Santa Fe and Pecos Pueblo NP

Leaving Whites City, we headed north near Santa Fe. We stayed at the Cochiti Lake Campground, a Core of Engineers (COE) campground on the Cochiti Reservation. Beautiful spot overlooking the lake. 

We hiked a trail along the dam that the COE created as flood control for the Rio Grande. 

Then headed for Sante Fe to walk around the city window shopping at the beautiful SW colors of jewelry and pottery. 

We stopped at Burrito Alley for a beer and met some ladies from Wisconsin who told us about Pecos Pueblo National Park. So after I had my fill of all the beautiful turquoise jewelry and pottery, we headed a little more north to see what this National Park had to offer. 

We had not heard of this one. We were very pleasantly surprised to find a trail that wound around where the Pecos people had lived and prospered for many years. As you can see, dogs were allowed to walk with us so they got a hike and we learned more history. 

Sunset tonight was pretty. 

Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains

Left White Sands early Monday morning and drove up through the mountains and Canyons. Scenic drive for sure. The terrain changed several times from desert with no trees to trees and then back to desert. 

. 

Camped at Whites City Campground, 7 miles from the caverns

Ate an early dinner and headed to the caverns for the Bat Program. From April to October, about 500,000 Brazilian Free-Tailed Bats come swooping and swirling out of the caverns at dusk, go gather their food and return to the cavern just before sunrise. It was a great spectacle to see. Since we weren’t allowed to take photos, I bought a postcard so I could show you how they come out of the cave entrance. 

Next morning we headed back in to the caverns for a trip down in among all the stalactites and stalagmites. Huge cavern. We explored for over 2 hours. Once again, too many pictures but here are a few plus a video. 

Bill is standing next to a stalagmite to show how tall it is. 

Here’s a video as I was walking:

a walk down in the cavern

Found out that the town of Whites City is named from the explorer, Jim White. Can you imagine rappelling down into the cave and finding all that beauty!

After that, we drove down to the Guadalupe Mountains in Texas, just about 45 miles south. 

Unfortunately, we couldn’t hike anywhere with the dogs but we did drive up the McKitrick Canyon. 

This is a plant that gets fluffy flowers, similar to the dandelion) Don’t know what it is but I like it’s delicate, fluffy fronds as they blow in the wind. 

Last night here at Whites City, waiting for the sun to set over the Guadalupe Mountains, the town and desert of White’s City. 

Day 2 Sunday in White Sands

Today we hiked over 4 miles up a d down the dunes. I think this has been my most interesting hike ever. We were in our bare feet, with the cool sand coming up between our toes. Lenny had a good time but he was tired when we were through. Had to put Banjo in the backpack so he didn’t eat sand.

Look at the tree roots that are exposed because the sand has shifted. 

Tomorrow we are headed to Carlsbad Caverns and Guadeloupe Mountains. 

Moving on to New Mexico

As we were driving to our next night’s rest, we passed some people we knew; Lloyd and Vilma and Lee and Denise 

Going the same way but staying in a different place than us. 

We chose a Harvest Host spot for the night Mesa Vista Winery. We sat around with the locals hearing about the area. 

The next morning as we were coming out of the El Paso area, we saw huge boulders and then the scenery changed to yucca plants and some small Joshua Trees. 

We are staying at Dog Canyon dispersed camping tonight, Saturday. The weather is perfect, 70 degrees through the day with a nice breeze and then at night it cools down to around 55 degrees. This is our view today. 

 After we got set up, we visited the White Sands Monument, in the Tularosa Basin in southern New Mexico. It’s the largest gypsum dune field in the world, covering 275 square miles in the Chihuahuan Desert. As the winds blow, sand shifts. They have to plow the road when the drifts cover the road.  Wow, so much white sand dunes but no water. It was crazy. We walked on the boardwalk to learn about the natural habitat. 

Can you see the bleached lizard in here. He’s camouflaged. I only picked him out because he moved. 

Then we drove around the dunes and I got out to walk on them. It was so different than sand at the beach. It wasn’t hot, in fact, it was cool. There were people and kids hiking and riding sleds down the dunes. 

Great stop. 

Sunset