New Mexico and Texas with Caty

Caty (my daughter and partner in travel/wildlife photography crime, in case you didn’t know) had a long weekend in April, so she asked me to go on a “check off some additional National Parks/Monuments” trip. We decided we didn’t really have time to go all the way to Big Bend (going all the way to Big Bend is ALWAYS an issue because it is just so far from everything). So, we decide to hit White Sands National Monument and Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns National Parks. 

Diverse travel objectives

None were new to me – after all, I have been to every National Park in the Continental United States – but I am always up for a National Park jaunt. Plus, as you will see, we did go to some exciting new places as well.

Petroglyphs

First, a word about planning. Every time you think you have it down pat, you get a little too confident and mess things up. But, it usually works out anyway.

White Sands National Monument

We booked this trip a long time ago. 

Our plan was to drive on Thursday to Alamogordo, New Mexico, taking our time looking at scenery and wildlife, but possibly arriving in time for sunset at White Sands National Monument.

It technically takes a little over seven hours to drive from Colorado Springs to Alamogordo, but we knew we would take longer. In fact, we budgeted about 12 hours, which would allow us to leisurely make stops on the way. And, it ended up taking us just about 12 hours.

Our plan was to then spend the next day in White Sands before heading out to Whites City, where we would stay two nights so we could hit both Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains. 

Carlsbad and Guadalupe Peak

Then, we would head home, possibly staying one more night on the road, but not making definitive plans. We just needed to get back to Colorado Springs in time for Caty to get home at a reasonably decent time because she had to work at 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday.

White Sands

So, what went wrong?

Well, first, as we were driving, we somehow convinced ourselves we were staying TWO nights in Alamogordo. 

Did we recheck? 

Nope. 

So, we decided we didn't need to hurry to see sunset at White Sands on day one. It wasn't until after sunset that we realized that we wouldn't be there the next night. 

Oh well!

Second, we had discussed that we needed to stay at the Rodeway Inn in Whites City to visit both Carlsbad and Guadalupe. It's not a fancy hotel, but it's right at the entrance to Carlsbad and only 36 miles from Guadalupe, making it the CLOSEST non-camping lodging to Guadalupe.

Far, but not too far

Somehow, that got messed up and we ended up with reservations at the Rodeway Inn in Carlsbad, N.M. 

Now, you would THINK that Carlsbad is closest to Carlsbad Caverns, but it's not. Whites City is. I suspect MOST people make this mistake. 

It's only 15 miles, but still ... 

If you are staying in Carlsbad, Rodeway wouldn't be my first choice. It wasn't a big issue and it was certainly inexpensive, but a silly mistake.

But, despite those two little glitches, it all worked out.

Capulin Volcano National Monument

We started the trip with a fairly long detour -- about 30 miles one-way from Raton to Capulin Volcano National Monument. 

Close to home

I had already been there a few times, including once in 1975 on our first trip west right after Scott and I got married, and then as recently as last year. 

But, apparently, I haven't blogged about it before. Here's a little background.

Located in northeastern New Mexico, Capulin Volcano National Monument is an extinct cinder cone volcano that is part of the Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field. 

Aerial photo: National Parks (and More) 

A nice paved road spirals around the volcano up to the rim of the extinct caldera, where there is a small parking lot and trailhead. 

It is a well-preserved, relatively young (58,000 to 62,000 years old), symmetrical cinder cone that rises from the surrounding plains to 8,182 feet. 

The irregular rim of the crater is about a mile in circumference and the crater is about 400 feet deep.

Compared to many other volcanoes, Capulin is quite small -- you can "easily" hike the rim in a short amount of time. I put quotes around "easily" because this time the trail was completely buried in snow and ice. I think it would have been tough to make it up and back (as you can see from the aerial photo, the rim has some gain and loss as it skirts the edge). 

I did do this hike last year and I can tell you that, because of the elevation, it can also get you huffing and puffing.

Photo: Caty Stevens

The Monument was designated in 1916, shortly before the National Park Service was formed. Darn, we missed the Centennial Celebration!

Snow in the caldera

Right now, the Visitor Center is being renovated, so everything is relocated to a small shed. I have to admit, we probably spent more time talking with the delightful ranger that actually visiting the park. 

I had to buy a new National Park Senior Pass because I have misplaced mine. 

My National Park Map

At $10 for a lifetime pass, it’s the deal of the century!!! 

It's going up to $80 next October and is STILL the best deal you can get. That's as long as our current Administration doesn't completely destroy our National Parks before we can elect some competent leaders again.

The ranger shared lots of interesting information. He told us that the National Park of American Samoa presents a certificate (and possibly a trophy) to people visiting as their final of the 59 National Parks. 

