Day 5 - To Caballo State Park

Thursday - Day 5: 

I woke up around 4:30 am and drove to the showers. I was already packed up and ready to pull out at first light. I realized I'd lost my coffee filter and had to return to the campsite, where I found it lying in the dirt next to a big rock. 

Today I had two choices in getting to Truth or Consequences; 1) Hwy 180 to Deming, then I10 to Las Cruces then I25 up to TorC (120 miles and 1.5 hours), or 2) Hwy 180 to Hwy 61 to Hwy 152. (80 miles and 2 hours).  I took the short distance/longer time drive and was glad I did. I really enjoyed the drive. It took me up to Emory Pass,  8228 ft elevation and a bit of snow, then back down into Hillsboro, a quirky tiny town, and dropped me off right at Caballo, with the State Park just 3 minutes to the right.  My GPS, by the way gave me WRONG directions, telling me to turn LEFT.  I just happened to see a road sign telling me to go RIGHT. 

Highlights of the trip included seeing 2 separate herds of deer, a flock of wild turkeys, and a hawk trying to lift a rabbit as big as itself! Also, somewhere between mile marker 25-27 PAY ATTENTION and go very slow because it's like you pass into the twilight zone, as you suddenly find yourself on a drop-dead gorgeous road between two steep rocky cliffs - mind blowing! It all happened so fast! I should have stopped, but my phone photos wouldn't have done it justice. It's one of those things you have to see for yourself.

Here are some photos of my drive:

These deer weren't afraid at all. They just moseyed off the road and stared at me! 

The highest point of the drive.

On the drive up, I was surprised at all the DEAD pine trees to my right.

I wondered what killed them all? 

Was it a fire?

Disease?

Pests?

A shame, whatever it was, but it does look like the forest is coming back.

View at the top of the pass was incredible. I wish my iPhone took better photos

I thought this was a red candle in a niche. About 30 feet up a cliff!
Turned out to be a piece of red plastic that had blown into the crevice!  

This was a pretty cool piece of old road. So NARROW!

The black dots are cows! These rocks are HUGE!

Temp at the summit

Temp 1/2 hour later

 I stopped at a tiny pull out park to have breakfast on the way down the mountain and was pleasantly surprised by this large flock of wild turkeys. They weren't frightened by me either, and just slowly pecked their way down the stream, having THEIR breakfast!

I passed through a sweet little town called Hillsboro. It was like going back in time. I had to stop to take a photo of this gas pump. We had one just like it when I was growing up to gas up our tractors and trucks on the ranch.

This was a very artsy little town

The Enchanted Tree B&B.
I probably wouldn't want to stay here!

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I thought I might stay at Caballo State Park, but after driving into it, I decided the camps were too close together. Instead, I chose to drive another couple of miles into Percha Dam State Park. I kept driving back, back, back, and ended up at the very end of the road, RIGHT on the river. Beautiful spot with plenty of space between camps. Picnic Table, barbecue and a fire ring, though I won't use any of those in this high wind.

I did have to dig out the stove this afternoon and cooked up some burger that had to be used. I made taco meat, putting the leftovers in a freezer bag for tomorrow. They sure were good!

I will stay the night here, then went to TorC early in the morning to get coffee and see the village. I have no desire for hot tubbing, so will probably head back down toward Las Cruces tomorrow and maybe even try to make it to White Sands.

I'm feeling like I'm eating right and losing a bit of weight. Walking has been painful as I've developed something weird in the middle of my right foot pad, right behind my middle toe. I've been massaging it, but it hurts when I walk, which sucks big time. Hopefully somewhere along the way, I'll find a practitioner who deals with hurt feet.

Guess that's all for now.

Happy Trails!

Annie