Gila National Forest

Thursday March 14

A refreshing and almost drastic change from the desert...

Windy roads, snow patches on the shady mountain sides, quite a few bicyclists, names like Little Cherry Creek, small waterfalls trickling in bubbling brooks, towering Ponderosa pines, a large flock of wild turkeys, steep rock faces, dilapidated shacks, 4 wheeler trails, filtered sunlight... all this and more at Gila Wilderness, New Mexico! 

Robert's Lake

We left City of Rocks at 9:15 am and drove up 61 along the Mimbres River. We passed 2 elk road signs and 1 deer sign. Annie spotted a small herd of mule deer does on the hillside. Shannon spied 7 or 8 javelinas grazing in the lower pasture side of the road. A little over 2 hours later we arrived at destination Gila Cliff Dwellings. We ate a quick lunch at the trail head picnic tables, where an Apache outfitter casually gave us some oral history while he was waiting on his group to come back. Then we walked up the steep trail to catch the 1 o'clock guided tour. 

We made it up the trail in 15 minutes, rather than 30, so waited in the shade.

Park ranger George explained how the Indians carried
a million gallons of water up the gorge to build their pueblos

sooty, black ceilings from campfires in this large cave

a neat bridge over Gila River at the beginning/end of the cliff trail

Then to the Trail of the Past to view several petroglyphs & a single Mogollon family dwelling.  

pointing out the petroglyphs...a man, bird's claw, and x

Cora wanted to take a picture...

the red on the rock are various Indian picture stories

Annie & Caroline completed the junior ranger program here, so back to the visitor's center to receive their badges

. 

Up and down and around curving through Gila National Forest south on I5, this time to Silver City. 

Shannon side tripped us through town to inquire about & get a closer look at the 5 mile pipeline that ran from the copper mine at the top of the mountain to Chino operations in Hurley. 16" pipe on one side, train tracks on the other...

The sun was setting as we arrived back at the RV parked at City of Rocks.

City of Rocks State Park

We overnighted at a nice, quiet rest area. Riley & Annie found a spot to tie a badminton line/net. 

After some quick schoolwork, we drove about 10 miles to another state park, City of Rocks. 

filling out yet another camp permit

a nice hands-on table in the visitor's center

The children set out exploring right away. This was a phenomenal natural playground, great for the imagination!

some relaxed while others exerted

In the evening we all ventured up a 2 mile trail to an observation point. 

A couple children who were staying all week
with their grandparents during spring break joined us.

the lookout view over
City of Rocks plopped in NM desert

our new friends

Then the children showed us the areas they had played in all day.

so many crevices to climb in

hideouts or clubhouses

Riley scaling the rock, not to be outdone by Daddy

Success! Riley reached his goal!

this picnic table was behind our motor home (in previous pic)

Annie fixed BLTs for supper

 This place rated super high on our children's trip highlight list. They would've stayed longer!

Rockhound State Park

Just a few miles southeast of Deming, NM we spent a night and day at Rockhound State Park. This is one place that allows you to actually take and keep any pretty rocks you may find. Up to 15 pounds! There has been many thundereggs found here...ordinary roundish looking rocks that, when cut in half & polished have beautiful sparkling gem geodes inside. 

Our rock collector enthusiast. Her favorites are the sparklies & clear quartz.
She didn't like the floss around her tooth, so she pulled it with pliers instead!

Up close of her pretties. The yellow pineapple thing is a bloom off a barrel cactus

We arrived at dusk, ate supper, showered (at more timer showers-argh), and went to bed. In the morning Shannon mounted & wired our new solar panels to reduce generator use and allow us to dry camp (otherwise known as boondock) longer.

cool mornings and evenings

We took a short hike behind our campsite up the Florida Mountains. Barren, desert, dry, hot. But the rocks were a little more colorful here than in other desert regions.

One of the bigger barrel cactus we had seen

Jasper Trail

Our campsite- down below- on the left. 
It's hard to escape the sun...can't imagine  how summertime would be!

After dumping and filling fresh water tanks in the RV, we stopped at the visitor's center on the way out. It had some impressive, colorful life-size pictures and displays. Annie picked up a brochure titled Desert Grocery Store. It explained how the Native Americans used the cactus as food & medicine...hot cereal, tea, oil, syrup, soap, & more. 

There are ibex living here, but we didn't see any. In fact we didn't see much of any wildlife, except an elusive lizard. We were again very close to Mexico!

Las Cruces, New Mexico

one table of the Sunday dinner crew

Sunday morning March 10,  Shannon punched in 'churches' on the GPS. We scrolled through them and chose Grace Bible Church...Go! It was only 1.7 miles from the Walmart we were at. Good thing, because we remembered time change with barely enough time to spare! A small group meeting in a little shopping plaza, we drove right past because we were looking for a specific building. Such a friendly gathering! This was a special service where a chiropractor dad and his son shared about their recent mission trip to India. I visited with his wife in the nursery. Our little girlies were born 4 days apart! They invited us to their home for dinner. What a pleasant afternoon! Six of their children entertained our family well as we adults got better acquainted. We were truly blessed by hearing this homeschooling family's life -so far- journey! They live in the valley surrounded by pecan orchards with 51 trees of their own. Guess what they gifted us with before we left? Yay for more yummy nuts! Double yay for God's sweet refreshment and provision!!

Shannon treated us to pancakes for breakfast!

lunch of grilled cheese and fruit salad with pecans

Monday Shannon made an appointment to have the RV aligned as the tires were wearing funny on the front. We went to the laundromat & consignment shop & park & Tractor Supply while waiting.

leaving Las Cruces (picture taken out of the back of the motorhome)

Returned to the road after 5pm and drove about 50 miles to Rockhound State Park (after passing through another border patrol check station).

White Sands National Monument...by Annie

We got to White Sands National Monument around 10:00 a.m. We went inside the visitors center. Us 3 older children did the activity book to become a ranger and got a badge and patch saying that we were Junior Rangers at White Sands National Monument. It was very fun and simple to become a Junior Ranger. 

hot chocolate from friends was perfect on this chilly windy day

Then we went and played in the 'White Sands' for awhile. It looks like snow but isn't quite as soft as snow is!!

Mineral gypsum turns into selenite crystal. The sand is made from selenite crystals. The crystal at first is very skinny and tall, then it gets grainy, and then it is very fine. The wind blows and blows the crystal until it becomes fine. It is not quite as thin, soft, and fine as snow. The wind shapes it into mountains. It is very tricky to climb up because when you start climbing the sand starts rolling, tumbling,  and falling down. When it's really windy and you are trying to climb up you start to get sand in your face, hair, and clothes. Us 3 older children liked to run and then jump down the mountain into the snow! Riley would actually leap. I didn't quite leap. I was too scared I was going to hit the van at the bottom of the hill. 

The sand was pretty to look at and fun to play in! :)