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Gila National Forest: Ben Lilly Memorial & its Secret Waterfall
Hello friends! Sorry that it’s been a long time! It turns out that working graveyard shifts takes some getting used to! (i.e. my brain has been completely and utterly fried…for a month.) I was looking through some pics today while feeding my Shutterfly addiction and I came across something I meant to post ages ago! Ben Lilly Memorial is an interesting spot in the Gila National Forest. It’s not a hike, it’s a pile of natural rocks that’s earned the designation of a Memorial to the man who was known as “the last mountain man in the Southwest”. If you climb atop this giant pile of rocks you are rewarded…
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Tips for Visiting New Mexico’s Gila Cliff Dwellings
Unless you’re from the area, most places in southern New Mexico are not exactly well known. One such place is the small mountain town of Silver City, NM. Driving along I-10, you probably wouldn’t believe that there are thousands of acres of mountainous wilderness just waiting to be explored just 60 miles away! The Gila Wilderness is tucked away deep in the Mogollon Mountains, and is the true definition of the term “wilderness”. It has a rich history which includes the subject of my post today – the Gila Cliff Dwellings. The Gila Cliff Dwellings are one of the top attractions (if not the top attraction) of the Silver City area…so when…
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Hiking the Gila National Forest, Trail 154 – Signal Peak Road
You would never guess driving through southern New Mexico on I-10 that just an hour north of Deming lies 3.3 million acres of pristine wilderness known as the Gila National Forest/Gila Wilderness (pronounced Hee-luh). I love hiking in the Gila National Forest. There are so many trails, and so many scenic drives you can go on – it would literally take you a lifetime to see half of what it has to offer! Another cool thing about this area is the Gila River, which is the last unaltered river in New Mexico. This means that, unlike every other river in the state, the Gila River has not been dammed or diverted for the…
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Cloudcroft’s Bluff Springs Waterfall
Cloudcroft, NM is located at almost 9000 ft in the Sacramento Mountains of southern New Mexico – and it’s a must-see destination if you are traveling through the area! I suggest pulling off whatever route you’re on and spending the afternoon here if at all possible. When you do come, you gotta stop at Bluff Springs Waterfall! Cloudcroft is a place that I will always think of fondly, having spent many weekends here in the past 3 years! One of the things that I love about Cloudcroft is that you get all the beautiful trees and scenery that you find at 9000ft without the horrible weather! Trust me, Cloudcroft’s 9000ft and Colorado’s…
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New Mexico Roadside Attraction: Albuquerque’s Rattlesnake
Imagine with me, if you will, that you are visiting a foreign city. As you visit all the “it” places that are “must-see’s”, you think to yourself, “Man, I sure would like to see something random and off the beaten path!” Friends, if this is you, and if you are in Albuquerque, NM, than I have just the thing! Now let’s not get all excited before I give you a little info. Our rattlesnake friend (we’ll call him Timmy) lives on a median of a deserted road in the middle of a random area of town – an area that my friend who was a local assured me was the…
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Ruidoso’s Grindstone Lake & Trails
Ahhhh Ruidoso. Its mountains don’t compare to the Rockies of Colorado, and its forests don’t hold a candle to the Pacific Northwest, but there’s just something really fun and special about this little mountain town. I know that kind of reads like, “It’s mountains suck and its forests are lame”, but truly, Ruidoso is a cool travel destination, and is very beautiful. (For more ideas on what to do in Ruidoso, check out my other posts!) I’d been to Ruidoso many times before I finally went to see what Grindstone Lake was all about. My aunt actually showed it to me for the first time, but as it was January and snow was…
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Noisy Water Wine Tasting in Ruidoso, NM
Having lived in Carlsbad for most of our prison sentence here in southeast NM, Ruidoso has been our go-to spot for day trips and weekend get-a-ways! It’s a super cute town and has beautiful mountains and woods all around! Out of all the cool things you can do there, I have to suggest going to the Noisy Water Winery located on Sudderth St. in the middle of all the shops! (Visiting Ruidoso? Check out my other posts for ideas on what to do!) So here’s the deal with Noisy Water: Wine tasting is $5, and it includes samples from 3 different wines of your choice. Once you are finished with your…
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Top 10 Things To Do in Carlsbad, NM…besides the Caverns!
You wouldn’t believe how far and long people will travel to see the Carlsbad Caverns. In my waitressing days in Carlsbad I would meet people from British Columbia, France, England, and a plethora of states who were passing through just for the Caverns. It always made me wonder what they thought of the area, because I personally always thought it looked like a flat nuclear wasteland. I’ll hand it to the Caverns…they are very impressive. It’s not until you visit other caverns in the country that you appreciate the magnitude and vastness of what you find in Carlsbad. However, once you spent the day at the caverns, the question then becomes,…
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New Mexico Roadside Attractions: The Roadrunner
For all you people out there who think that the stretch on I-10 through west Texas and southern New Mexico is the most soul-sucking drive known to man…I agree with you! The terrain in New Mexico doesn’t get even remotely interesting until you travel off the Interstate…40 or 10! However, if you are stuck driving this deserted interstate, might as well stop for one of its roadside attractions! So for those of you who like the weird and the quirky, this post is for you! (Like Roadside Attractions?? Click here for others in New Mexico!) This little guy perches atop a hill overlooking Las Cruces, NM. (I would like to think of…
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Tips for Hiking Cloudcroft’s Mexican Trestle Trail
Cloudcroft, NM is my favorite spot in Southern New Mexico. It’s a small but beautiful getaway in the middle of a desert that stretches for hundreds of miles! At 9000 ft elevation, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between Cloudcroft and some places in Colorado – which is why everyone around here loves it! Cloudcroft is not a big town by any means, but it has a small list of historic, must-see spots. Today’s post is dedicated to one of them! The Mexican Trestle is one of Cloudcroft’s most iconic landmarks. Seriously, just google Cloudcroft NM and look at images…I promise you will see more than one pic of the…
