Southeastern New Mexico

September 16-19, 2016

Exploring an area in southeastern New Mexico that has been winking at us for years!

We left Tucson early Friday morning and to got Elisa's House of Pies in Deming, New Mexico, just in time for lunch. Great Southern-style home cooking, and we bought a pecan caramel pie to take along.
Our destination was an area in southeastern New Mexico that has been winking us at us for years, but that we'd never had time to explore. Route 82 climbs more than 4000 feet from Alamagordo to Cloudcroft.
The Mexican Canyon Trestle is one of two reconstructed trestles on the The Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain Railway. This was a spur line built in 1998-1900 to transport timber from Cloudcroft to Alamagordo. Nicknamed "The Cloud-Climbing Railroad", it crossed 58 wooden trestles and had an average grade of more than 6%.
Early morning walk at Lea Lake.
Mating damselflies.
Checkered white butterfly
Lea Lake
Back to the Sacramento Mountains, we had the tiny James Canyon Campground to ourselves. We were serenaded all night long by bugling elk — a sound somewhere between an elephant's trumpet and squeaky metal gate.
View of White Sands from the Rim Trail near Cloudcroft.
White Sands Panorama
Waterfall on the Willie White Trail.
A visit to the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamagordo.
Sputnik recreation.
Rocket Man!
Celebrating another successful adventure at Pepper's in Mesilla.