On the highway not too far from City of Rocks.
As we traveled along I -10 this "toothy" mountain range began to appear on the horizon.
As we got closer we realized the mountains, we think they are called the Organ Mountains, are the backdrop for Las Cruces, New Mexico's second largest city after Albuquerque.
We left I-10 in Las Cruces and continued on U.S. #70 which routed us through downtown. That allowed us to see the "world's largest chili" as advertised on billboards on the outskirts of town.
Route #70 then took us north of the city to...
5,719-ft San Agustin Pass and...
down into...
the White Sands Missile Range.
White Sands Missile Range has been a major testing site since 1945.
A proud Rest Stop.
The back side of the Organ Mountains.
The drive across the missile range was about 50 miles and halfway across we encountered another Border Patrol Check-point.
We were asked if we were citizens, but this time we didn't get to see the dog.
As we approached Alamogordo at the base of what we think is Cloudcroft Peak, we came upon another extraordinary natural wonder...
White Sands National Monument.
Looks like snow at the base of the mountain, but...
it's really white sand. We'll be back later in the week.
Tomorrow we head south east of Alamogordo for Oliver Lee Memorial State Park in the Sacramento Mountains.
More about this spring-fed canyon tomorrow.
Since we are here only overnight we didn't want to un-hitch but there were some items we needed from the grocery store. Today's hike represents our walk to the local grocery store.
Today's hike:
Length - 3.83 miles
Duration - 1 hour, 26 minutes (including shopping)
Elevation gain - 0-feet (5 floors on the Fitbit)
I bet you carefully picked what you needed from the store! No cases of seltzer, right?!
ReplyDeleteThat's right! Just OJ, blueberries and raspberries.
DeleteGetting a real sense of the beauty of our country from this blog. So varied and rich! Do you ever go into the cities/towns? Maybe that will be next year's focus? :)
ReplyDeleteYou're right, we don't spend much time in cities/towns. I guess because we don't go out to eat, and we don't do tourist shopping, our venturing into cities/town is mostly limited to finding a supermarket. We do visit museums from time to time, but we spend most of our days happily out in nature.
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