Guadalupe Mountains National Park: Nipple Hill

My 36th birthday. I spent the day with friends hiking in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. I was talking to a friend at work and he mentioned a rock art site in the park that I had never heard of before. The area in which this rock art site is located happens to be near Nipple Hill which is another part of the park I've been wanting to explore for some time. And so, this morning Robby, Lee and I set out in Robby's car for Guadalupe Mountains National Park and the Frijole Ranch trailhead.

We arrived to find the road to Frijole Ranch closed and so we parked at the horse corral and hiked the road to the Smith Spring Trail.

We made fast time up to the spring and shortly after left the trail to find the rock art.

It was a steep climb, but eventually we found some rock shelters and the location of the pictographs.

The rock art was faded but interesting.

After a short time at the site, we headed back down to the trail and on to Manzanita Spring.

From the springs we backtracked a bit on the trail and then headed cross-country towards Nipple Hill.

The hill was less imposing than it had originally seemed and we made a quick ascent of it.

We spent some time surveying our surroundings from the top and then headed down towards highway 62/180.

Once we arrived close to the modern highway we found the old, abandoned road-bed and followed it back to Robby's car at the Frijole Ranch road.

It was a great way to spend a birthday!

Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park

This morning Noelle, Sierra, Parker and I checked out of our hotel room and headed into Mesilla for one more outdoor adventure before we headed back to Carlsbad. We headed to New Mexico's newest state park: Mesilla Valley Bosque. Unfortunately, when we arrived we found that Parker is not allowed on the trails. We left him in the car on this cold morning

and then headed out for the trail.

There are really only two short trails in the park and we hiked them both. Both traverse areas along the Rio Grande that were once infested with tamarisk and have been mostly restored. The Rio Grande and the man-made ponds in the park were all very dry, so we didn't see any wading birds. We did see a flicker, some Gambel's quail, a harrier and some white-crowned sparrows.

Besides a few birds we got some great views of the distant Organ Mountains.

From our hike we headed over to Mesilla Plaza and the famous La Posta restaurant for lunch. The restaurant is interesting in that they keep some exotic birds like macaws and toucan, and some fish like piranhas as well. The decor is vibrant and the food decent as well.

Tortugas Mountain

After the morning hike, some shopping, and lunch. Noelle, Sierra, Parker and I were ready for some hiking. We drove to the trailhead for Tortugas or "A Mountian" as it's known to the locals. Tortugas is a low hill on the eastern edge of Las Cruces that is also called "A" mountain because there is a large white letter A emblazoned on its side. The "A" is for Aggies, in honor of New Mexico State University which calls Las Cruces home.

From the trailhead the trail we decided to take (there are user trails all over the mountain) headed steeply up the west side of the mountain.

There were lots of other hikers out on this cold, clear day. Were they taking advantage of the sunny weather, or getting a start on their New Year's resolutions? Soon the tower on the summit was visible and a little later we could also see a building on top.

When we arrived at the summit we learned that the building is NMSU's Observatory.

Also on the summit were a grotto shrine, and an outdoor church area.

There were great views of the nearby Organ Mountains

and Noelle took my picture with the Organs in the background.

I then took one of her and Sierra.

After a short time looking around on the summit, we decided to head down.

We took a different trail for the descent. There were lots of great views of Las Cruces and some of the distant mountain ranges.

Before we knew it we were back at the parking area ready to return to the hotel and relax. It was a good start to 2013!

Picacho Peak

We didn't even make it to 11 last night. I let Noelle and Sierra sleep in this morning while Parker and I headed out to hit the trail. Our first hike of 2013 would be to the summit of Picacho Peak. The peak is located on BLM lands to the west of Las Cruces. The directions I got off the BLM website were easy to follow and before I knew it we were at the trailhead.

The trail began by heading down into a wash. Eventually we headed back out and soon found a very wide trail, that I assume may have been a road to a mine at one time.

Once the road ended the trail was much more faint, but still easy to follow. We hiked the switchbacks up to a small saddle where we rested for a short time and admired the view of the surrounding badlands.

When we resumed our hike we were on the homestretch. The mountain ended up being easier to ascend than I had figured. I guess the fact that there are no trees on its slopes means that there isn't anything to give it a sense of scale.

Parker and I soon stood on the summit. Perhaps we are the first person

and dog

to stand on top of Picacho for 2013. A trail-runner made his way up shortly after us. We relaxed up there for a bit and I looked for a register but couldn't find one. Soon it was time to head down. The descent went even faster than the ascent and we were back at the car in no time at all. Picacho was a fun, easy peak and about 3 miles round-trip.

New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum

This morning Noelle and I packed up the car and then the whole family loaded up and we hit the road, due west for Las Cruces. We made pretty good time considering we had a dog and an infant baby. We stopped for lunch and gas in El Paso and made it to the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum by 2.

At the entrance to the museum we were greeted by a pair of great horned owls.

They have apparently taken up residence in the rafters above the entrance.

Once in the museum our first stop at the was the outdoor area where there were lots of different animals. We saw some goats,

horses,

sheep,

burros, and cows.

We even got to see a cow milking demonstration.

I think Sierra really enjoyed the milking demo.

After touring the outdoor areas we headed back across a bridge to the indoor exhibits.

My favorite was an exhibit about New Mexico's centennial which featured, among other things, a display of every single license plate New Mexico has used. There was another exhibit about the history of farming and ranching in New Mexico, and yet another about John Deere tractors.

We enjoyed our visit to the museum. Sierra enjoyed it so much that it really tired her out.

After touring the museum we checked into our hotel and then headed out for dinner at High Desert Brewing.

Merry Christmas from the Grunwalds!