Glenwood Fish Hatchery

After we hiked the Catwalk, we stopped at the Glenwood Fish Hatchery to wander around.  I'm a sucker for fish hatcherys and pretty much anything to do with fish in general.

The hatchery isn't much as far as hatcheries go, basic, but it gets the job done.  You can wander around and give yourself a self-guided tour of the facilities. 

Right below the fish hatchery is a large pond where there were several fishermen.  No fishing is allowed in the hatchery, but fishing is allowed at the pond below the hatchery. 

There were plenty of big old frogs there at the pond, and numerous huge tadpoles.  We had a great time at the fish hatchery!

Nearest City: Glenwood, NM
Location: N° W°
Time Needed:
Difficulty:
Kid Friendly:
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Carlsbad Caverns National Park: Rattlesnake Springs Section

The filter box at Rattlesnake Springs

After wandering the caves at Carlsbad Caverns, we drove back to the Pine Springs Campground, but on the way we stopped at Rattlesnake Springs.  Rattlesnake Springs is a section of Carlsbad National Park that was acquired primarily as a water source for the park.  The springs are still used for water, but the site is primarily used for picnicking and bird watching.  The springs are contained in a large pond with a filter box in the middle of it, and a pump house sitting on near the bank.  It's a great spot for a leisurely picnic. 

We ate a cantaloupe on the grass and wild mint along the bank of the spring.  Numerous fish are visible in the crystal clear water.  The ones above I think are tilapia, but I also saw bass swimming around.  I would have loved to have my fishing pole for a cast or two, but fishing is not allowed at Rattlesnake Springs. 

There's a large picnic area as you drive in with picnic tables under the large cottonwood trees.  It's a great spot for kids to run around.  As we were leaving, a tour bus full of school kids from Lubbock, TX on a field trip pulled in.  We waved goodbye, glad that we'd had it quieter while we were there.

Nearest City: Carlsbad, NM
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 1/2 hour
Difficulty: easy
Kid Friendly: yes
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In the Dark at Carlsbad Caverns National Park

The Natural Entrance

Our Spring Break trip to Carlsbad was pretty awesome.  I can't say it was epic, because nobody died.  But it was a great experience.  After hiking Guadalupe Peak overnight, I was a little bit sore when I awoke, but I still figured I was good enough to go through the caves at Carlsbad.  We drove up from the Pine Springs Campground at Guadalupe National Park, the reasonably closest campground to Carlsbad Caverns, and found the place not that crowded, at least judging from the limited number of cars in the vast parking lot.  I'd heard that Spring Break is a zoo at Carlsbad Caverns, so in searching out a time for the trip, deliberately scheduled it for mid/late April, a week or two after all of the Texas Public Schools have their Spring Breaks.

Pictographs outside the cave entrance at Carlsbad

We picked up our tickets at the ticket counter ($10/adult, or free with a National Parks Pass), then wandered over to the natural entrance.  There are about half a dozen tours at Carlsbad Caverns, but the two most common ways to the cave are through the Natural Entrance or through the elevator.  We took the both ways- more on that later.  After getting a pep-talk from a ranger, along with encouragement to not touch things or spit, or throw things into the pools (and keep your hands inside the ride at all times), we paused at the entrance to look for some pictographs made by Indians before non-Indians discovered the cave.  I found them on the right side of the entrance.  We then proceeded to walk down the switchbacks into the cave.  The steep switchbacks reminded me of Walters Wiggles at Zion National Park.

The Whale's Mouth

The cave is pretty impressive.   The one of the first named features we came to was the Whale's Mouth.  The drapery was pretty impressive.  I had to wonder about what the early explorers saw as they descended into the depths of the cavern.  They had to deal with only the lights on their helmets or torches and must have had a much different experience than the average tourist does today. 

We passed a lot more formations, many of which were just difficult to photograph.  We also saw some wooden stairs that were used for tours before the modern path was installed.  It's a steep, steep path.  No strollers or wheelchairs are allowed down the natural entrance.  I felt like I needed a wheelchair almost.  I gingerly continued onward- my knees complaining for most of the way.  We passed a few intrepid individuals climbing out the natural entrance. 

Overall it's a 750 foot descent to the bottom.  The cave is deeper than that, but they don't do tours there.   The elevator ride takes over a minute, and is guaranteed to make your ears pop from the pressure differential.  We finally made it to the end of the descent.  The kids were tired and needed a break, so we took the elevator up to the top for a snack and some daylight. 

 After lunch, we went back inside and showed our tickets to the ranger operating the elevator and she let us back in via an elevator ride back down to the bottom.  Keep your ticket!  Don't throw it away if you want to take the elevator up and down!  If you've got young kids, definitely keep your tickets! 

Back down at the bottom, we left the elevator lobby, snack bar, and restrooms for a walk through the highly decorated cave. 