I anticipate that will be the case for me, so I need to plan ahead so I can get the certificate.

Anyway, back to Capulin Volcano ...  

The rim provides panoramic views of the volcanic field that contains at least 100 extinct volcanoes, distant snow-capped mountains and portions of five states (New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and Colorado).

The view

We drove the road up and snapped some pictures, deciding we should come back when the hike around would be less treacherous and then we headed south.

Also close to home

Maxwell National Wildlife Refuge

We stopped next at Maxwell National Wildlife Refuge, which I blogged about when I visited in February 2016 on my way down to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge to see Sandhill Cranes.

Back in 2016, the place was filled with Bald Eagles, but very little else because the lake was frozen. This time, there were no Eagles. We assume that the ones I saw were migrating north, so by April, they had already moved on.

There were, however,  quite a few American White Pelicans and ducks on and around the lake. We got some great shots of the pelican flying slowly right over our heads. 

The bump on the bill indicates a breeding adult

We also saw a Common Raven sitting in a nest – interesting only because we had just been discussing that we had never seen a Raven nest.

On the lake were Gadwalls ...

Female Gadwall

... Ruddy Ducks ...

Also a female

... Lesser Scaups ...

Pretty golden eyes (but not a Goldeneye!)

... and swimming American Pelicans ...

Breeding White Pelican

Maxwell has a Visitor Center, but it seems to be the victim of the insidious government funding cuts that are stripping so much away from our public lands. It never seems to be open. So, no stamp. Just a quick drive-through. We saw a Red-Tailed Hawk ...

Keeping watch

A Black-Tailed Jack Rabbit ...

Much rangier than a cuddly Cottontail

A Burrowing Owl too far away to photograph and some very odd bones on a Prairie Dog mound (could that be a Prairie Dog?) ...

Hmmmm????

We did picnic at a rest stop in Wagon Mound, where I saw my first Say’s Phoebe. Needless to say, I took a few pictures!

Say's Phoebe

Fort Union National Monument
Our next stop was Fort Union National Monument, just north of Watrous, N.M. I have driven by the exit many, many times, but never stopped because 1) it was too early in the morning; 2) I was in a hurry to get somewhere and didn’t have time to stop; 3) it was too late; or 4) I was in a hurry to get home and didn’t have time to stop. Sometimes things are just too close to home to be a priority.

A pretty spot on a pretty day

So, this time, we stopped. And, I am glad we did. The small park is more impressive than I expected – which means that it has more ruins that I thought from the descriptions I have read and pictures I have seen online.

Fort Union National Monument was dedicated in 1954 to preserve the ruins of three forts constructed on the site beginning in 1851. The forts are interesting because they were built of wood (which is mainly gone), stone and brick (of which some remains), but mostly of bright red adobe. 

An interesting spot

It operated for 40 years (1851-1891) as a frontier post but had an interesting legal history because it was built on private property. Over the years, the government took more and more of the private land and, despite lots of time in court, never compensated the legitimate owners.

Distant shot

It is a really striking grid of red walls against a pretty backdrop dotted with old wagons and canons.

Worth the stop

One puzzling thing is that, on the road to the park there is an “overlook” where you have to park and then walk about a quarter mile. We drove past and couldn’t figure out what it was looking over -- the view looked identical to what we could see from the road. 

There are wagon ruts from the Mountain and Cimarron Branches of the old Santa Fe Trail, which passed through the Fort, along the way, too.

Old equipment

The day was gorgeous, so the stroll around the ruins was very pleasant, but we had to get back on the road! 

Roadside stops can be fun

To Alamogordo
Now we headed on to Alamogordo without too many more stops. 

We reached Alamogordo around 7:00 p.m. and decided we needed to get dinner as quickly as possible because – for reasons I have never learned – restaurants in New Mexico tend to close at 8:00 p.m. We inquired at the hotel (a nice Holiday Inn Express that I paid for with points!) about good New Mexican food and were directed to Rizo’s. It was good – certainly a huge amount of food for little cost – but not as NEW Mexican as I wanted (no blue corn tortillas …).

It was during dinner that we discovered that we had miscalculated our trip and we were sad to see a beautiful sunset that we were missing at White Sands! 

Turns out that it was probably the prettiest sunset of out entire trip because there were actually some low clouds. That’s the funny thing about sunsets – you really need clouds for drama. So, those bright blue cloudless New Mexican skies don’t always deliver at sunset.

So, off to bed so we could hit White Sands when it opened the next morning.

Tomorrow

Trip date: April 6-10, 2017