserved and we enjoy seeing the historical ditch.
We find the couple of caches ok even though we have to pass through some snowy areas to get there. In fact we are surprised at how much snow there still is on the ground and we see the mountains are still fully covered, interesting.
We return at the parking lot and our spirits sink as we notice that now there are three trees blocking the road out of the trailhead parking lot. They are way too big for us to move or cut so we try to call 911. With some luck we are able to get in touch with them and they put us in touch with the national forest service. And of course it is memorial day but to their credit they find a crew that arrives very late at night and free us. We still have a long drive back to the hotel but we make it safely and soon are asleep.
