Speaking "New Mexican"

After a couple days without electrical hook-ups in the Cibola National Forest, we headed towards Storrie Lake State Park. We were already impressed with New Mexico's state parks, and we were glad to find a camp site available this day near Las Vegas. For those that don't speak "New Mexican," we should point out that this isn't the glitzy gambling mecca in Nevada--this is the little town of Las Vegas, in northern New Mexico. While we never took a picture of our camp site, or even of Storrie Lake, we enjoyed the electrical and water hook-ups for a very reasonable rate. Good job New Mexico!

After settling the motor home into its new home, we took a drive around the area. Our first stop was at Las Vegas National Wildlife Management Area. If you speak "New Mexican," you know that this state is in a serious drought. We noticed that the water was low at Storrie Lake, but some of the ponds in the wildlife area were completely dry. At this viewpoint, we looked across the horizon to see only the white dirt where a pond once provided water to the animals.

At a different view point, we saw another dry lake bed. But from our perch a long ways away, this one seemed to have some brown lumps in it.

With the lens zoomed to its maximum, we saw that the "brown lumps" were a large herd of elk. The picture is blurry because they were such a distance from the viewing platform. We counted more than 300 elk lying in the dry lake bed, and wondered where this large group of animals found water to drink. We had never seen so many elk in one group before.

In our loop drive through the wildlife area, we found a trail head for the Gallinas Nature Trail. Even though it didn't look terribly interesting to walk through the dry golden prairie grass, we needed some exercise.

We found evidence that settlers had once lived on this dry prairie, using the native stone to build homes.

Then, suddenly, the flat prairie gave way to a canyon filled with big rock formations. This hike just got a whole lot more interesting.

The rocks formed into caves that still had evidence of the camp fires that left black soot on the walls and ceiling.

Looking out from inside the cave, the cave ceiling made a nice frame for a picture of Mark enjoying the views into the canyon.

After seeing so many elk just down the road, we expected more wildlife on this hike. But the only animal we saw was this scaly lizard, blending into his habitat.

Denisa is always impressed with the orderly scales that line the bodies of these reptiles. If you look closely, they are another of God's wonders. 

We think that exploring rocky canyon walls on a blue-sky day is also evidence of God's wonders.

It's not the Grand Canyon of Arizona, but if you speak "New Mexican" it is a pretty box canyon that makes for a nice hike.

After a 4-mile loop hike across the golden-grass prairie and through the rocky box canyon, we had worked up an appetite. We like to seek out authentic local food, and we certainly couldn't leave New Mexico without tasting some Mexican cuisine. This is a plate of enchiladas smothered in "Christmas sauce." (That's half red-half green chili sauce for those that don't speak "New Mexican.")

Our "hike" to the top of the fire tower

Our motor home and pickup look very happy nestled into the Gallinas Campground in New Mexico's Cibola National Forest. Even though there is space for a couple dozen RVs here, we had this peaceful spot almost to ourselves during our two-day visit.

We were looking for the best hike in the Cibola National Forest, and the Fire Tower Trail was the only thing that came up in the Alltrails app. It was unclear where the trailhead was, so we just started up the gravel road that led us towards Gallinas Peak.

Even though we were driving, it felt very much like a hike down this narrow road. We passed areas where heavy equipment was poised to remove some of the trees.

The narrow gravel road literally clung to the side of the mountain. It's the kind of road that you hope you don't meet another vehicle. Most of the time one of those vehicles would have to back to a wider spot so that the two vehicles could carefully pass.

On this "hike" we also saw many deer, that looked a little surprised to see anyone on this road.

The steep road flattened as we approached the peak. From here we could see where the bald mountain-side met the forested peak. The line where the most recent fire was stopped was pretty obvious. We were still looking for the spot where we should park the pickup and start hiking.

We continued to drive until we approached a gate that was swung open at the top. We finally parked the pickup and got the view from the summit. This is the highest point in this part of New Mexico, so it is filled with satellite and cell phone towers.

Before all those technologically advanced towers were built, this little fire tower was the only thing on top of Gallinas Peak. As we looked up at the fire tower, a window opened from the top and we heard a voice call out, "You can come on up if you want." Well, of course we want to!

That's where we met one of the long-term members of the fire tower team. Linda has been working in this tower for more than thirty years. We had lots of questions, and she was happy to answer all of them. She works 7-10 day shifts, driving her pickup up the same road that we had traveled this morning. She sleeps in the little cabin at the base of the tower. She brings enough food for her shift because if you don't make it yourself, you don't eat it around here.

From looking out these windows for over thirty years, she is so familiar with the topography that she can give verbal descriptions to fire fighters to lead them to any smoke she spots. Linda also has a device that allows her to give a numerical description to the location.

