Cloudcroft, NM

 

While spinning our wheels in northern New Mexico for a few days, we saw a Facebook post from some Texas friends.  They were headed for Cloudcroft, NM.  Cloudcroft, and the Ruidoso area, are like Mecca for Texans in the Summer.  It’s one of those places you have to make a destination, as it isn’t on the way to anywhere.  Surrounded on all sides by a hot, and mostly boring, landscape.

               

If coming from the East, you must drive through the heart of the Texas and New Mexico oil fields.  There are literally thousands of wells between Artesia, and Hobbs, New Mexico.

If coming from the North or South, then Alamogordo is the gateway.  The home of Holloman AFB and White Sands National Monument, Alamogordo lies at an elevation of around 4300 feet.  Hot, dry, and dusty.  Temperatures around 100* in August. 

Just a short drive up the mountain from Alamogordo puts you in an entirely different landscape.  Cloudcroft sits at around 9000 feet.  The area looks much like the Sierras, with huge fir and ponderosa pine growing on the mountains. 

Looking down on White Sands national monument from near the town of Cloudcroft.

As we had never visited the area, we called and asked if we could crash their party for a couple of days.  The answer was an affirmative, so we headed South.  We spent three night with them, and had a fantastic time.  Catching up with news about everyone’s travels took hours.

We enjoyed hummingbirds by the dozens, and even had a little music.

 

But, most of all, we enjoyed the friendships.  It was with heavy hearts that we departed after three nights.  They had plans to move down the mountain a ways for another gathering, and we had our sights on home.  The temperature was 54* as we pulled out of the campground.  When we stopped at  Hords Creek COE campground near Coleman, Texas, for the evening, it was 103*.  But, it was a dry heat……  jc