Dog Canyon, Guadalupe National Park

Only accessible by a long drive along scenic highway 137 and dead ending at the ranger station Dog Canyon is the quieter end of Guadalupe National Park.  It’s a lovely spot with a campground, horse corrals and a small RV boondocking area.

We planned a short hike along the Tejas Trail which is either a very long day hike or an overnighter to the beautiful McKitterick Canyon.   However, we were only going as far as Dog Spring, which according to our guide book was about 1½ miles, although it was a little worrying when the ranger said he’d never heard of Dog Spring!

It’s a fairly rocky trail that follows a dry river bed as it twists around first one canyon then another, all the while climbing higher into the mountains.

In places the trail forded the dry river bed and there were rocks absolutely everywhere.   The sun shone and it was just the right temperature for hiking, low to mid 70’s with plenty of shade trees.

Our guide book said that after 1½ miles we’d reach the spring and then the trail would start to climb steeply up to Lost Peak.   At one mile we again crossed the dry river bed in a spot that really looked like it should have a spring, we were at the right elevation but, nothing. 

We carried on and started climbing steeply, hmm surely by now we were starting up Lost Peak, could our trusty little guide book be wrong?   After all it wasn’t as if we could’ve wandered of the trail anywhere, there was only one trail!

The trail continued climbing until we were high up the side of the mountain at 7,000 ft, about 600ft higher than where the spring was supposed to be, but our gps said 1½ miles.   Curioser and curioser?

We decided to climb just a bit more and see what was just round the next corner, we did and there was just more trail climbing upwards with some great views of the canyon and Guadalupe Ridge.

Deciding we’d gone far enough we retraced our steps, arriving back at the dry river bed, we still thought it was the right place for the spring to be, but during our climb partway up Lost Peak no spring had magically appeared.

The ranger asked us if we found Dog Spring, we told him no but we found where we thought there ought to be a spring.

It turns out that somewhere just off the trail the rangers have cameras on a seep where they watch, bears, cougers, coyotes, deer and other animals come to drink, so that is probably Dog Spring.   But as to where exactly?  Well your guess is as good as mine.

Have fun, we are!

Artesia & Carlsbad, New Mexico

Just over a week ago, we left Pecos, Texas and took highway 285 past the oil and natural gas fields of West Texas and South Eastern New Mexico and arrived at the Escapee Co-op, The Ranch.

We’re about halfway between Carlsbad and Artesia, one of the things we’ve done this week is to take the Artesia Walking Tour. 

Artesia is home to the huge Navajo Oil Refinery, no pictures as DB said he’d seen more than enough oil refineries during his career without taking photographs of them!

We parked at the visitor centre, which is in the old Santa Fe Railroad Depot. 

One of the sculptures around town, The Cattle Drive.

The Rustler. 

The Heritage Walk.

When it started chiming, The Town Clock sounded like Big Ben.

Drilling for oil.

In Carlsbad the Pecos river is damned to form a lake with a beach and swimming area.

Further along the river.

Have fun, we are!

Pecos, Texas

Leaving Van Horn, we drove along the wide open spaces of  I20 to Pecos (pronounced Peycuss) a small, dusty West Texas town amid working oil and natural gas fields.

Once set up at the RV park we visited the West of Pecos Museum, it was originally the Orient Hotel and once “the finest from Fort Worth to El Paso”.   The building is constructed of Pecos Valley Red Sandstone the saloon opened in 1896 and the hotel in 1907.   

There is a replica of the old saloon, along with brass plates on the floor showing where William Earheart and John Denson were shot and killed by Barney Riggs.  One of the brass plates is to the right of this photograph.

Since 1907 hotel prices have increased somewhat and I don’t know what sort of wine you’d get these days for 25 cents a gallon!

The museum also has exhibits of towns that no either no longer exist or have just a few people living in them.  One of which, Toyah, we passed on I20, once home to 5,000 people with 2 schools, several churches, 2 banks, over 17 saloons, 2 livery stables, an ice house and goodness knows what else, it’s now home to only 115 people.  A quilt in the museum depicts what is left of the town.

