Today was our last morning as a threesome. Holly had to get back on her three-hour drive home, stop in Carlsbad for groceries, and then get ready for her workweek. I had to do much of the same. We both were up again early for the last coffee; two hours later Nina got up and Holly said her good-byes and left. We plan on having another "all girls' retreat," but hope to invite more women we know. That way we can break out in multiple ability groups and hike different trails. And for those who simply enjoy hanging by a campfire, stay in camp and chill. I know Susan would have benefited from this weekend's retreat. Hopefully next time. The older I get, the more I appreciate the company of women.
Traffic was minimal on US82 in the late morning. I wandered around the camp area, photographing wildflowers. Red Texas thistle is still very much in bloom here, but at the 6800' elevation we camped at, am surprised to see so many Centaurea americana (American basketflower) more common to the Texas high plains (like Palo Duro State Park in the Panhandle). The few still in bloom were in the minority. This flower tends to prime out in July-August. The purple-white flowers add color to the green grass, but the tall grass overshadows the shorter stalks of these flowers. And thistle fascinate me with their geometric petals.
Zeke followed me all over camp while Nina was getting ready. It was breezy and overcast, a good day for more hiking and a pleasant day for a drive back home. There were many wildflowers hidden in the tall grass. I wandered around getting a full mile in those two hours I was alone. More people stopped by to use the vault toilet. One professional truck stopped by and two Hispanic men stepped out. One ran inside to use the toilet, the other one watched me by the pedestrian bridge, then tossed his white plastic bag into the creekbed below. That bag contained a breakfast burrito with eggs and sausage, which I retrieved to give to Zeke and then toss out. Zeke ate it all! I hate seeing people litter, and there was enough litter for me to pick up and toss out when I ran out of flowers to photograph.
We finally got going by 10:30. I asked Nina if she didn't mind stopping somewhere along the way for a short hike before hitting the hot desert basin. "Sure, a few miles would be fine!" she said. She had to be back in Sahuarita for an 8am maritial arts class and I didn't want her to be late for that.
Nina let me lead again, so I stopped on the west side of Cloudcroft, and turned off at the Switchback trail on the north side of the road on Baily Canyon Road, a forest road. This was the first trailhead we came to, This is another trail that belongs to the Trestle Recreation Trail. The name implies steep cuts in the trail, but it actually refers to what once was a railroad switchback for the trains coming up from Alamogordo. The trail takes a steep up ahill and then levels out near one of two shelters on this trail, with maps and general information. The grade is quite easy, and there is evidence all along the northern part of this 4.6-mile hike that trains once belched up and down this canyon. More benches for tired hikers provide for views of the canyon.
I intended to just hike a few miles of this, but we both ended up enjoying this trail so much, we did the entire thing. So much for Nina's martial arts class!
There are historical plaques along this trail explaining the history of the railroad here, with old photographs to show hikers what the area once looked like. The trail follows US82 for a little over a mile before it crosses the highway via a pedestrian bridge which was funded by the New Mexico Rails-to-Trails organization and dedicated to a local couple who lobbied for its construction. Without the bridge, this hike would have been much more dangerous, as US82 gets steady traffic.
Wind began picking up. I didn't wear a jacket today, nor a hat. The cool skies were refreshing enough. I carried my backpack with water for Zeke, which he drank from twice along the way. We never met another hiker on this hike, as was fine with me because I forgot the leash in the car. Zeke stayed by our sides. He lost his decorum only once, thanks to a red squirrel taunting him from a low tree branch.
Zeke was hesitant to walk across the bridge. A big semi had rolled underneath us, scaring him. We had to convince Zeke all was OK. He quickly reverted to his confident self once we were safely on terra firma. We were now officially off the old switchback and on the Old Cloudcroft Highway, a road that is open to ATVs and motorbikes. We were now lower than the highway and still next to it, but the noise was much less audible.
The trail now had a different character. It went from old railroad bed to forest road, with aspens reappearing. I was so happy to see aspens again!
The Old Cloudcroft Highway switchbacked once but was mostly linear, taking us back to US82 where we walked through a tunnel to the other side. Another quarter mile and we were back at our cars that were parked off the road.
The official length of this loop is 4.2 miles, but Nina's app said it was 4.6 miles. My phone's app wasn't
working properly (I discovered later that that was due to an outdated app that the sponsor, United Armor, was no longer updating) and only read 3.75 miles. I think Nina's app is more correct with the mileage because this hike took us 2:50 hours. Holly was already home when we finished this trail, a trail I know she and Doug would have enjoyed. I would do this trail again and add mileage to it by hiking the entire Old Cloudcroft Highway trail.
We were now ready to brace the desert heat. We left Cloudcroft at 70F. An hour later we were walking in white sands off the highway, in high winds, at 80F. And yes, we did the touristy thing and stopped along US70 to take selfies of ourselves. Nina even plopped down to make a sand angel, although the wind made sure any angels were quickly blown away.
Another car pulled up to take selfies in the white sand as we were ready to drive off. This place, three miles west of the park's entrance, is a popular place to stop and walk barefoot in the sand. The sand is very fine, yet the wind and recent rains had hardened the surface some.
Once we got our shoes on and hit the road, we didn't stop until we gassed up in Alamogordo, the cheapest town along the route for gas at $2.43 ($2.74 in Las Cruces and $2.58 in Lordsburg). We bypassed the Rio Grande because Zeke was tired. We didn't stop again until we were on the west side of Lordsburg. The Love's gas station there has a Subway shop that is known to have gluten-free bread, but they were out. Nina settled for a salad, I had a footlong chicken teriyaki sub. I intended to eat the leftover half at school the next day.
Our trip was now coming to an end. We crossed into Arizona just before sunset, stopped briefly at the Texas Canyon rest area to let Zeke walk and pee. He didn't pee, so we said our good-byes here as we continued on through Benson, where the city lights illuminated the desert sky. Nina continued west on I-10 while I turned south on SR90. I couldn't photograph Benson due to low light, but I did manage a sunset shot before hitting Benson, when the sliver moon added some mystic. We sure do live in a beautiful place, and what a great weekend it was.
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