Southern New Mexico Spring Trip
Spring Greetings from Southern New Mexico!
by Cheryl Bruedigam
The Organ Mountains - view to the
southwest from the Bataan Memorial Highway
We have just returned from our spring road trip through
Southern New Mexico! The weather was beautiful; sunny
most of the trip. Destination Silver City was quiet,
refreshing and full of the beauty of the nature of the
southwest. Bedecked with its usual array of
multi-cultural characters, the sleepy city and its
citizens quietly went about their business as we buzzed
the community and surroundings. A fourteen-mile mountain
bike ride from Boston Hill across the Continental Divide
offered previously unexplored terrain and a few sore
muscles for our technical director as well as plenty of
ravens, javelinas, and even an eagle sighting.
Other stops included a tour of the campus of New Mexico
State University in Las Cruces. With a student
population of 25,000, this relatively small, quiet
campus of southwestern Aggies offers a wide range of
study as well as newly built housing and all the
comforts of home for its students.
Ruidoso was beautiful, the roads were clear. It did
cloud up on us one day which actually added to the magic
of the enchanting mountain village. The River Ruidoso
was running full and fast this time of year. A slight
mist offered a refreshing breath of clean air scented
with magnificent pine.
Note that just about the only restroom
in town available for public use is
at the Billy the Kid National Scenic Byway Visitors
Center, though if you go,
you may have to share with the locals!
Roswell was clean and decorated in its alien attire
ready and willing to serve those stopping through and
offers a wide selection of services, restaurants and
shopping for visitors, all with friendly attitudes.
This tour of southern New Mexico includes many fabulous
stops such as White Sands National Monument, The White
Sands Missile Range, The Mescalero Apache Indian
Reservation and the Inn of the Mountain Gods, The Three
Rivers Petroglyph Site and Recreation Area and the New
Mexico Museum of Space History near Alamogordo, Lincoln
National Forest near Ruidoso, Ski Apache, rock-hounding
near Deming, the City of Rocks just outside of Silver
City, the Catwalk at Glenwood, the Gila National Forest,
as well as the Gila Cliff Dwellings.
All in all, it is a glorious drive, with unending
vistas, snow-capped peaks and beauty ranging from the
desert sands to mountain pines. You can’t beat this
trip!
For more information visit these areas at
www.guidebookamerica.com/nm/
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