Exploring Southern NM

We spent a day in Alamogordo going to the Space History museum and researching our next destination, Las Cruces. On our way out we stopped by White Sands National monument and a missile museum at Holloman AFB. At White Sands we did a 5 mile hike that was strenuous. Oh, we did it barefoot, that was fun! It felt great and was a really good workout for our feet and legs. It was neat to be surrounded by white gypsum dunes. I once visited white sands in my teens with my family, and I did not appreciate it as much as I did this time.

We found a nice dispersed camping site off a dirt road in Las Cruces near Organ Mountain Recreation Area - our rock climbing destination for the next few days. La Cueva (the rocks we climbed) is all Trad climbing, which we have not done in a long time. To get us started we did, what should have been, an easy 5.5 climb. Matthew started us off and it took him about an hour to get done. The rock here is a bit more crumbly than we like. On that climb it was tricky to find good placements. Again, it's also been a while since we've done trad. Another thing that made this climb tricky was the rappel. In order to get all of our gear I had to climb, clean (pick up the placements), then get the anchor he set for me at the top. From there I had to down climb 10 feet, then traverse to the right on a slope to some anchors. I did not like this. On the way up I did the traverse to the anchors, clipped in my rope, traversed back (which was tough due to the added tension from running the rope out to the anchor. I climbed up got all the gear, down climbed.. and got scared. I was so close! I used a piece to help me do a move to get in position to do the traverse. I left the piece behind. Matthew did the climb again, now with the rope on the bolted anchors, and recovered the last piece. I felt bad, but if I slipped I would do a 10 ft swing and REALLY get scrapped up. Matthew is a slightly better climber so he had no trouble with it.  He was worn out after that climb. I could have kept climbing so instead I did a short run later in the day. I got a bit scrapped up on the climb because the rock is rough but it wasn't really all that bad. I did take the opportunity to get sympathy online though, haha.

Matthew (top center) at the top of the climbing setting up the anchor

Me rappelling down

Showing off my scraps, and shamefully getting sympathy

The following day we did two climbs. We found a 5.4 for me to lead, then he lead a 5.7 chimney climb. We felt and did better that day. I didn't complete the 5.4, I was rocking it until I got to the top and had to traverse something I didn't feel comfortable with (again). I backed out and Matthew took over. When he got to the spot I felt uncomfortable with he said it was crap, that made me feel better. Of course, he had little trouble doing it. It was a bit awkward but he completed the climb, set up an anchor and I did the climb again on top rope.

 Starting the chimney climb. As you can see around his waist is the heavy gear used to keep us safe on these climbs.

 Waving from the top

So this happened. What's really concerning is we don't know when. I haven't had a fall or hit my head recently.. that I can remember. 

Here's the crack in the foam you can't see in the previous photo

The 5.7 chimney climb was interesting, we don't do many chimney climbs, and this one was especially narrow. The saving grace on this climb were 3 bolts along the top section before you hit a 3 bolt anchor. So it started off as a trad climb, then became a sport climb. Matthew had fun, did great, and took two breaks on the bolts while he could. My turn came and I wasn't so sure about it, but he thought I could do it. I climbed and cleaned along the way. It was tough, a lot of small moves, pushing my back against the rock on one side with feet and hands braced on the other side. It was a longer route, 75 feet, and I refused to stop. When I got to the bolted section at the top Matthew said I could take a break. It was hard but I felt good so I just kept moving. I shimmied my way up to the anchors and was so tired! Then came the fun part of clipping myself to the anchor bolts, and transitioning the rope to rappel down. I got even more scrapped up this day. I saved myself some by wearing a long sleeve shirt. After that we went for a short hike, then headed back to camp for dinner and projecting.

The next day we did two short hikes. One to a historical site of an old hotel, that was later turned into a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients and the other hike was to a waterfall. After hiking we went into town to reserve a hotel room for the evening. After one year on the road we celebrated by cleansing ourselves. This is the longest we've gone without a shower or river bath. When considering how to celebrate, we agreed it was what we wanted to do most. We stayed in a nice Hacienda style hotel that had free wifi and included a decent breakfast the next morning. We ended up taking two showers, one just didn't cut it. We also went out to dinner at a nearby Thai restaurant. I thought it was wrong to go out for Thai in New Mexico, but it's what we were craving. We'll make up for it later.

