My Journey

[Ashton]

Hey Ashton.....thanks for all the information. We did visit Silver City, hiked the Continental Divide Trail, visited the Gila Cliff Dwellings, and quite a bit more. Not sure I'll be posting here any longer. I'm having issues with the new software and my new phone. It causes a high level of frustration. But maybe I'll get things figured out.....who knows.....I'm looking at sites to blog on.....my plan is to do a trip around North America and then finally go south.....View attachment 440695

Yea, not sure i'm a fan of this new layout either. hearing that it has a dislike of the new samsung s9's photos disappoints me, a lot of my old picture links no longer work (while others from the same img host do work)... don't know why the tried to fix something that wasn't broken, but I guess it ain't my money maker.

have a great trip, whenever and where ever you go.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Ashton.....yep.....it seems as though I've just got to learn how to use the new device and the XP update. I'll keep trying I guess.....

The following morning we had some great views of the sunrise while sipping a hot cup of coffee on a cold New Mexico morning.....



Once the sun rose and the temperatures climbed with it, we hit the trail with a goal of summitting Jack's Peak (7,956').....



The dogs lucked out when they found this dirty water to cool themselves in.....



We had more great views from the summit. After a 10.5 mile round trip hike, we were pretty much dead for the remainder of the day......



Late that night while getting ready for bed, a truck camper pulled in and camped nearby. I stuck my head out the door and could hardly believe that I knew the guy. It was Vic Hanson, an ex member of this site and an old climbing buddy from South America. What a small world it really is !!!!!!!

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

After two nights up high in the national forest, we descended the mountains and headed into Silver City, New Mexico. What a great vibe this small town of about 10,000 people has.....I loved the friendly people and the historic section of Silver City was awesome.....

The Big Ditch Trail runs right through town.....



The trees had begun to flower.....spring is coming to Silver City.....the weather couldn't have been better.....



Once again, another town with old, colorful buildings.....










We stayed only for an afternoon.....grabbed lunch and a few used books.....we wanted to get back into the forests.....that's where we're happiest without a doubt.....

 

[galvyork]

Tour guide Ashton! Lots of great info. Makes me want to visit!

 

[Madchap]

I do understand the difficulty of keeping up this thread. But I want you to know that there are people like myself who truly appreciate the effort you take to post here. I would guess most of us here are more dreamers than doers. You are a doer and it's a good break from our realities to step for a moment into your reality.

Hope you can keep on traveling and keep on posting!

 

[chet6.7]

Yea, not sure i'm a fan of this new layout either. hearing that it has a dislike of the new samsung s9's photos disappoints me, a lot of my old picture links no longer work (while others from the same img host do work)... don't know why the tried to fix something that wasn't broken, but I guess it ain't my money maker.

have a great trip, whenever and where ever you go.

I saw your post in the how to post pictures thread,have you asked how to post pictures in this thread? Hope you can figure it out as I enjoy your posts.
https://expeditionportal.com/forum/...ests-about-the-new-forum-version-here.191394/

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Gakvyork.....you'd love it.....

Madchap.....thanks and I appreciate the nice comment. It's just become such a cumbersome process to post but you do what you got to do ! I looked at some blog websites and I didn't think they were so easy either.....

Chet.....yes I've got it figured out but it ain't easy. Every picture I post needs to be screenshot, resized, and then uploaded as a full image. All of the text needs to be inserted first, and then I can upload the pictures once that's completed.....

Anyhow, after Silver City we drove north on Route 15 into the Gila Wilderness Area where we found a free national forest campground along the Gila River. This would be our base for a few nights while we hiked some trails and visited the Gila Cliff Dwellings.....



The cliff dwellings were pretty cool but it's only a one mile hike so it goes fairly quick (at least for us). I'm always amazed at how out of shape the masses are. The benches are packed with people moaning about the difficult climb to the dwellings.....








But we were really happy to have the river next to our campsite which makes it the perfect spot for my two best friends.....







On the opposite side of the river from our campsite was a large cliff which was home to a family of hawks. Their songs echoed in the canyon and was almost hypnotic.....

 

[furbucket]

^^^^^ that sounds like a perfect campsite that would be hard for me to leave...!


...sent from my an evil pocket calculator with a flashy screen...

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

furbucket.....if you're ever in the area, the name of the campground is Forks. There's probably about a dozen sites available.....

Another nice aspect of this area is the Gila Hot Springs located about a mile from the campground. There's actually two different private companies operating there which charge a fee and then there's the free hot springs located in the park (and I'm told it's about a three mile round trip hike to what look like not so good springs). Obviously we chose to pay $5 and it was well worth it. We chose Wildwood.....

