Our "hike" to the top of the fire tower

Our motor home and pickup look very happy nestled into the Gallinas Campground in New Mexico's Cibola National Forest. Even though there is space for a couple dozen RVs here, we had this peaceful spot almost to ourselves during our two-day visit.

We were looking for the best hike in the Cibola National Forest, and the Fire Tower Trail was the only thing that came up in the Alltrails app. It was unclear where the trailhead was, so we just started up the gravel road that led us towards Gallinas Peak.

Even though we were driving, it felt very much like a hike down this narrow road. We passed areas where heavy equipment was poised to remove some of the trees.

The narrow gravel road literally clung to the side of the mountain. It's the kind of road that you hope you don't meet another vehicle. Most of the time one of those vehicles would have to back to a wider spot so that the two vehicles could carefully pass.

On this "hike" we also saw many deer, that looked a little surprised to see anyone on this road.

The steep road flattened as we approached the peak. From here we could see where the bald mountain-side met the forested peak. The line where the most recent fire was stopped was pretty obvious. We were still looking for the spot where we should park the pickup and start hiking.

We continued to drive until we approached a gate that was swung open at the top. We finally parked the pickup and got the view from the summit. This is the highest point in this part of New Mexico, so it is filled with satellite and cell phone towers.

Before all those technologically advanced towers were built, this little fire tower was the only thing on top of Gallinas Peak. As we looked up at the fire tower, a window opened from the top and we heard a voice call out, "You can come on up if you want." Well, of course we want to!

That's where we met one of the long-term members of the fire tower team. Linda has been working in this tower for more than thirty years. We had lots of questions, and she was happy to answer all of them. She works 7-10 day shifts, driving her pickup up the same road that we had traveled this morning. She sleeps in the little cabin at the base of the tower. She brings enough food for her shift because if you don't make it yourself, you don't eat it around here.

From looking out these windows for over thirty years, she is so familiar with the topography that she can give verbal descriptions to fire fighters to lead them to any smoke she spots. Linda also has a device that allows her to give a numerical description to the location.

This is an Osborne Firefinder, that was developed in 1915, and is obviously still in use in fire towers today. The rotating ring is overlaid with a map of the forest, with the fire tower at the center. Linda can rotate the sighting ring until she lines up a smoke flume. Then she can read the azimuth off the sighting ring to give numerical directions to fire fighting crews.

From our perch in the fire tower, we can see the exact point where fire fighters were able to stop the most recent blaze. It's obvious where the green trees meet the bare charred trunks.

All of the towers at the peak were saved! We had all kinds of questions about that fiery day, especially about her safety as we now understand how slow the road would be to evacuate. It's also the only way to get out, so if the fire was over the road you could get trapped here. We were relieved to hear that she was not working in the fire tower that day, but that was the reason that the fire got so large.

Linda welcomed us through all our questions, and we felt honored to spend some time with her this morning. Then we opened the trap door in the floor . . .

and made our way back down the stairs. This would turn out to be the majority of the steps we would take on this "hike."

We drove back down the gravel road that had an official-looking road sign that named it as "Swirl Trail." Google maps didn't have  much information about this remote part of New Mexico. We did wonder about these unusual structures that kept popping up on google as "trick tanks." That was another question we asked in the fire tower. Linda explained that water is precious in these desert mountains. So rain water is funneled off these large tin roofs, where it trickles into storage tanks underneath. The roof not only collects water from a larger area, but it also provides shade to slow the evaporation of the water needed for the wildlife to drink.

We didn't get much exercise on our "hike" today, but it was certainly interesting. We are far from any light pollution in our campground in Cibola National Forest, so it was another great evening to look at the stars. We had a good day of wandering God's wonders, and meeting an interesting fire tower ranger on our "hike" today.