The cave is amazing!  There are decorations everywhere!  Most of them are dry/dormant/dead.  But the cave scientists are hopeful, so dead ones are not completely dead and are just dormant. 

I tried taking good pictures, and got a few that are decent, but they are all completely inadequate for conveying how awesome the cave is.  One of the rangers said that the least crowded time at Carlsbad Caverns National Park is between New Years and mid-February.  I think it would be a bit easier to take some stellar shots when there aren't as many people around. 

 One of the most photographed features in the cave is the Totem Pole. 

We also saw an old rope ladder descending into the pit leading to the lowest levels of the cave.  Nearby in the big room there was another rope- this one hanging from the ceiling.  The single rope hanging from the ceiling was used to discover new passages located at a previously inaccessible area of the cave.

More stalactites and columns.  Amazing stuff.  The cave is pretty temperature stable, so a light jacket is desirable for some people.  I did fine without one though. 

These draperies are not lit by the tour lights, but they caught my eye.  It is amazing that these are stone instead of cloth!  Overall, I thought the lighting at Carlsbad was very tastefully done.   The early explorers must have had a very different experience then we did.  I felt a little envious of them, but at the same time thought that I probably got a better overall view of the cave since they only had the light from their carbide lamps to go off of.  As we neared the end of loop the kids were again tired, so even  though I could have stayed until we got kicked out, we trudged to the elevators and the 1 minute ride to daylight.

The Visitor Center has a model showing the cave and the route of the tours.  The visitor center is shown at the top, and the elevators are shown with a clear plastic tube.  Tour routes are shown by the black lines. 

I was blown away by Carlsbad Caverns.  They are absolutely worth visiting.  We spent just over half a day and could have spent longer.  But half a day is about all that a 4 year old could take (walking the whole way on her own), so I was content with that.  If you're contemplating visiting Carlsbad Caverns- make it happen.  Do it. 

Nearest City: Carlsbad, NM
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 1/2 day plus!
Difficulty: varies.  Natural entrance- strenuous.  Elevator route- easy
Kid Friendly: Yes
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Visiting the Unvisited Prehistoric Trackways National Monument

While I was planning our quick trip out to Las Cruces,  I stumbled upon something that mentioned Prehistoric Trackways National Monument.  Hmm.  I'd never heard of Prehistoric Trackways National Monument, so I pulled up NPS.gov and it didn't show up on the map.  Interesting.  Further searching did pull up a website on the BLM server for Prehistoric Trackways National Monument.  The NPS website does mention it on a National Fossil Day page leaves me to believe that the monument is managed by the Bureau of Land Management instead of the National Park Service.  Regardless of who manages it, it sounded like a place right up my alley.  Unique, interesting, worth visiting, not lots of people, and throw in a little hiking to boot.  I bookmarked it for a visit. 

We dragged in to Las Cruces about 7:30 at night and swung by the local KOA to check on accommodations there.  They wanted $30 and change just for us to pitch our tent for the night.  No thanks!  I might be crazy, but I'm not that crazy.  We punched in the coordinates to the monument to see what we could find there.  Sure enough, there were a few primitive sites on the side of a dirt road, but it sure beats shelling out $30 just for  a campsite.  And it had the added bonus of being closer to where we wanted to explore.  We pitched the tent, set up our bedding and crashed out.  We weren't even bothered by the half dozen travel trailers from Texas down the road that were watching a football game on the side of one of their rigs. 

The next morning, we got up, ate a quick breakfast, then set off to find the rumored dinosaur footprints.  The trail led straight up the mountain, over the top, and down the other side.  A short way down the far side of the mountain, the trail dropped to the west into a drainage, then downstream a hundred yards or so to the quarry.   It was well signed, so we had no problem finding the site. 

Apparently a local Las Cruces resident named Jerry MacDonald was out looking for dinosaurs and discovered the trackway site in 1987.  He didn't know it at the time, but what he'd found was the best and most complete trackway site in the world.  They're technically not dinosaur footprints since they are Paleozoic, but to a 4 year old a pre-dinosaur is the same thing as a dinosaur.  Our kids thought they were pretty cool and wondered how they got there.  The tracks aren't big, the biggest ones we saw were about the size of a small dog footprint, and numerous being mouse-sized footprints.

There's also a rock with some plant imprints in it. 

This is probably the most defined print I found.  One of the unique things about the site is it contains the imprints and trace fossils of both land and sea creatures.  I wasn't quite sure what the sea creature tracks looked like, so I didn't find any.  Many of the tracks are now in Albuquerque at the museum at the University of New Mexico.  I'm sure they are in better shape and more defined than the ones we saw in the wild were.   

Here's a picture of the quarry.  Not much other than a bare spot in the hillside, but it's the little things that count here! 