Theres the clothing optional pools....



And then there's the clothing mandatory pools.....



Both nights at the campground we had roaring campfires. Firewood was plentiful and its bone dry.....



It was almost a full moon (actually the night before the double blue moon or something like that). Anyhow, I put the new Galaxy S9+ to test and I think I got some pretty cool pictures. None of these pictures (and actually none of the pictures I post) are edited in anyway. What you see is what the camera sees.....













The following morning we packed it in and headed to Las Cruces, New Mexico. On the way out we got a bit more hiking in. The whole area around Silver City has some magnificent hiking and scenery. We loved it here.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

From our campsite, we drove southeast and made our next stop in Las Cruces, New Mexico where we had planned to grab groceries at Walmart and then move on. A security guard stopped us and suggested that we spend the night in their RV section (huh ?). He said we'd be safe and that it was fairly quiet. And so we did.....amazing the different receptions that you get on the road. The following morning we visited Mesilla, famous for it's ties to Billy the Kid. It was a brief visit.....




Our next stop, continuing east, would be White Sands National Monument. We spent the afternoon and evening hiking some of the trails and then a few miles further east we spent the night at a small, man made lake.....




We had an amazing sunset that night.....




The next day the winds howled and the white sands filled the sky, and everything close by (including the truck and camper).....



We decided to forgo another day at White Sands due to the winds, and walked nearby our campsite.....

It was here that we spotted our first poisonous snake of the trip.....what I believe is a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake.....



The morning weather was calm and the lake surface had settled.....



And yet one more great sunset.....


And we prepared to drive east.....

 

[Sticky9]

I was just out at White Sands on Sunday and Monday. Hope all is well!

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Sticky9.....all is well here.....thanks.....

After a few nights camped at the lake, we continued pushing east. We made a stop in Alamogordo, New Mexico for supplies. My rule is basically to stop at any fairly good sized town and stock up.....better safe than sorry. After dumping the tanks, getting fuel and food, we took Route 82 east driving up a super steep grade into the Sacramento Mountains. We had some really nice views looking back and down to the west towards White Sands National Monument.....


Our next stop would be at a small ski town.....Cloudcroft, New Mexico at the peak of the mountains. It was a pretty cool little town at an elevation slightly above 8,000 feet. We found a great bakery and a great climbing shop.....




We drove a few miles outside of town and found a campsite in the Lincoln National Forest.....






We did a fair bit of hiking on the forest service roads. We even found this improvised toilet near our campsite.....


And then we continued east on Route 82 descending the mountains and back to the flat, desert.....

 

[jrod420]

Glad you decided to stick with the thread. The pics have some awesome detail! Very nice! I have to thank you because your posts always serve to break up the day, and remind me that this desk is just a temporary reality. Thanks.

 

[sandbag]

Wow! Really thank you for you presentation.
I used to spend time in Alamogordo for work and try as I might never got to witness the beauty you have presented.
Did get up to Cloudcroft for some really good chow.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

JROD420.....well, I've been experimenting with a few blogs but even the "simple" ones challenge me so here I am. It's almost impossible to edit a post once I've submitted it and that's a challenge for me because nearly every post I submit needs editing......

Sandbag.....we stopped in at the bakery only.....as far as food is concerned. I had just come off a 3 month break from sugar and the smells from that bakery got me.....$6 for a cinnamon bun.....what was I thinking ?

As I was saying, we continued east and spent the next night in Artesia, New Mexico. With a little time on our hands that evening, we decided to drop by the dreaded laundromat. It was here that I noticed that southern New Mexico is an energy producing region. ....I saw a sign that said something like oil workers use units in back (more on this later).....

The following morning we left town early, cruised through Carlsbad, New Mexico and didn't stop until we arrived at the Carlsbad Caverns. Since July of 2005 I've been traveling the roads of North America and over the years I've stayed away from places like this. But now I'm in the "winter" of my life.....I've changed a bit.....and you'll see more of me visiting some of these types of attractions.....

After a brief talk from the park ranger we were on our way.....







At this time of year unfortunately they're aren't many bats.....they told us at most a thousand we would see.....





We descended along the Big Room Route which is about 1.25 miles with a drop of approximately 750 feet. It was truly amazing and I could only wonder what it must have been like to have been there prior to it's development.....



We decided that we wanted to set the world record on our ascent of the cave. We fast walked as best we could, passing so many people struggling to return to the top. The record is 18 minutes we were told.....we did it in 25 minutes.....18 minutes is mind blowing.....





That night we camped on BLM land nearby.....



Overlooking a massive valley filled with natural gas wells.....