For this run I decided to take the scenic route through the Northern Navajo Nation in New Mexico. Filling up (to the recommended 90%) in Farmington and knowing that it was 225 mi to the next supercharger (taking this route), and also adding in heat and battery drain from the mountainous terrain, I was a little bit nervous. This was the first time I had cut it close in an area without any slow chargers to ease my anxiety range. I am so glad that I took the risk. Driving through the northern mountains of New Mexico was an almost transcendent experience. For miles and miles, there is nothing but wilderness. No company except for mother nature.
After 3 hours of driving through this amazing wilderness, seeing countless deer and eating lunch along a mountain stream listening to the music of happy birds filling the air, I came upon the amphitheater.
Legend has it the curved stone cliff wall was the site where a group of Navajo executed a family of settlers. As the story goes, the victims were brought to the top of the cliff and killed, their blood running down the cliff wall and permanently staining it. Another story says that years later a number of Navajo were in turn murdered in the same spot, once again staining the cliff wall with their draining blood. Now the natural echoing caused by the site’s geography is often ascribed to the voices of the unquiet dead.
The Echo is absolutely amazing. Being a sound designer, finding these things in nature really gets me thrilled.
I had gotten there late so I decided to set up a tent at the attached campsite.
In the morning it had snowed a couple of inches and the white of the snow combined with the deep reds of the rocks were like a surrealist painting by mother nature.
After recording echos for a couple of hours I headed off to Santa Fe and made it to the Supercharger with 12%. In the end, my range anxiety was not needed.
Closest Supercharger: Santa Fe 73.4 mi