We also found several marine fossils in the rocks and limestone along the way.  Remember- no collecting either the fossils or the tracks!  Only take pictures!  This is definitely the most unknown and least visited national monument I've ever been to.  It's minutes from a city of 100,000 people, but yet it's off of a dirt road with no visitor center, no restrooms, and only a few interpretive signs.  It makes more sense if you understand that the purpose of national monuments is to protect and preserve, while the purpose of national parks is to expose to the masses.


Nearest City: Las Cruces, NM
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 3+  hours
Difficulty: Moderate
Kid Friendly: So-so.  If they can get to the end of the hike they'd like it, but the hike is several miles round trip
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Sledding at White Sands National Monument

Ahh early January after the rush of the Holidays has died down.  That wonderful time of  year when you've been cooped inside long enough that you ultimately decide to brave the cold and snow to get back outside and enjoy nature once again.  We took a trip to Las Cruces to meet up with family who were in the area for a music competition at New Mexico State University.  They decided to travel with us out to White Sands and see what was happening out there.  We had a blast.  When most of the country was being hammered by a polar vortex, we were sledding in white stuff without even a jacket on. 

The crazy cool thing about White Sands is that the gypsum sand really does look like snowdrifts, and even the damp sand looks like dirty snow would.  But when you stoop down and grab a handful, it's not cold at all.   The dunes make for some pretty fun sledding, and they sell sleds at the visitor center, and then buy them back at a steep markdown.  The sleds go a bit faster if you rub the bottom with wax every couple of times down the sled run.  It's pretty fun- you're sledding, but you're not cold!  My mind kept telling me it was snow, but I knew better at the same time.  It's really unreal! 

The sands are made of gypsum which has weathered out of the surrounding mountains.  It was deposited into a lakebed which has no natural outlet to the sea, so once the water evaporates, the gypsum, which is water soluble, is left behind.  It's the largest gypsum dunefield in the world, and if the are drained to an ocean it wouldn't be here at all. 

I enjoyed taking pictures of the dunes.  Doesn't it look like snow?!   Admission is $6/vehicle to come to "New Mexico's beach".  There are a few backcountry campsites if you are interested in camping for a small fee.  I probably wouldn't recommend doing it during a full moon though because it would be so bright.  We had a blast and ultimately had to leave because of nightfall and the closing of the park.  We needed more time. 

One final story.  Check out on the National Park Service website the story about why alcohol is prohibited several months of the year here.  It's quite a humorous read. 

Nearest City: Alamogordo, NM
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: Half a day was too short
Difficulty: easy
Kid Friendly: Yes- very
Additional Info:

The Interrogation at Pancho Villa State Park

 

I remember reading one of those "Choose Your Own Adventure" stories as a kid about Pancho Villa.  Then about that same time I learned in a history class that Pancho Villa's invasion of Columbus, New Mexico was the last land invasion of the United States.  The crazy thing was that I never thought I'd be able to visit Columbus and learn more about the best thing to ever happen to the town.  I know that sounds crazy, advocating that an attack by a bunch of Mexicans was the best thing to ever happen to Columbus.  But it was.  If it wasn't for Pancho Villa and his crazy crowd of desperados, Columbus wouldn't have a State Park, it wouldn't be written about in a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book, and it wouldn't even be mentioned in pretty much every history book on the United States.  Think about the last small town you drove through.  Did it have any of that stuff?  I rest my case. 

Columbus is still a small sleepy town.  The museum at the state park is pretty cool.  I'm glad we visited.  We learned how Pancho Villa got chased all over Mexico by the US Army, but that he basically didn't get the spanking he deserved.  The US Army in the meantime used automobiles for the first time in a situation of war, used mules and pack animals as well (for essentially the last time), used airplanes, and learned a whole lot of stuff about supply chains and other capabilities that would come in handy a few years later when they entered World War 1 to save the French and give the spanking for Pancho Villa to Otto Von Bismark.  So if you get the chance, go to Pancho Villa State Park.  And remember that you really do get to choose your own adventures. 

Oh, about the interrogation.  You will have to go through a Boarder Patrol Checkpoint when heading north from Columbus.  I've been through various checkpoints dozens of times, but I must have looked suspicious or caught one particular agent on a bad day, or maybe it was slow and he needed someone to talk to, because he asked me tons and tons of questions. My answers went something like this "Yes, those are my children.  Yes, I do live in Arizona.  Good to see you saw my plates.  Oh, my Utah drivers license.  Yeah, we recently moved, but I haven't had the chance to get a new one.  Yes, I am a Mormon.  No, I am not a Mormon Librarian.  What's the concern about Mormon Librarians?  Nope, I am not a Mormon Librarian.  Did I mention that we (Mormons) believe in obeying the laws of the land.   Yes, those are my kids.  But they don't have drivers licenses....Well, have a good day sir!"  Eventually he waved me on through, leaving me somewhat confused about went on in that interrogation.  Now do you know what a Mormon Librarian is?  I'm still confused.

