Carlito Springs Hike – Saturday April 9, 2016

Hello all,

Pool Below the Spring

Splendid hike and relaxing lunch at travertine pools and picnic tables, Carlito Springs! It is quite a beautiful setting with newly developed trails by Bernalillo County Open Space, 2014. Most of the group did about a 1 and 1/2 gently graded trail to the house. Mymm and Kathleen hiked the shorter, steeper 1/2 mile trail to do some birding. We saw Red Crossbills, male/red, female/dull yellow-green plumage and gray juveniles right above the pools and could point them out to the others, plus Pine Siskins, Black-capped Chickadee, and Townsend’s Solitaire. And the group saw a large yellow Tiger Swallowtail and Mourning Cloak butterflies.

Thanks to Tom Dorr, leader for selecting this location and to the participants: Bobbi Bordeaux, Rita, Scott Lake, Helene Kiecolt & Tony Wahl, Priscilla Remke, Dawn Leach, Don Saver, Neal & Audrey MacDonald and Mymm Ackley.

Here is a detailed history of Carlito Springs by Denise Tessier, Pres, East Mt Historical Society Carlito Springs. She said Carlito Springs has been considered “one of the most amazing landscapes in the SW & unique because of its slope.” There is a 750′ drop in elevation, ranging from 6,300 – 7,000′.

You can listen for yourself but I found the first part of interest. The property was originally settled by a Civil War vet about 1882, Horace Greenwood Whitcomb who after prospecting for gold in Tijeras and living in a tent on the property, at age 62 built 6 dwellings, a stable, etc and planted 30 fruit trees & 80 grapevines. In 1901 he sold the property followed by a succession of nine owners and part of the time it was used as a sanatorium. Most of her presentation deals with Carl Mcgee, a lawyer and journalist originally born in Iowa and also from Oklahoma who bought and named the property Carlitos Springs after a son in 1928, for the promise of health in the higher, drier climate for his wife, Grace who had TB. The talk continues on with lots of intrigue including Mcgee’s bringing the Teapot Dome scandal to the fore.

Kathleen Rhoad

Thanks to Kathleen, Neal and Scott for the pictures.