The rest of TX and into NM

I’ll see if I can get caught up and make this shorter than my last post. I’m trying an experiment and inserting photos into a Word document. I’ll copy and paste to post. Please let me know if the photo quality seems compromised compared to my previous posts. If this works it will save me LOTS of time!  P.S. WAHHHH!!!! It didn't work! I'll need to upload each photo, as long as my freezing fingers can endure. I'm sitting outside a closed store with slow wifi. It's 37 degrees...

I made one more stop at a National Park (NP) in Texas – Guadalupe Mountains NP. The RV “campground” was the least inspiring I’ve seen – it was a paved parking lot with white lines delineating the spaces. The tent camping was a separate but adjoining area but RVs couldn’t choose to go into that area, nor could tents pitch in the RV area. 

That pentagon shaped parking lot in the center of the picture is the "campground".

I suppose I can’t complain; the cost was $8 (half price if you have an all access pass, which I will be able to get once I’m 62) and it WAS a great place from which to hike.  

I arrived in Guadalupe in the late afternoon and squeezed in a 5-mile hike that day to Devil’s Hall.  Hiker’s Staircase (below) was a scenic spot along the trail.

The next day I hiked to the highest point in Texas – Guadalupe Peak (8,749’).  It was just over 11 miles round trip and ~2100’ elevation gain. The view from the top showed a whole lot of nothing – endless stretches of barren landscape.

 It was amazing to think that the first cross-country mail route passed this way. In 1858-1859 the Butterfield Overland Mail Route ran from St. Louis, MO to San Francisco, CA. Six horses or mules, hauling stage coaches, ran day and night, averaging 120 miles a day to cover the 2,700 miles in 25 days (as per the Federal Mail Contract). The stage coaches carried up to 9 passengers, essential baggage, and 12,000 letters. Before this overland route was established, mail was transported from east to west by steamships sailing around the southern tip of South America. The onset of the Civil War resulted in cancellation of the mail contract but it was later replaced by the Pony Express.

Below is a panorama of El Capitan (the monolith I hiked around that day). The high winds did a good job of smearing the clouds.

I hiked a total of 56 miles on 6 trails in as many days, while in Guadalupe. To keep this short, I’ll only share a few details of my other favorite hike in the area – the Permian Reef Trail. The trail gained 2000’ in 4 miles. The elevation gain offered great views, including the border swath that delineated NM from TX. But the best part of this trail was the tiny treasures to be found along the way. Billions of years ago, this area was deep under water and the trail was rich with marine fossils.

 

After one last hike in Guadalupe, I headed into New Mexico and Carlsbad Caverns National Park. I camped 7 miles from the Park and wound up camped next to 2 women with matching silver vans. They had met a few years back at a gathering of a women’s RV club and have taken a number of trips together since then. My van is the sporty, toy-hauler, variety; theirs were more about creature comforts. It was fun to visit with them in the camp ground and the next day in the vast Carlsbad Cavern.

I hesitate to post any photos of that amazing place as the photos do not do it justice.  The place is IMMENSE and jaw-dropping gorgeous. For those of you who have not been there, maybe if I include a photo of the park brochure you’ll get a vague sense of just how big it is.

Photos capture only a miniscule portion in any one view and do not convey the awe-inspiring feel of being there. I was fortunate to visit on a weekday and during a time when the elevator into (and more importantly, out of) the mostly level (8.2 acre!!) “Big Room” portion of the cave was not functioning. That cut out a large number of potential visitors that would not be physically capable of making the steep hike out (about 800’ elevation gain in a mile). After watching one older gentleman unable to catch his breath for what seemed like forever when he stopped to rest on his way up, I asked a ranger how many folks they had to cart out on gurneys due to heart attacks. He said the elevator was out for about 6 weeks last year and they had about one emergency rescue a week. But I digress; the cavern was amazing – almost spiritual. With few people present, it was quiet and, for the most part, private. Although the park info says it takes 1 ½ hours, I spent 4 hours slowly making my way through and marveling at the vast array of natural formations. I took a lot of photos, but the photos really do not do it justice.

