Ad
Manzano Mountains State Park offers a bounty of birdwatching — and a track chair to help the mobility impaired
MANZANO — Steller’s jays make a raucous noise in the ponderosa pines. Farther down the trail, a white-breasted nuthatch scoots around a birdhouse, and just a tree or two farther away a tassel-eared squirrel is busy looking for pine cones.
The mule deer have gone to midday beds, although they should reappear at the 500-gallon wildlife drinkers in late afternoon, and the trilling of spotted towhees is heard regularly.
Manzano Mountains State Park is a place for nature study, to learn some trees, and watch the daily and seasonal activities of birds, deer and plants.
Slow down, pay attention
The Manzano Mountains’ campground is a small facility and often filled by a mix of resident and out-of-state campers. It opens in early April, but closes for the winter in December. Of the 23 developed campsites, nine have electricity and reservations go quickly. Drinking water is available at several faucets across the park, there are vault toilets and a dump station for self-contained vehicles.
Manzano’s 3.5 miles of trails are moderately difficult, but rarely crowded. Solitude is a constant, so hikers don’t feel rushed by groups hurriedly passing by, and if mobility is a challenge, don’t overlook the opportunity to use the park’s track chair.
The Bronco Wild Fund, a Ford program, provided track chairs to a total of 25 state parks in 2023 and 2024. The Wild Fund also awarded $1.6 million to state parks through 2023. The fund has assisted more than 9,000 state parks across the country, encouraging the preservation of natural and cultural resources.
The National Association of State Parks Directors provided applications for the track chairs, and all 50 states applied, said Cheryl Kolls, the Central Region manager for New Mexico State Parks. “Ford’s Bronco Wild ordered them for us, and as we waited for them to arrive, we worked to determine how to manage the program,” she said.
Potential users must use Reserve America to schedule a reservation for the Manzano chair at reserveamerica.com. Reserve America can also be used to reserve campsites in New Mexico and in many other states. Most of New Mexico’s state parks already provide campsites for the mobility impaired.
“And the national association is working collectively to increase our accessibility,” Kolls said. She continues to evaluate other types of equipment to expand the state’s mobility impaired program.
Ad
During an April visit to Manzano, Jim Mosley, a regular student of birds at the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park, tested the track chair, which is electric and manipulated via a joystick familiar to anyone who plays video games. He gave the chair a 7 out of 10, and a thicker seat cushion would have raised the score. Despite some discomfort, Mosley observed nine species of birds — common raven, mountain chickadee, juniper titmouse, several species of nuthatch, Western bluebird, Townsend’s solitaire and pine siskin.
Mosley is a retired Los Alamos County firefighter. His interest in birding was cultivated by the Cerro Grande Fire that burned 43,000 acres of wildlife habitat and more than 400 Los Alamos homes. After residents were allowed back into town, Mosley placed a bird feeder in his backyard. It was empty in three hours, so that afternoon he purchased two more and kept them filled.
“We would get 30 evening grosbeaks at one time in our yard,” he said.
So far in 2025, Mosley has recorded 133 species during his outings, and he has an annual goal of seeing 200 species. In addition to watching birds through his binoculars, he also uses a spotting scope and his cellphone to take pictures of 40 to 50 species annually.
“My favorite birds to digiscope are shorebirds, raptors and herons,” he said.
His birding achievements are especially significant because he is mobility impaired. Roughly two-thirds of one foot was amputated due to illness. He wears a walking boot on his injured leg, but it doesn’t slow him down much. “I can walk about 10,000 steps on it daily,” he said.
Birdhouses have been available for nesting species at the park since 2000 when a Boy Scout working on his Eagle Badge erected them. Among the species using them are mountain chickadees, juniper titmouse, Western bluebirds, white-breasted nuthatches and ash-throated flycatchers. Platform nesters like Say’s phoebe regularly nest on various portions of the visitors’ center.
Other options
There are additional locations for a nature study in the Manzano Mountains near the state park. The Quarai unit of the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument is about 9 miles away using County Road B062 and New Mexico 55. Quarai has a paved interpretive trail that is suitable for wheelchairs.
The massive stone walls of the Spanish Quarai mission were constructed between 1627 and 1632. The walls are 3-to-6-feet thick, and reached a height of 40 feet. The mission was built on top of Native American ruins. Severe drought and raids by Apache bands eventually forced Catholic missionaries and colonists to abandon Quarai in 1675.
Water near the ruins supports a grove of cottonwoods that attract yellow-breasted chats and other species, including 15 species of warblers.
There is no camping at the national monument, but Red Canyon Campground on the Cibola National Forest and National Grasslands is open to dry camping. There are two loops at Red Canyon, with 28 sites on the lower loop and 11 sites on the upper loop. The upper loop has corrals for horses, and those sites are $12 a night. The lower campsites are $10 a night, and the fee for using the campground to access trails is $5 a day. Dispersed camping is also allowed on the forest outside the campground. Fires must be carefully tended and fully extinguished before breaking camp.
Camping fees at Manzano Mountains State Park are $15 a night for residents and $20 for nonresidents. Sites with electricity are an additional $10 a night. Day-use fees are $5 for residents and $10 for nonresidents. No day-use fees for residents will be charged Oct. 1 to April 30. Reserve America will charge a use fee for making camping or track chair reservations.