This is an Osborne Firefinder, that was developed in 1915, and is obviously still in use in fire towers today. The rotating ring is overlaid with a map of the forest, with the fire tower at the center. Linda can rotate the sighting ring until she lines up a smoke flume. Then she can read the azimuth off the sighting ring to give numerical directions to fire fighting crews.

From our perch in the fire tower, we can see the exact point where fire fighters were able to stop the most recent blaze. It's obvious where the green trees meet the bare charred trunks.

All of the towers at the peak were saved! We had all kinds of questions about that fiery day, especially about her safety as we now understand how slow the road would be to evacuate. It's also the only way to get out, so if the fire was over the road you could get trapped here. We were relieved to hear that she was not working in the fire tower that day, but that was the reason that the fire got so large.

Linda welcomed us through all our questions, and we felt honored to spend some time with her this morning. Then we opened the trap door in the floor . . .

and made our way back down the stairs. This would turn out to be the majority of the steps we would take on this "hike."

We drove back down the gravel road that had an official-looking road sign that named it as "Swirl Trail." Google maps didn't have  much information about this remote part of New Mexico. We did wonder about these unusual structures that kept popping up on google as "trick tanks." That was another question we asked in the fire tower. Linda explained that water is precious in these desert mountains. So rain water is funneled off these large tin roofs, where it trickles into storage tanks underneath. The roof not only collects water from a larger area, but it also provides shade to slow the evaporation of the water needed for the wildlife to drink.

We didn't get much exercise on our "hike" today, but it was certainly interesting. We are far from any light pollution in our campground in Cibola National Forest, so it was another great evening to look at the stars. We had a good day of wandering God's wonders, and meeting an interesting fire tower ranger on our "hike" today.

When our plan for a campground doesn't work out . . .

After three days, we decided it was time to leave our delightful camp site at the first-come-first-served Rob Jagger BLM campground east of Ruidoso, New Mexico. Our plan was to move only 29 miles, to a campground at the Valley of Fires federal recreation area. This was a well-reviewed campground with 13 first-come-first-served camp sites. We are experienced campers, so we know that you should show up early in the day to get one of those sites. Traveling in the middle of the week in April and arriving before noon, we just assumed that one of those sites would be open. We were wrong. Every one of the ten reservable and 13 first-come-first-served sites were full. What will we do when our plan for a campground doesn't work out? Well, we could still take the hike in the recreation area.

The Malpais Nature Trail is a handicap-accessible trail that winds through the black lava that emerged from vents in the valley floor 5,000 years ago. This is one of the youngest and best preserved lava flows in the United States.

This lava flow is 44 miles long, and varies from two to five miles wide. Because of it's large size, we could see the black lava field from our mountain hike a couple days ago. Here's a picture we took from that earlier hike with Mark pointing to the Valley of Fires that was miles away at the time. 

Today we are right in the middle of all that black lava. While the smooth trail makes walking through this bumpy landscape easy, you are encouraged to leave the trail and walk through the lava as well.

The layer of lava is deep, averaging 45 feet in thickness. Soil has blown on top of this deep layer of basalt, so that plants now can survive in this barren landscape. The bright pink wildflowers made a beautiful contrast to their black surroundings.

We were just a day or two early to see the strawberry hedgehog cactus blooms. A relative of the claret cup cactus that we have been enjoying for weeks, this cactus has more needles, and a strawberry-colored bloom that is just waiting to pop open.

A couple birders were taking pictures of a nearby bird, so Denisa felt obliged to take one as well. They reported that we were looking at a black-throated sparrow. This bird is characterized by two bold white stripes on the face and a triangular black patch on the chin. That description sounded a little like Denisa is becoming a seasoned birder.

The next bird is characterized by a long pointed beak and dark beady eyes and kinda brown feathers. Now you recognize that her description skills reveal that she is not a birder--just someone that likes to take pictures of birds.

Between the birds and flowers and interesting lava formations, we have wandered into another of God's wonders--even if we don't have a place to camp tonight.

The lava is sharp, but Mark can still climb on top of a lava ridge for a picture.

When our plan for a campground doesn't work out . . . we try to have a back-up plan. This is a very remote area, so the back-up plan involved traveling another 51 miles. This second option involved driving a half-mile off the highway on a gravel road.

We had wanted to make a stop in the Cibola National Forest, so we drove on to the Gallinas Group Site. No hook-ups of any type here, but it is a quiet and peaceful stop at the foot of the mountains to our west.

When our plan for a first-come-first-served campground doesn't work out, experienced campers know to have a back-up plan. We were glad to spend two nights boon-docking here, running our generator when needed. With cool temperatures, spring is a great time to stay in campgrounds like this. We're a little glad that the crowded campground at Valley of Fires didn't work out after all.

