Different Trails

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Photos Of Trip

A few more photos of my trip to Las Cruces, NM

Our last stop on this day was in Cloudcroft, NM. We had both been there before and knew there were some interesting little shops in the small town. If you go to Burro Street it sort of has the look of a long time ago in a western town. Almost like something out of a movie set. Old buildings, and a wooden board walk. We shopped in several of the little gift shops, some of them with really nice and expensive items and others with more of the traditional tourist items like magnets and such. Of course we bought a magnet that said Cloudcroft was at 9000 foot elevation.

What really caught our attention were the support posts set into concrete with fossils in the concrete. All of the area around here has lots of fossils as at one time (a very long time ago) this area was underwater. We have never found any in this area but we understand people do find fossils frequently.

After shopping we made a stop at one of the hiking trails and took a short walk before starting the drive back to Las Cruces.

Mexican Canyon Trestle

Our next stop was at the Mexican Canyon Trestle just south of Cloudcroft, NM. This trestle was build in 1899 as part of the railroad used first for logging and then for tourist to ride.

Me sitting on bench made out of railroad ties.

Sarah taking time to walk out onto the overlook so she could see the trestle and view better.

There were several very interesting board that explained all about this Cloud Climbing Railroad and the Mexican Canyon Trestle. If you are into hiking there are several trails in this area. Its best to check in with the Forest Service before hiking them to check for any problems on them.

Highway 82 Tunnel

After leaving White Sands National Monument we decided to go to Cloudcroft, NM To get there we drove north on Highway 68 and entered the Lincoln National Forest. We had driven this way the week before when we went all the way to Carlsbad Cravens but wanted to take more time today so we could see what we had bypassed then.

There were beautiful views on the drive. In this one the distant white strip is White Sands where we had spent the morning.

Highway 82 has a tunnel in it as you get near to Cloudcroft. According to what I could find out this tunnel is about 70 years old which would make it a bit older than I am. In 2017 a lot of work was done on the tunnel to make it safer as there had been some rock falling on the highway a few times,

Friday, November 29, 2019

White Sands

White Sands National Monument was one of the most interesting places we went. It was so much more than I had ever expected. I had by passed visiting this park most of my life for one reason or another. But this time I meant to see it, and I am so glad I did. The park is northeast of Las Cruces and very near the town of Alamogordo. At the information center and gift shop that is just off the highway before entering the park is a great place to make your first stop (and your last) when visiting. There is a short film about the park as there is all of our national parks. I always make a point of seeing the film as it explains what you will be seeing, how it developed over history and why this area should be kept as a national park. The film are always free and usually about 15 minutes long. Most of the parks sell this short movie if you want to buy it. I have a few of them. An interesting fact about White Sands Visitors Center is that they have kept it as much like it was originally built in the 1930.

When you first go into the actual park this is the little building you will see.

At first the road is paved but after a bit it turns into an unpaved road through the white dunes. This road almost looks like it is paved with a hard layer of icey snow on it but it is actually compacted sand.

When you first think of sand dunes you just think of the sand but not of all the plants and animals that like in and on the dunes. There are lots of the New Mexico Yucca in and on the dunes. The yucca is the state flower of NM. There are also lots of grease wood and sage. You will see different kinds of native grasses. The film mentioned that many of these plants that we see go for many feet under the dunes. Over time as a plant gets sand blown around it it keeps growing up so it can reach daylight.

Many of the dunes showed how the wind as well as people have maked trails in the sand. With the first hard wind these trails will disappear.

There was one metal walkway that you could walk on to get about a quarter mile out onto the dune and not have to fight your way through sand. I am stanking at the end of the walkway.

Sarah and Ruby exploring the dunes,

Me exploring white sands.

From most places on the sands you are at about a 4000 foot elivation. In the distance you can see different higher mountains including those near Cloudcroft, NM. where we planned to go later that day.