Outside the museum is a replica of the house of Judge Roy Bean, famously known as the Law West of the Pecos.

Around the corner is the grave of Clay Allison, who according to legend, was a Confederate Spy and when captured escaped by slipping his unusually small hands through the manacles.  He was known as the “Gentleman” gunfighter because it was said he never killed a man that didn’t need killing!

Cantaloupes grown in Pecos are famous for their flavour, I believe the soil in the area makes them particularly sweet.   Unfortunately we didn’t get to try them as the season doesn’t start until the summer.

Pecos is also the home of the world’s first rodeo and a rodeo is held every year, usually during June.

Have fun, we are!

Van Horn, Texas

Earlier this week we left Deming and stopped in El Paso to get our annual Texas Vehicle Inspection Certificates before continuing to Van Horn, which is a really small town on I10.

 

Main Street

Along the way we lost an hour as Van Horn is on central time, which was kinda nice as it stayed light around 8.30 p.m.

We had dinner at Chuy’s a Mexican/American restaurant on Broadway which has earned a place in the Madden Haul of Fame.  John Madden is an American football broadcaster who won’t fly, so he spends a lot of time criss-crossing the country by bus and this is one of his favourite restaurants.   I had hoped to try the tequila lime pie, but sadly they didn’t have any, oh well maybe next time.  

Next morning, because it was so late we actually saw the sunrise over the mountains from our spot at the KOA and yes it really was that colour, I haven’t been playing with photoshop.

We’ve only ever stayed overnight in Van Horn, but next time we pass this way I wouldn’t mind staying a little longer and visiting the historic El Capitan hotel, taking Red Ranch Tour and maybe finding the Lobo Valley petroglyphs. 

Have fun, we are!

Dusty Day in Deming

Saturday was hot and sunny with a strong breeze, today was overcast and very, very, very windy.

Yesterday as we travelled along Highway 180 on our way back from Silver City we watched a dust storm swirling across the desert,

and dust devils climbing high into the sky.

Today that stretch of highway was closed for a large part of the day due to blowing dust and poor visibility, I10 was also closed for the same reason for part of the day.

Tomorrow in Deming the forecast is for much cooler temperatures and rain, while in Silver City they are expecting snow!

Who would-a-thunk that on Saturday when we were wandering round in shorts and t-shirts!

Have fun, we are!

The Kneeling Nun

Spanish explorers thought the rock formation high above the Santa Rita copper mine resembled a veiled woman although I can’t actually see it myself.

Legend says that a nun, forsaking her vows, fell in love with a soldier and was cast out from her religious order.   At the base of the bluff she built a stone altar where while praying for forgiveness of her sins she was turned into stone.

Because of the legend Spanish explorers refused to camp near the rock, even though it was an excellent vantage point.   Explorers also thought that the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola lay buried somewhere in the region 

We took our photographs from the Chino Mines observation point on Highway 152 which is approximately 20 miles away. 

Have fun, we are!

City of Rocks State Park, New Mexico

At something cold and dark o’clock on Friday morning DB threw me out of bed and before I knew it we were watching Tucson disappear in the rear view mirror.

After an uneventful drive on a sunny warm day we arrived in Deming, New Mexico our home for the next few days.

Yesterday, Saturday, we drove out to City of Rocks State Park at mile post 3 on highway 61 just north of Deming.   City of Rocks was formed over 34 million years ago in a huge volcanic eruption 1,000 times greater than the eruption of Mount St Helens in 1980.

  

The rock formations are so unique that there are only 6 other places in the world where they are known to exist.

Mimbres Indians once roamed the area, Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apache traditional homelands are also nearby. 

In the early 16th century Spanish explorers and settlers arrived and mule trains loaded with copper from the nearby Santa Rita mines passed close by on their way to Chihuahua, Mexico.

After the Mexican War ended in 1848, the Mormon Battalion blazed a trail through the area linking New Mexico and Arizona to the eastern US.

City of Rocks state park was formed in the early 1950’s and was also the first New Mexico state park to receive an observatory, star parties take place at the park during the year.

DB decided to have a snooze in BT while I spent a couple of hours slithering through the rocks and taking tons of photographs.

Have fun, we are!