I had known I would be heading to Big Bend, Guadalupe, and Carlsbad but my route after that was/is an unknown, which means I spend a good portion of my evenings trying to do some research to pick likely routes and recreation along the way. I know I will be visiting friends NE of Scottsdale and SW of Phoenix, AZ. I may try to meet up with a group of fellow Travato owners at an RV show in Phoenix, and I know I need to find a place to do some repairs on my rig (probably also in Phoenix if they can get me in). The propane system has progressed from being finicky to downright problematic. When it only affected the heat, it was less bothersome, but now it occasionally shuts off the refrigerator when I’m boon docking. Time to see if I can make an appointment and get it fixed while it’s still under warranty.

In choosing my route I was drawn to the promise of >200 petroglyphs at a state recreation area. I made my way in that direction stopping for a hike along the way. As I drove into the New Mexico mountains past a (closed) ski area, I was happy for the 52-degree weather and sunshine. I’m not sure how well my van will drive in snow. Almost getting stuck on a tiny hill in mild mud way back at the Mississippi River has me a bit gun shy. I found a place to stop for a slightly snowy hike in route to the petroglyphs. 

I arrived at the Three Rivers Petroglyphs Recreation Area shortly before sunset, passing up the picnic area to head 8 miles farther up the road to the campground. It turns out the petroglyphs were at the picnic area and I could’ve camped there but, after surviving the last 4 miles (washboard gravel road) of the drive to the campground, I discovered there were hiking trails in the White Mountain Wilderness area, leaving from the campground. The next day I tackled what turned out to be the toughest hike I’ve done so far. It wasn’t the length (12.22 miles) of the Three Rivers Trail or elevation gain (3710’) that whipped me, it was the snow. The last ~2 miles heading up ~1500’ was snowy. I was post holing; no big deal when it was 4-6” deep, but the higher I went, the deeper it got and by the time I topped out at 10,096’ and reached the Crest Trail (where I’d envisioned the warm temps and sun would have melted off the snow) I was at times post holing mid-thigh deep. OOF! It took me 4 hours to hike up; I’d planned to hike along the crest and down a shorter route. Near the top, I’d already taken 2 unnecessary loops, having a difficult time finding the trail (I had an app, but parts of my hike I was out of cell coverage and couldn’t reference where I was on the buried trail). Once I got back on track from the 2^nd wayward loop I could see where I had to go (more up and more snow) to hopefully find the trail I’d planned to take down. I had come up the valley in the middle of the picture below, topping out on the snow to the left and making my way to the right. My planned path would’ve led me farther up to through the snow on the right to wrap around that peak and down.

 

As much trouble as I had finding the more popular trail I’d hiked up, I was dubious about finding the needed trail down. I resorted to my mantra “when in doubt, chicken out.” I opted to backtrack the way I’d come, knowing I could follow my footprints in the snow and my GPS track to get me back to my van. The trip down was quicker leaving me time to relocate to the petroglyph site that night in time for a beautiful sunset complete with full moon (! See photo below), and let me begin the next morning exploring ancient culture and art. The mountains in the background is where I’d been hiking earlier that day.

The info I had said it was a half mile trail so I envisioned a short morning stroll with coffee in hand. But that’s only if you’re not curious to scramble among the rocks to find all the hidden treasures and take the trail that goes higher up for even more petroglyphs. I spent nearly 4 hours exploring. A new fact I learned: Petroglyphs are rock carvings, Pictographs are rock paintings.

 

Sadly, there was some graffiti among the impressive petroglyphs. It reminded me of an hypothesis offered up by a professor teaching an Animal Behavior class I’d taken. He’d spent a fair bit of time exploring many famous areas with this type of ancient art work and he suggested that perhaps some of it may have been done by juveniles. If that’s the case, the historic juvenile graffiti artists were far more talented than the contemporary kids adding their initials (and a couple weak attempts at emulating the art).

