Overview.
The New Mexico Backcountry Discovery Route (NMBDR). It is a 1,189 mile route through the state of New Mexico starting in Dell City, Texas and weaving through mostly non-paved tracks all the way to Antonito, Colorado. It was originally designed for adventure/dual purpose motorcycles but is also a great overland route, as it is off the beaten path, very remote, and very scenic. It is split into 7 sections, ranging from 87 miles to 283 miles. They offer free GPS tracks to download and sell hard copies of the maps. I recommend having both.
The Plan.
Friday morning leave El Paso and drive to the start of the NMBDR in Del City. Travel the 283 miles of the first section to Ruidoso, New Mexico with a pit stop at the Old Apple Barn in Cloudcroft. Camp in Ruidoso, and fish on the canoe at Grindstone Lake on Saturday morning before traveling the 195 miles to Truth or Consequences to camp at Elephant Butte Lake State Park. Fish on Elephant Butte Lake on Sunday morning and then drive back home.
The Trip Report.
Day 1 - Friday morning we loaded up the truck, filled the cooler with ice, topped off the gas tank and MFC, and hit the road! We drove east to Dell City, Texas, topped off the tank again, and started north. The trail proceeds through mostly flat ranch land and we saw a large herd of Pronghorn Antelope. Then the trail hooks south and comes back north as it ascends the Guadalupe Mountains, home of Guadalupe Peak, the tallest mountain in the state of Texas. The shrubs get taller and you get some nice views of the flat lands you just left below. Once you get into the next section of the Lincoln National Forest, around the towns of Piñon and Weed, the trees start getting taller and the roads get twistier. Our speeds slowed significantly and we realized we wouldn't be making it to the Old Apple Barn before they closed at 5pm. Along the way we started smelling gas. I pulled over to check the MFC in the back. I had installed a new viton gasket and tested it for any leaks prior to the trip but I thought maybe the pressure from the elevation gain was causing it to vent. I bled off some pressure and we hit the road again. A few hours later, near dark, still making our way through the Lincoln National Forest towards Cloudcroft we stopped for a diaper change and my wife said she smelled gas outside of the car. I got out and took a peek under the truck to see a constant stream of gas pouring out of the tank. Time to move! We had about a 1/4 tank of gas and were in the middle of nowhere with darkness approaching. We did have a spare 5 gallons in the back so it wasn't a full emergency yet. We made tracks north as fast as we could as complete darkness set in. The 28" LED light bar I had installed was a HUGE help as we sped through the mountain roads. The gas arrow went down to empty and the gas light came on as we continued north at record setting pace. We broke through the forest right at a gas station in High Rolls. The store part was closed but we put two gallons in the tank, enough to make it down the mountain to Alamogordo and an auto parts store. The first one we came to, Advance Auto was closed. The second one, O'Reilly's Auto Parts was open and I purchased a stick of JB tank weld for $6.50. I pulled up up on the curb, dropped the tank plate, and patched the hole. I held firm pressure for 5 minutes and then we went across the street to Pizza Hut and had a nice sit down meal while searching for nearby places to camp. When we made it back to the truck over an hour later the patch was fully cured and the tank was leak free! We bolted up the skid plate and headed back up the mountain where we made camp in the Lower Karr Canyon area of the Lincoln National Forest. Temps were in the 30's but we were warm and comfortable inside the Montero Sport!
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Day 2 - Saturday morning I woke up, made sure we were still leak free, and then made a nice warm fire for the rest of my family to sit around while we made a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon with some hot coco. With our bellies full and our bodies warmed we packed up and headed into town for some hot apple cider and homemade fudge at the Old Apple Barn before continuing into the mountain town Cloudcroft to walk through some shops. Then we continued north through the mountains into Ruidoso and stopped at Grindstone Lake around 3pm to finally do some trout fishing out on the canoe. We caught a couple of rainbow trout, including one that my wife and daughter caught on my daughter's "Frozen" fishing pole! We had a great time on the lake! After a few hours we loaded back up and formulated a new plan, as it was too late in the day to make it to Elephant Butte Lake. We wanted to camp at the Valley of the Fires Recreation Area but a google search revealed that they were closed for overnight camping from October 11th until December for maintenance. Instead we decided to camp in the Argentina Canyon area, north of Ruidoso, just a few miles off of the main trail. We made it to camp before dark, made another great fire, cooked up some chicken alfredo, and roasted marshmallows for some s'mores before calling it a night.
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Day 3 - On Sunday morning we got up, brought the fire back to life, and made some yummy blueberry pancakes before packing up and hitting the trail again. The section north of Ruidoso up through Nogal and down towards Carrizozo was my favorite of the trip with the beautiful mountain trails and stunning fall scenery. Eventually we descended out of the mountains down to to the town of Carrizozo where we again gassed up before heading west across ranch lands north of highway 380. As we were driving along I suddenly felt the truck pull hard to the left and quickly brought it to a stop. I thought for sure that we had lost a tire. I got out and did a quick check but the tires were good. Then I checked under to see if something in the steering had come undone and sure enough, the front passenger side upper control arm had come unbolted from the truck. I jacked the truck up and pulled off the tire to see how to fix it. One bolt still had the nut loosely attached but on the other one the nut was completely gone. I didn't have any spare nuts or bolts so I borrowed one of the bolts from the brush guard and got the control arm bolted back up and were were back on the move! We zipped west across the desert making great time now that the mountains were in our rearview. After awhile we turned south and made our decent into the Jornada Del Muerto - Journey of the Dead. A 100 mile stretch of barren desert along El Camino Real (Spanish for "The Royal Road", which was a 1,600 mile long trade route between Mexico City, through El Paso Del Norte, to near modern day Santa Fe, New Mexico, from 1598 to 1882). The Jornada Del Muerto received its name due to the countless travelers who lost their lives in that section of the trail due to the heat and the complete absence of water. In more modern times this utter barrenness found a purpose as it was also the location to the world's first atomic bomb detonation at the Trinity Site in 1945. We happened to make it through without incident, arriving in the town of Truth or Consequences and thus ended the 2nd section of the NMBDR.
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Conclusion
We were quite relieved to have completed our goal, despite having had to stop to make two significant roadside repairs. We thoroughly enjoyed the route, the views, the campsites, and the wildlife (I forgot to mention but in addition to the herds of Pronghorn we also saw a heard of Elk, several herds of Deer, and a single fox)! I would definitely recommend this route and look forward to completing the other 5 sections all the way to Colorado. Overall we drove 760 miles, completing 478 miles of the NMBDR. We were in 2WD the entire time and I would say that pretty much any factory truck, SUV, or Outback would have enough ground clearance, at least for the first two sections.
