While waiting for the temperature to rise this morning I drove West on Hwy 70 toward Las Cruces up through the Organ Mountains and finally to San Augustin Pass, where you begin the descent into the city. On this stretch of highway is a beautiful, diverse landscape of white sands, a missile range and of course the stunning mountains.
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| Looking up from Aguirre Springs |
Just below the pass is Aguirre Springs, a recreation area with camping, hiking trails and picnic areas. To get there you three miles down a paved path through the open desert terrain that provides a beautiful view of the mountains just above.
Back in Alamo it was getting warmer so I changed into hiking clothes and drove up to Cloudcroft, a mountain town 16 miles to the East. The road winds up 4000 ft through the canyons and rocky cliffs of the Sacramento mountains.
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| Canyon of the Sacramento Mountains |
Cloudcroft sits at 8650 feet, and while the temperature didn't feel much colder, there was a few inches of snow on the ground and the trail I was going to take was closed. So I turned around and drove back down the mountain about a 1000 feet to the another trail head, which was open.
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| Didn't we leave winter behind? |
The Switchback Trail is part of the Cloud Climbing Rail Trail, a converted rail trail that was constructed at the turn of the century to transport lumber from the Sacramento Mountains. Shaded parts are covered in snow, but most was gravel or grass and an easy 3.2 mile hike up 500 ft.
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| Love the open trails without all the trees! |
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