Why would you live near Ruidoso, New Mexico?

When we first entered this mountainous area of Central New Mexico, we got travel advice from a high school classmate who lives near Ruidoso. Cindy told us about several places that we have now visited, as well as the Rob Jagger Campground where we were parked. She also suggested a stop at Fort Stanton Historic Site. We have visited several forts in the last month--Fort Clark, Fort Leaton, Fort Davis--so we were about forted out. But then we found that they were having a special guided tour of a part of Fort Stanton normally not available to the public. It was led by a volunteer dressed in the denim uniform worn by soldiers from that period. Our guide started the tour beside one of the guns once used here.

Then we took off toward the grassy hill-top with Cindy and her husband Aaron, and about twenty other people that showed up for the special tour.

We committed the cardinal tourist sin--we never took a good picture of the friends that we were visiting today. Aaron is standing beside Denisa in the picture below, and Cindy will show up in the pink sweat shirt in the pictures today. Even though they live just a few miles from Fort Stanton, they had never seen the area on this hill.

The fort built in the valley in 1855 was used for military purposes. But it also has served as a tuberculosis sanitarium, a CCC work camp, a hospital for the handicapped, and a women's prison. Our tour today took us out of the valley and onto the hill-top. This area was used to house a German internment camp during World War II. When a luxury cruise liner was captured in enemy waters in 1939, the crew of that ship were held in the internment camp for the remaining war years. During that time, the German men built several buildings, including a gym and living quarters. The words molded into the concrete above the door of the indoor exercise facility say "Erbaut 1944" which is German for "Built 1944."

While held against their will, their time in the United States was nothing like a prisoner of war camp experience. Besides having the use of a new indoor gym, the Germans also built a large swimming pool. They held "mini-Olympics" competitions with the locals here at the pool.

They could work on their tan while being interned in New Mexico. Most of the German men held here in New Mexico during World War II had fond memories of their time, and some stayed in the United States after the war was over.

Because this area can be desert-like, they also built large concrete tanks to store the snow and rain for use on the hill. When our guide asked for an estimate on the capacity of these tanks, Aaron's guess was right on the money. Geologists are obviously very good at estimating the size of a hole.

After an interesting tour and a little exercise walking in the hills above Fort Stanton, we were invited to Cindy and Aaron's house just a few miles away. Denisa snapped this picture as we followed their pickup. They have been living here several years, and made the decision to move to the Ruidoso area largely because of this view. Again, we forgot to take a picture of them on their lovely acreage where we were treated to a delicious meal. One of the joys of traveling is getting to spend time with people we haven't seen for years, and learn about their lives. We had a great day with Cindy and Aaron!

Another reason that they like living near Ruidoso is their proximity to the ski slopes. It is only thirty minutes from their front door to the chair lifts at the Ski Apache Resort for a day of snow skiing. Aaron buys an annual pass, and picks any good weather day in the middle of the week as a good day to go snow skiing. What a treat! While the mountain is quite close, the drive up to the top is not for the faint-hearted. It's a steep drive up hair-pin turns, as shown in the red-lined road map below.

We made the drive ourselves, stopping at the view-point about 3/4 of the way to the top. By then we could see all the snow-covered peaks around us.

We could also look down over that winding road to the valley where Ruidoso residents live.

We drove all the way to the end of the highway, where Ski Apache welcomed us to the ski resort. Owned by the Mescalero Apache tribe, the sign uses their native language to "nil daagute" (welcome) us to the ski slopes.

With more snow than usual this year, the ski mountain was open longer than it is most years. We could still see the zig-zag tracks of recent skiers down the face of the mountain.

A hiking trail starts at the ski hill, and we decided we needed a little more exercise today. While the trail was visible at first, we soon lost it in the snow.

At the base of the chair lifts we were already at 9,600 feet in elevation. We have been hiking in the desert, so we were out of breath as we headed up-hill at this high elevation.

Our climb took us high enough that we completely lost the trail. We enjoyed the white slopes and blue skies as we wandered through more of God's wonders.

The warmer temperatures were melting the icy crust, so we were post-holing through the snow. That means that our legs would break through the icy crust and we would suddenly step down so that our legs were buried in snow to our knees. We never knew when this would happen, so it was a slow slog through the deep snowy sections.

Mark made it to the top of the first peak, but Denisa was content to take his picture from her lower perch. When skiing, the top of the chair lift is at 11,500 feet. It's hard work to hike through deep snow and high elevations, so we were tired. But the views were breath-taking--in more ways than one!

We have enjoyed visiting friends, and learning more about the history of Ruidoso. It's a beautiful place with white snow in the winter and pleasant mountain temperatures in the summer. It was fun learning the reasons why people like to live near Ruidoso, New Mexico.