Alamogordo, New Mexico – Oliver Lee State Park
April 20 – 22
Picasa pictures link: https://picasaweb.google.com/107097369989809012646/SWTrip2014Part2?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCICFz6v9hZTW_wE&feat=directlink
Our drive from Carlsbad to Alamogordo was quite nice,
especially when we drove over the Sacramento Mountains, through the Lincoln
National Forest. The road winds through a beautiful forested river valley,
ultimately crossing through the mountain town of Cloudcroft. Then the road began
going downward towards the foothills. There was an overlook area where we
pulled off and took some amazing pictures looking down to the Tularosa Valley.
From that vantage point, we could clearly see the White Sands dune fields.
After arriving at Oliver Lee S.P. we got setup and prepared
for an Easter dinner with Rick & Debbie. The table was setup in the shade
behind our RV and we enjoyed a nice dinner. After dinner we took the dogs and
hiked into the Riparian Nature trail, which went up through the creek bed. It
was shaded and lovely with a small flowing creek. This wonderful campground is
located in the foothills of the Sacramento Mountains. What an amazing place
with great views of the Tularosa Valley.
The next morning, we all hiked up the Dog Canyon Trail,
which winds up to a peak overlooking the canyon and the valley. The trail was
well maintained and had a steep elevation change. We hiked up to the 2 mile
mark, which took us 2 hours. We then headed back down to the campground. We
didn’t see much wildlife; however, Rick & Debbie did have a snake
encounter. On their way down, they came within 2 feet of a Western Diamondback rattlesnake.
The snake was not aggressive and wasn’t even coiled up, but rattled a warning.
They moved slowly past it and were not affected.
After lunch, we packed up the truck and headed to White
Sands National Monument. It’s so amazing how large this white gypsum sand dune
field is, 275 square miles! We watched a video which explained how the dunes
were formed over the centuries and continue to change to this day. The sand is
amazingly cool, even with the direct sun. We had decided to arrive in the
middle of the afternoon so we could stay for sunset. We played in the sand,
took pictures of our shadows and footprints. We didn’t have sled saucers to
slide down the dunes, so Kurt improvised. We did have the kayaks on our truck,
so he took down my 12’ Tarpon and hauled it up to a dune top. He was able to
successfully slide (uh, kayak) down the dune; several people on a nearby dune
stopped to watch him. He did it a second time and we all had a great laugh. We
were not surprised that he would find a way to slide down the sand dune! For awhile, we sat at one of the picnic tables
and enjoyed Happy Hour. As sunset approached, we took more great pictures of
the changing shadows and the San Andres Mountains to the west. What a great day
we all had, we will cherish these wonderful memories.
The next day, we decided to drive north of Alamogordo to the
Three Rivers Petroglyph Area, which was inhabited by ancient Indians who carved
over 21,000 glyphs in stones around the area. We spent the afternoon looking
for glyphs and taking pictures of the most prolific images. We also hiked
around the nearby ancient “village” where these natives lived and observed some
ruins of their homes. It was a great day to learn about the history of this
area.
Later in the evening, we began preparing for our next day
and the move to Deming, New Mexico and Rockhound State Park.
