Category: Pete Parsons Trek

“May 1st Well I am camping in Colorado tonight among snowbanks 6 ft thick y at abt 1000 ft elev. I was on the way at 5.30 and got to Chama abt 8.00. There I left some film y got some more Y inquired abt my intended route, but everybody said I could not get through because of the snow. Well, I got enough grub to last me for 8-9 days, then I struck out, there

was both a road y a r.r. [railroad] going in my direction for a while. The road was impassable, nothing but soft nub so I followed the R.R. (a narrow gauge line belonging to the D y R.G.W.) up to where there was lots of snow here y tried the road for a ways as it was straighter, but the snow was so soft that I sank down to my knees every step y where the ground was bare it was mud y I had to go back down to the RR which I followed to abt 11 miles from Chama. here I cut up the hillside to the north along a bare strip of ground hoping to find a sheltered spot to camp so I

could cut across the snow tomorrow morning before it got soft. Finally I got u near the top of the ridge y here I found the snow pretty solid so I keept [sic.] going about a mile more to what looks like the last ridge, here camp, but the snow is dep nearly everywhere and the bare spots are soaking wet, but I cut a lot of spruce bough y I found a lot of dry limbs for fire wood. But by the time I got pretty well fixed up it started snowing y blowing, but it quit after a while y is clearing up but it will freeze pretty hard I expect. but that will make good going tomorrow morning. My [feet] was wet y got pretty cold

before I got camp fixed but socks y shoes are drying nicely now y I got a big supper under the belt so am feeling pretty good now. This is like camping in Alaska about this time of the year. Here is quite a few wolf or coyote tracks up here.”

“This morning I came across a large plain that forms an of the old spanish grant. Then I crossed the Rio Chama, a quite large stream than I headed up Arrayo Seco. Here I got a ride on a wagon up to Canjilon near the summit. Where I camped. I noticed some interesting rock in the valley I crossed today, [it] appears to be some kind of Obsidian or I believe it is commonly called flint it is of several different collars [sic.], black, blue, gray, yellow y white. and where the old surface are exposed they are covered with a white coating which could indicate that this flint rock has been inbedded [sic.] in the white lime-stone. I have not been close enough to the lime-stone cliffs to verify this.”

This post is part of an ongoing story, told in real-time, of Pete Parsons journey in 1924. Over the next several months, we’ll follow him using his photographs and journals to retrace his travels. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and the Mazama blog as we track his progress and learn about him and his journey of a lifetime.

#peteparsonsjourney #trekthroughtime #mazamacollection #mazamaarchives #mazarchives #outdoorsman #outdoorhistory #historicalarchives #continentaldivide #trailstory #trailtime #cdtig #wanderlust #solotravel #cdt #newmexico #colorado

Day 11 “4/22 I was on the trail about 6 y I had hard to keep warm, after hiking 7-8 miles a [unintelligible] overtook me y it was the same fellow I rote with yesterday, he gave me a ride all the way to Magdalena (about 40 m.). Then after having dinner there I struck out over a shorth-cut towards Polvadera in the Rio Grande Valley y hiked about 12 miles. I was told I that I would find wather [sic.] before this , but I did’t find any so this is nearly a dry camp as I drank most of what I carried before I camped. I found a lot of nice flowers around here that I put under my bed to keep everything from getting full of sand. … I did’t intend to come as far east yet, but the [unintelligible] was going east to beat the band so I was in Magdalena before I could lay a different course.”