Long distance view of the sanatorium

Before leaving Las Cruces we did a 12 mile day hike along Baylor pass. It was a lovely hike, that took us four hours. Depending on the day and difficulty level of a hike our pace varies from 2 mph to 3 mph. I thought we'd be doing a 2 mph pace so we ended sooner than expected. We headed out to Valles Canyon from there, which has petroglyphs if you are skilled enough to find them. On the way there google wanted us to take a road that was restricted, it was private property. We pulled over and were trying to figure out an alternative route when a lovely rancher stopped to check on us. We never got his name but he ranches the area and was on his way to round up some cattle. He was very friendly and seemed like a cool guy. He scribbled out a nice map for us to follow while explaining where to find some nice petroglyphs and how a friend of his found one that was painted.

our handy dandy map!

Meantime I was getting close with his laid back dog that desperately needed petting. The road there was treacherous at one point, we stacked some rocks to keep the truck from getting stuck in a ditch. We parked and it was a short hike (we hadn't hiked enough that day) along the canyon to Valles. We found the petroglyphs at the intersection but had no luck finding them along the canyon. Valles canyon was fairly short so it didn't take long to walk the length of it.

One of the few we found

We found a secluded dirt road to sleep off of and the next morning headed to Gila National Forest. On the way we stopped in Silver City and had a productive day in town. We made an appt to have the bearings on the car replaced, I got my hair trimmed, we got a quick oil change on the car and stopped by the Ranger station where we loaded up on maps.

The next day we drove to the Gila cliff dwellings. We were very excited to see these dwellings. It is one of the only ones were you can actually walk around inside. First we stopped by the visitor center to read some history and see some artifacts. At the entrance to the dwelling an amusing ranger gave us her spiel on the trail, advising us that it is a dirt trail like it would have been in the past, to watch for wildlife, and although it is only one mile there is a strenuous section that can be difficult at 6,000' so be prepared. We just smiled and nodded rather than explain we were just hiking at 9,000' in the past few weeks and do 10+ mile hikes regularly.

approaching the dwellings

The dwellings were impressive. To think people lived there... I was jealous. It seemed like a wonderful location I would happily inhabit if I could. How cool would it be to live in the side of a cliff? This location is prime due to it's proximity to both a spring and the Gila river. The dwellings consist of seven caves, 6 of which were used. The main cave had 40 rooms!

The photos can't show how large and cool this place was. As we went from room to room, I wondered how they were furnished, what were they used for? It was obvious which places they had fires by the black pitchy parts of the ceiling. How cool it must have been when people lived there. We read that the Mogollon people lived here 700 years ago. It appears they only stayed for one generation, from about 1200CE to 1300CE. The guess as to why they left was a drought around 1300CE. They were hunter gatherers who also had small crops by the river using the method of the three sisters (Corn, beans and squash - they grow well together). After visiting here I wondered we could get a gig living in an old dwelling as recreationists.

Our next stop was a smaller cliff dwelling near a cliff face with pictographs. These were the best pictographs I've seen so far. The dwelling was much smaller compared to the last place but still very neat. We then did a one mile hike to a hot spring. The water at the hot spring comes out at 150 degrees, we got in a little way down where the water was cooled to about 110 degrees. It burned enough to take about 20-30 minutes to get used to it and get most of the way in. It was right by a river so we did a few trips back and forth. This felt like a magical place. The weather that day was perfect, it was warm, with an occasional breeze. It felt very peaceful there. We met a few fun people and chatted for a while swapping information on places to visit.

There is another hot spring that is a 12 mile round trip hike we did the following day, Jordan hot springs. I wore my huaraches for the hike, but brought shoes in case it got rough (it never did). We were told the trail crossed the river 15 times, so being in the huaraches was convenient. It was a beautiful 6 miles to the hot spring. The hike goes through a canyon then runs along the Gila river, which you cross 15 times in the last 2 miles. The first few crossings were quit cold and once back on dry ground it took a few seconds for my feet to thaw. After about 5 crossings though my body knew what was up and it was much easier. The crossings themselves ranged from easy to tricky. Matthew is more adept at crossings so he took a ton of photos of me struggling. Here are two...

The hot spring was phenomenal! It is the number one all time best hot spring we've been to thus far. It didn't hurt that we were the only ones there for the 2-3 hours we lounged. The water was bathwater warm, it was a large pool in a gorgeous secluded place. It was blissful. I felt like... it just doesn't get any better.

 Hot spring

 glamour shot

Wild horses. We were at a campsite getting dinner ready when a herd of horses ran by. Apparently they got loose from the corral down the road and the cowboys had to round them up. I overheard they were wild mustangs 3 weeks ago.

We are spending a few days in Silver city getting car work done today, museum and laundry tomorrow, and Saturday we are attending the March for Science here. After that we are backpacking for a few days. Don't know what we'll do from there, maybe explore more here or take off to another area.