Santa Rosa
Water draws visitors to Santa Rosa, but there’s more to see
For those born in the desert, the mere hint of water can get one jazzed to track down the elusive oasis.
Well, not to fret. Santa Rosa — the City of Lakes — sits just 111 miles east of Albuquerque and provides a wonderful world of water activities.
It begins, of course, with the mysterious, glorious and occasionally deadly Blue Hole.
An artesian cenote, it is believed to be one of seven sister lakes connected underground, although its drain is now permanently plugged 80-feet down.
While the area has been frequented for centuries, including rumored dips by Billy the Kid, two college divers died in 1976 while exploring its narrow depths. And last year, a member of the ADM Exploration Foundation died in an effort to further map the peculiar underground caverns.
The water maintains a constant 62-degree temperature throughout all seasons and the entire pool is flushed in about six hours at a constant rate of 3,000 gallons per minute.
Because the elevation is 4,620 feet, the 80-foot depth gives it a feel of 100 feet, making it a favorite scubadiving testing site, one of the rare inland sites where scuba divers can actually gain their
certification.
Surrounded by high rock walls, it’s a great spot to practice cliff diving — or cannonballing — as well, although visitors can also stroll in via stone steps.
Water playground
That, however, is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to water recreation.
At nearby Lake Park, the city several years ago invested in a floating Wibit structure. “I would consider it an inflatable obstacle course,” says City Manager Tim Dodge. “An activity obstacle course.”
The structure “has brought quite a few more visitors the last two years,” he says. “It’s doubled the visitation that we’ve seen over the last two years.”
With an all-day pass costing just $10, it is bargain, Dodge says, and provides access to a series of activities including a rock-climbing iceberg that’s 15 feet tall and a diving platform perched 12 feet in the air. A cliff hanger is on one side and a trampoline on the other. There’s a version of the seesaw that’s a big inflatable, with a person sitting on one end, who then pops off into the water when somebody jumps onto the other end. There is also a set of monkey bars and a balance beam positioned over the water so anyone falling off simply makes a big splash.
About 110 people can make use of structure at a time, so people are rotated through in 15-minute increments.
But, Dodge says, the city is looking at ways to augment the structure with additional attractions, inflatable water slides, a water fountain with lights and another smaller Wibit structure for children under 36 inches tall.
That should boost the usage to about 150, he says.
On the other side of the railroad tracks, Santa Rosa Lake State Park is good for boating, jet skiing, swimming and fishing, says ranger Bill Velasquez. “You can do it all.”
With a surface area covering 3,500 acres of the dammed Pecos River, anglers will appreciate tangling with large- and smallmouth bass, crappie, catfish, walleye and the occasional trout, Velasquez says.
Hiking trails circle the lake, as does an equestrian trail. Both primitive and developed campsite are sprinkled around the lake, as well, he says. There are two docks and wildlife viewing blinds.
Less crowded than Blue Hole, nearby Perch Lake is just south of town and a good spot for shore fishing with a fly rod or old-fashioned floating, says Karmen Sandoval, director of the Blue Hole Dive
and Conference Center. A submerged airplane also makes it an interesting spot to scuba dive, she says, even though the depth does not equal its more-illustrious neighbor.
If visitors become too water logged, Route 66 Auto Museum is a step back into the glory days of Route 66 when muscle was king of the road.
The museum, which was established in 2000, includes Ford Thunderbirds, a 1930s-era Dusenberg and an all-original 1954 Corvette, says Stacy Cordova, who is part of the owner’s family.
Old signs from the Mother Road heyday, old bicycles, and black-and-white photos are also part of the museum, she says.
“We just have a lot of different things in here,” Cordova says.
As boyhood home to Rudolfo Anaya, it’s only fitting that a park honors the town’s most illustrious native who wrote the classic “Bless Me, Ultima.”
The park includes a statue of Anaya sitting on a tree stump writing on a tablet. A walkway circling the park includes bronze replicas of hand-written pages embedded within, and plaques depict scenes from the book.