Rodeo, NM

Monday, January 6 - We got up this morning and left our campsite at the Las Cruces, New Mexico Elks Lodge and headed toward Rodeo, New Mexico.  Mom and Dad have talked to a couple people since we got here and the question they always get is "where is that?"  Here is a map.  Depending on how you are reading this, it might be kind of small, but Phoenix, Arizona is in the upper left corner and El Paso, Texas is in the lower right corner.  Rodeo is the red dot in the middle.  Yup, pretty much smack dab in the middle of nowhere!

Rodeo, New Mexico is under the red dot.

The next question that Mom and Dad get is "why are you there?"  Our good friends Bob and Dee Dee and Steve and Mona Liza came here a few years ago and talked about it a lot.  The reason most people come here is either due to an interest in Astronomy or Birding.  Since we are in the middle of nowhere, there aren't many lights, so the sky is very dark.  Something Astronomers like.  We are also on a migration path for many birds, so Birders like it here, too.

Mom and Dad like stars and birds, but they mainly came for scenery, hiking trails, and jeep roads.

View from our campsite.

We saw this truck on the drive in today.  We are about 60 miles from the
Mexico border and we think this is part of a new wall.

Tuesday, January 7 -  On our first full day in Rodeo, Mom and Dad drove into the mountains and took a hike along the South Fork Trail.  Here are some pictures from the trail.

It was a pretty hike through the woods.

Mostly along this creek with great rock formations.

At this point, the trail crossed the creek, but there wasn't a bridge.
We met some hikers that said that there was another more difficult crossing
about 1/4 mile after this, so Mom and Dad turned around.

They went on a drive and saw this waterfall.

Wednesday, January 8 - Today Mom and Dad decided to try another hike.  This time they chose the Greenhouse Trail.

They crossed a stream and kept on going. 
Yes, those rocks in the middle are the "bridge"

At about 2 miles and 760 feet of elevation gain, they hit snow/ice on the trail.
Since it was slick, they decided to turn around.

They drove up a Jeep road where there were nice views.

They were nearly to the pass when they decided to turn around because of the snow.

Nice Sunset tonight.

We still have 2 more days in Rodeo.  I'll tell you about those next time.

Love,

Doolin