After the petroglyphs, I stopped in to explore White Sands National Monument. It’s a 5-mile loop drive where you can stop and sled down any of the white sand (gypsum) dunes. I stopped in a few places and walked to the tops of various dunes looking for photos.  I would have thought, with temperatures in the mid-80s that the sand would’ve been hot but it was cool on bare feet.

 

 From there I headed to Las Cruces, NM, arriving just as it was getting dark. I’d thought about doing a hike in Organ Mountains National Monument (established in 2014) on the outskirts of town the next day but the habitat was very similar to what I’d been hiking in (a continuation of the vast Chihuahuan Desert), so after a night at Walmart (ho hum, but the price is right) I headed toward my next adventure (where I currently am).

I moved from ancient art to ancient homes – the Gila Cliff Dwelling National Monument. It was a scenic drive that took about 4 hours, including driving up into the mountains along some hair pin turns. On the downhill portion of the route, it was a bit disconcerting to think how important functional brakes were to let you slow enough to make those tight turns rather than flying off the cliff if you failed to make the turn. I got here early on a Saturday afternoon and headed from the Visitors Center to the cliff dwellings. The dwellings were built by Puebloans of the Mogollon area; carbon dating the timber used showed the trees were felled between 1276-1287. The structures, a series of 6 caves, were well-designed for climate control; built into a south-facing cliff, during the winter when the sun stays low on the horizon, the sun beams penetrate into the dwellings. The walls didn’t go all the way to the ceilings of the cave to allow smoke from the fires to escape. In the summer when it’s hot and the sun is high, the sun doesn’t reach into the dwellings so it stays cool.

 

I enjoyed the tour but the mile-long hike was just a tease after the long drive, so I managed to get in a 5 ½ mile hike in the adjoining Gila Wilderness to a high point to get a feel for the area. Very different than where I’ve been and very beautiful. Lots of ridges and multiple forks of the Gila River. 

Many of the hikes call for fording the river but recent hot temperatures and snow melt have the rivers running twice as high as is safe to cross. But there were plenty of upper ridge trails that I was looking forward to exploring.

Sadly, a storm was on its way. I camped in a free parking lot/campground and awoke to heavy clouds and occasional distant rumbling thunder. I went to the visitors center to see the forecast; no warnings of thunder and lightning, just .1 to .25” of rain, and winds possibly to 35 mph. I took off on an 11-mile hike and occasionally got a little rain for most of the day.

The last hour of the hike it was a steady light rain. The ground didn’t look that wet but my boots were getting caked with an inch-thick layer of gooey mud. Yuck!  There was a faucet at the trail head so I got the mud off my boots but the 5 steps from the faucet to my van was mud and the caked goo was back.

Clearly, the several additional days of hiking I’d planned here are out. I debated about heading down the mountain at the end of the hike (I had about 1  ½ hours of daylight) but decided to stay. This morning I woke up to some snow.

Not a lot here, but a promise of ½” of precip today and tonight. I wasn’t willing to risk making a drive up/down the various winding, hair pin turns of the road out of here so I opted to stay. I headed the mile back to Gila Hot Springs, moved my van into a muddy RV park and hooked it up to power, and walked down the muddy road to the hot springs. At least the mud where I’m at now is hard packed and not the goo of the hiking trails, but everything is damp and muddy. Yuck! The natural springs are nice; I soaked for more than an hour and then walked back uphill (feeling like a wet noodle after an extended soak in 104-degree water!) to the RV park and enjoyed a thermal hot springs-sourced hot shower.

That catches me up to the here and now. I might be able to get out of here in the early afternoon tomorrow after the snow plows have done anything they need to do and the sun has warmed the pavement. I think the forecast is for a high of 46 degrees. There’s no cell service here anywhere and only 1 source of wifi where I just spent 2 hours uploading photos to go with my jabbering (speaking of which, it’s long again!).

Until later…