01/15/2023 to 01/16/2023
Well, it's January and we want to go do something so New Mexico is our favorite place to head for an easy trip of things to see.
We thought we would do some old "ghost towns" along some nice dirt roads, as we have done so often.
Woops! Seems all these ghost towns are now occupied again, and the roads are paved. Civilization. Bummer.
But we made the best of it. We drove along the Geronimo Trail - not much to see on the southern portion and the weather the first day was horrible.
The next day we did the northern portion of the loop - a bit better weather and at least some interesting places to see.
As always even if our plans were thwarted, we had a really nice time just driving around.
The weather is really rainy, overcast and very cold, but we're driving mostly so no worries.
We did the Southern portion of the Geronimo Loop today hoping for dirt roads and old buildings.
Nope, all paved. The first few places were more populated, so we just drove along admiring the scenery.
So we contented ouselves with a nice drive and some shots of local color.
Just a very impressive gorge
As you can see, the weather was not very good.
Why shots of cows? Well, we kept seeing "cattle crossing" signs but no cattle until now
So proof in advertising, or warnings anyway
And they were sort of cute.
Driving around you see some very interesting things. I've no idea why these foks put up a statue of liberty
Or why we need to watch for kangaroos.
Deer - always good to have wildlife sightings
And one has the beginnings of good rack - well maybe in later years.
Today we managed to at least find some places of interest, even if they are not ghost towns.
Our first town was Cuchillo - well not really a town to speak of but we did get a couple interesting pics.
Next we drove to Chloride, which is actually on National Forest Land. Not big by any means but probably fun in warmer weather.
Next we planned to drive over to mountain pass to Beaverhead but it was snowing.
Now, we probably could have made it over and back just fine, but we decided to err on the side of not making headlines as that old couple lost in sub-zero weather on a pass they should not have been on. Especially since no cell service.
As always, we have backup plans so we went to Fort Craig which was a key outpost in the Indian Wars as well as in the Civil War.
Cuchillo - well the most important building anyway, and about the only one
However there was this guy - strange.
And welcoming signs from residents.
Goats, yes a pen of cute goats guarded by a couple Great Pyranese
Next town is Chloride - an old mining town. It once boasted 9 saloons
Just one of the buildings
Grafton Cabin
An old tractor
The Museum.
Monte Cristo - gift shop. Formerly a saloon
More interesting things from days gone by
On to Beaverhead. The clouds got greyer and lower as did the temps and wet stuff started falling
Several more miles up the pass we started seeing snow, and it just kept sowing
Not long after it looked like this
And a bit farther up we pulled into a rest stop.
There was almost 4 inches on the ground and we were ony half way up the pass. So we turned back.
Fort Craig
The parade grounds and of course the mast for the flag
Some of the building remains
Some of the fortifications
