This morning Noelle and I packed up our camping gear for the long drive to Las Cruces and my favorite mountain range in New Mexico: the rugged Organ Mountains. The morning started out drizzly in Carlsbad, but by the time we made it to the small, depressing town of Hope the clouds started to lift. We rode in sunshine up to Cloudcroft but found ourselves back in the clouds by the time we got to Alamogordo.
The weather got interesting once we hit Alamogordo. First there was a huge dust storm. Then the rain and hail started. This was not the way I had envisioned our trip starting. We stopped at Taco Bell for lunch and to wait out the storm and then got back on the road in a drizzle headed for Las Cruces. Once we got into Cruces the rain started to come down again. There was also some thunder and lightening. We decided to drive to the Soledad Canyon trail head anyway. We waited in the parking lot for a bit and then the rain started to lift and we hit the trail in a light drizzle.
The Bar Canyon Trail was a pleasant hike. Even the light drizzle added to the ambiance. How often to we really get to hike in the rain in southern New Mexico? We hiked past Chimney Rock and then to an old road that led us back to the parking lot.
From the parking lot we made our way along the west side of the Organ Mountains escarpment to US 70 and then to Aguirre Springs Recreation area which will be our base camp for the next few days.
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