Nearest City: Columbus, New Mexico
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 1- 1.5 hours for the museum, more for the checkpoint going north.
Difficulty: easy
Kid Friendly: so-so (museums can be hard for kids)
Additional Info:

Digging Around at Rockhound State Park

While on our New Mexico trip, we stopped at Rockhound State Park near Deming.  We had read about it and thought that it sounded fun to go see, and dig up some cool rocks.  We arrived, toured the small visitor center, then set out to see what we could find.   I can't say I was that impressed with Rockhound State Park.  The best areas have already been picked over for years, leaving behind areas that take some serious digging to get to anything good.  Your best bet might be looking around one of several rockshops in the area. 

We climbed a hillside, found several small and lower quality rocks and pieces, and basically had the whole place to ourselves.  If you're looking for a place to take the kids, I can't recommend Rockhound State Park.  But if you are in the area, driving to the Spring Canyon State Park (better described as a sub area of Rockhound), a few miles south of the main park you will have the chance (slim, but still a chance) to see a wild ibex, which were released into the Florida Mountains, which are similar to their native range in Southwest Asia.  We didn't see any.

Nearest City: Deming, New Mexico
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: A lot or not much.  There's not much in between though.
Difficulty: Varies
Kid Friendly: Not like we had hoped.
Additional Info:

Mogollon, New Mexico

Sometimes the unplanned adventure or detour leads to amazing places.  Mogollon was one of those unplanned treasures that we found when on our New Mexico trip.  We'd come back to visit the Catwalk Trail, but it was too late to go hiking, and after we'd set up camp we looked at the map and decided to see what was at Mogollon. 

Mogollon is an old mining town that is essentially a ghost town now.  There are a few old time residents and a few newcomers who've spent quite a bit of money fixing up some of the old miners shacks.  It's a paved road up from Glenwood to get here, but it's narrow, curvy, and quite steep in some spots.  The signs say not to drive it after dark, and it's easy to see why.  Nevertheless, it's a great place that is entirely worth visiting. 

There are lots of buildings still standing, although quite a few others have fallen down and are being reclaimed by the forest.  Here's the old General Store.

An old gas station, complete with pumps is a bit further up the canyon. 

We took the road to the cemetery to get this picture looking down on Main Street.  It's amazing how much is still here! 

We also saw numerous old mines in the area.  Some were posted, others like this one were not.  We spent less than an hour at Mogollon, but I really wish I'd had more time here.  There's lots to see, and even more if one would get out of the car. 

Nearest City: Mogollon, New Mexico
Location: N° W°
Time Needed:
Difficulty:
Kid Friendly:
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Return to Nature: The Catwalk National Recreation Trail

One of the trip highlights and disappointments from our New Mexico vacation was the Catwalk Recreation Trail.  We stopped by on the first day of the trip, but the Catwalk was closed for repairs, scheduled to open the following day.  We wandered up the trail as far as they let us, to the Catwalk itself, but then had to stop and turn around, tantalized by the view above.  As we drove away, we wondered about what we were missing.  We decided there and then that we'd come back later on if time permitted. 

As fate would have it, we had planned more time at Gila Cliff Dwellings then we really needed, which bumped up the rest of our schedule.  We came back to see what was beyond the next bend.   The Catwalk was built on supports built to support a mine flume which brought water to a mine.  It's wedged in a slot canyon, about 20 feet above Whitewater Creek.  The hike to the Catwalk is easy and accessible for most people.  The part of the hike beyond the Catwalk is in the process of being demolished to restore it to its natural state.  We climbed down to the creek, then made our own trail from that point forward. 

There were several waterfalls, swimming pools, and portions of trail remaining.  All of the bridges had been removed, including a suspension bridge, which left me disappointed.  It had looked pretty amazing in the pictures I had seen! I'm not sure if the area was being "restored" due to environmentalist or environmental impacts and the cost of upkeep.

 Another waterfall with a fantastic swimming pool when the water is warmer.

There were several stretches of a wooded canyon with the creek down it.  Again, very beautiful and peaceful!  I was glad we had come back, and even more glad that we'd come early to have the canyon nearly to ourselves.  When we made it back to the trailhead at lunchtime, it was crowded with several large groups and countless hikers.

We enjoyed the creek toward the top of the canyon, right before where the suspension bridge had been removed.  The missing suspension bridge stopped our progress up the canyon, so we took some time to splash and play as we hiked back downstream.

Since our visit in May 2013, I've heard that the Catwalk has once again been closed due to flashfloods destroying the areas infrastructure. 

Nearest City: Glenwood, New Mexico
Location: 5 miles NE of Glenwood N° W°
Time Needed: 3+ hours
Difficulty: Moderate
Kid Friendly: big kid friendly, with adult help
Additional Info: