A gathering of Karen's family for Thanksgiving in New Mexico gave us an opportunity to swap the grey Northwest for some sunshine. We spent several days in Albuquerque, where (besides hanging out and eating) we walked and hiked in the Sandia Mountains, which form a barrier along the eastern edge of the city. Nice fresh air, interesting vegetation, long views, and quiet!
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| Cholla Cactus at Sunset |
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| Yucca |
The family then relocated to a mountain cabin near Jemez Springs, about an hour northwest of Albuquerque. On the way, we hiked on an interesting spine in the middle of the desert (Dragon's Back). The following day, we hiked to McCauley Warm Springs (85-90F ... about perfect on a cold winter's day) and on to Jemez Falls. Driving back to Albuquerque, we stopped at Valles Caldera National Preserve. It's main feature is a huge, flattish meadow in a collapsed volcano. Big country! We also stopped at Bandelier National Monument, which contains the ruins of dwellings of some Ancient Puebloans. The 140 ft vertical ascent to the Alcove house on wooden ladders and narrow walkways was a bit of a test for Tom's increasing fear of heights ... but was quite spectacular!
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| View from Dragon's Back Trail |
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| McCauley Warm Springs |
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| Valles Caldera |
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| Ruins and Cottonwood Trees - Bandelier Natl Monument |
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| Approach to Alcove House - Bandelier Natl Monument |
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| Alcove House - Bandelier Natl Monument |
After returning to Albuquerque, we headed off on our own for a loop through southern New Mexico. Our primary objectives were White Sands National Monument and Carlsbad Canyon National Park, but we hit a couple of other places along the way. Most impressive of these was Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, where there were thousands of snow geese and sandhill cranes gathered in the array of lakes and fields. We were there in the middle of the day, and it was very impressive, but apparently the evening is the best time, when many more fly in from their daily adventures.
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| Snow Geese - Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge |
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| Swirling Snow Geese - Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge |
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| Sandhill Cranes - Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge |
Video of Sandhill Cranes - Bosque del Apache national Wildlife Refuge
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| Snag in Lake - Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge |
White Sands was a absolute visual delight. The vast dunes are composed of gypsum crystals, and are stark white. We arrived in the late afternoon for a sunset ranger
walk, but Tom quickly was sucked away by the need to photograph in the
wonderful light. We returned early the next morning to catch even more
great light, and hiked deep into the dunes on a marked loop for a few
hours.
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| Vegetation, Dunes and San Andreas Mtns - White Sands National Monument |
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| Monolith - White Sands National Monument |
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| Sunset - White Sands National Monument |
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| Dunes and San Andreas Mtns - White Sands National Monument |
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| Happy Hikers - White Sands National Monument |
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| Shapes - White Sands National Monument |
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| Dune Hiker - White Sands National Monument |
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| Patterns - White Sands National Monument |
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| Wandering - White Sands National Monument |
At Carlsbad Caverns, we signed up for a 5-hour ranger-led tour of Slaughter
Canyon Cave. It's about a 15 minute drive from the Visitor Center and
main caverns, and involves a 1/2 hour hike to get up to the entrance.
With helmets and headlamps, we headed down in, following a decent path.
Wow! For about 2 hours, we wandered between very large rooms with a
wide array of big formations (we didn't learn very much about the names
of the various formations within the caves). At one point, we all shut
off our lights for about 5 minutes ... and of course it was completely
dark. Pretty amazing! After finishing this up, we hustled back to the
Visitor Center and took the elevator down to the Big Room of the main
cave. And more Wow! This cavern was huge, and the paved path wound its
way through the other-worldly landscape ... which was tastefully lit
via electric lights. By the end, we were a bit "caved out", but in
total awe! Finally, a long, dark drive back to Albuquerque for a flight
back home.
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"Klansman" - Slaughter Canyon Cave |
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| "Leaning Tower" - Slaughter Canyon Cave |
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| "Mushroom" - Slaughter Canyon Cave |
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| Formation & Mirror Lake - The Big Room, Carlsbad Caverns |
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| Formations - The Big Room, Carlsbad Caverns |
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| Formation - The Big Room, Carlsbad Caverns |
Activities
- Albuquerque Vicinity
- Pino Trail (first mile) ... walk
- Tunnel Spring TH > Del Orno Trail > North Crest Trail > Tunnel Spring TH ... hike
- Jamez Vicinity
- Dragon's Back Trail (White Ridge Bike Trails) ... hike
- Gilman Tunnels ... scenic drive
- Battleship Rock TH > East Fork Trail (to McCauley Warm Springs & Jemez Falls) ... hike
- Valles Caldera Natl Preserve - Cerro La Jara Loop & PondTrail ... hike
- Bandelier Natl Monument - Main Loop Trail > Alcove House ... hike
- Southern New Mexico
- Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge (N Loop) ... scenic drive
- Valley of Fire ... walk
- White Sands Natl Monument - Sunset Stroll ... walk
- White Sands Natl Monument - Alkali Flats Loop ... hike
- Cloudcroft - Mexican Canyon Railroad Trestle ... hike
- Carlsbad Caverns Natl Park- Slaughter Canyon Cave ... hike
- Carlsbad Caverns Natl Park- Big Room ... walk
"Oh Wow!" Moments
- Looking out over the base of Frijoles Canyon from Alcove House (Bandelier), as the original inhabitants did over 700 years ago!
- The stunning beauty of White Sands in evening and morning light! Having the area to completely to ourselves in the morning, each picking our own path through the wonderful array of shapes and patterns!
- The unworldly shapes in the huge rooms in Carlsbad Caverns!
Random Scenes
- Looking to find gas, we detoured towards the town of Los Alamos on our way from Vales Caldera to Bandelier. Suddenly, we round a corner and there's a military-looking security gate with a guard house! Figuring we'd somehow ended up at an entrance to Los Alamos National Laboratory, we timidly walked up and asked directions to town to find gas. After following a small winding road to the gas station, we ended up at an even bigger version of the security gate (5 or 6 lanes vs. 2). We promptly turned around an found or way back. We later learned that you can take the short road between the two checkpoints, as long as you have a drivers license or an Energy Department badge. Hmmm - not sure who they're keeping out!
Random Questions
- What are those red lights all blinking in unison approaching I-40 at night from US-285? We saw them an hour before, and figured they were approach lights for an airport. But, oddly, they were all blinking in unison. A google search suggested they were wind turbines, but we were never completely convinced.
Tom's Daily Stress Points
- Will we run out of gas out here in the middle of nowhere (which there is a lot of in New Mexico)? (stress level = low)
Sleeps
- Jemez
- The Pines (VRBO) ... Perfect. Lots of space and comfortable.
- Alamogordo
- Holiday Inn Express ... Good, somewhat hard beds.
- Carlsbad
- The Casitas on Canyon (AirBNB) ... very nice but the bed is on the saggy side.
Noteable Eats
- Albuquerque
- Humble Coffee ... good coffee and baked goods
- Alamogordo
- Chili's ... didn't even meet our low expectations for dinner ... never again?
- Brown Bag Deli ... great sandwiches
- Carlsbad
- Carniceria San Juan de los Lagos ... unique, authentic, cheap, and good!
- Blue House Bakery and Cafe ... great breakfast and baked goods!
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