Alamogordo & Silver City, NM - Oct 24.25, & 29

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Geo: 32.8992, -105.96

Our visit to Southwestern New Mexico first included two nights in Alamogordo where we hiked a bit near the little village of Cloudcroft, then the Dog Canyon trail in the Oliver Lee State Park, and, at the end of a busy day, took a ranger led walk over the dunes in White Sands National Monument.

Then, after we had traveled to Southeastern Arizona (see next page) we drove to Silver City where we did a little bit of hiking in an old abandoned mining area, called Boston Hills, that had been turned into a "green space". We stayed in an old hotel in the historic downtown area for one night before returning to El Paso on Friday and our flight home on Saturday.

I'll include pictures from both of these New Mexico areas below.

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Photos

Mexican Canyon Trestle
Part of the Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain Railway's line from Alamogordo to Cloudcroft. Built in 1899, the last train traveled over it in 1947.

Dog Canyon
Taken from the trail looking down the canyon.

Dog Canyon Trail
Going down the trail.

Dog Canyon
Another of the canyon from the trail.

Ruins of Frenchie's line cabin
Frenchie was a rancher and the original owner of the canyon and surrounding area. Oliver Lee owned some nearby land and wanted Frenchie's. One day Frenchie was found dead in this cabin and Oliver ended up with his land. Suspicious?

Another of the cabin ruins
Anne actually hiked another couple of tenths of a mile, and 200 feet down & back, to the ruins. I could see them fine from the side of the ridge,

White Sands National Monument
Sunset.

The Big Ditch
This used to be Silver City's Main Street until a flood washed it away and left this creek some 50 feet below the original street level.

Boston Hill "Green Space"
Numerous trails among the ruins of the old mining area.

Boston Hill "Green Space"
More mining ruins

Boston Hill "Green Space"
And one more.

The Palace Hotel
Our Room