This time we headed south to Rockhound State Park south of Deming, NM. If you are a rockhound you are allowed to take up to 15lbs of rock from the park. Maybe you’ll be lucky and find a gem. We were really surprised by this campground. The camp host, Orville, was doing a great job with the maintenance of this place as it’s extremely well manicured and clean. The park is located up on a hillside and offers some nice views of the Florida mountains and the city lights of Deming. We were able to enjoy a nice sunset, but left the cooking for inside as the wind was starting to pick up. The wind was howling all night and was breezy the next morning. Because of the winds we went over to Spring Canyon for a couple of hikes. We hoped that the canyon would shield us from some of the wind. Turned out to be a good plan, we did both the Lover’s Leap Trail and the Spring Canyon Trail. Spring Canyon is a small day use area that has a number of shaded picnic areas. Worn out from the hikes, we kicked back until Will’s cousins and his mom came to join us for the southern part of our trip. The wind had died down and it was a great evening to do a little stargazing.
Our roomy site 
Diablo watching the sunset
We were back in the heat the next morning. We hiked the couple of trails in the park which had some nice views of the cacti and the Florida Mountains. We also saw a couple of jackrabbits and a number of flocks of quail. Got all packed up as we were moving to the City of Rocks State Park. On the way, we made a stop at the DH Lecombes Winery as it was right on the way. It was a nice and relaxing afternoon as we enjoyed some wine and lunch outside on their gorgeous grounds. We spotted one of our fellow campers from Rockhound and enjoyed meeting his poodle, Henry, who is a great motorcycle co-pilot on the man’s Harley.
The City of Rocks State Park is one of those parks that everyone we spoke with said we should visit. We did enjoy it. The area around the park is flat with nothing of interest until you drive up and see these huge boulders and wonder how they got there. They were the result of a volcanic explosion 34.9 million years ago in the age of the super volcanos. It was another great night to sit outside and enjoy the starts. We also met our neighbors, a really nice family from Brazil that has been residing in NM for the past couple of years. Ricardo, who is 4, didn’t know English when he came to the States, but has picked it up like wildfire. We offered both the kids popcorn and got to learn about some of the Brazilian culture and what we should see when we go to visit.
The next morning we all went hiking around the park and enjoyed checking out the rocks. We left Will’s mom and Stella on the park road as we continued on to hike the Hydra Trail. Got back to the site and no one was there. Sure enough, I called Will’s mom and they had gotten lost in the campground. This was the second time we had left them on their own in the campground and the second time they got lost and didn’t make it back to the site. Really, we couldn’t believe it. We decided just to kickback at the campsite enjoy the day. Ricardo took it upon himself to come on over for a visit with his younger sister. He seemed to really enjoy talking to us while his parents were packing up camp. It was only his second night ever camping, but he was making sure he had the full camping experience making s’mores, and getting a new sleeping bag and camp chair. We went to the park’s official observation point that night and caught another great sunset.
Will and I got up the the next morning and did the hike up Table Mountain. Then it was time to pack up and head out to Silver City, NM. We got to our spot and setup. We decided to try and go out to eat. We ended up at Revel and everyone enjoyed their food. It’s a nice place in the historic downtown area. And since we walked right by the Ice Cream Emporium, we stopped in for dessert. Needless to say, we were stuffed. The homemade ice cream was excellent.
Another beautiful fall day found us heading to the Catwalk Recreation Area. This is a mile long trail on a series of elevated walkways through a gorge. This trail was partially rebuilt fairly recently as the catwalk was washed away when the area flooded in 2012. Everyone really enjoyed the trail. We all agreed it was worth the drive from Silver City and since we had the National Annual park pass, we didn’t even have to pay the $3 per vehicle fee.
Stairs from the old catwalk 
I walked back along the other side and look who I found, this motley group.
We then went to the ghost town of Mogollon, once considered the wildest town in the west. Half the adventures of getting to the town was the road. It was 10 miles of a twisty mountain road of which 5 miles are one lane with limited passing opportunities. There is a café and a museum, all were closed when we were there, but it is an interesting former mining town with an interesting history.
Another beautiful day and another “scenic” drive, we went to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. The road from Silver City directly to the site is another beautiful, but twisty mountain road. This time the winding roads didn’t quit and we spent 40 miles with nothing but twists and turns. This is a no fee national monument. Currently, the visitor’s center is closed, but the rangers are stationed at the start of the trail to the cliff dwellings and they are very helpful with questions. The trail is a mile round trip, but there are quite a lot of uphill climbing, steps and a few ladders. Will was not fond of the whole cliff aspect and quickly rushed through the upper portion of the trail. Will’s mom did great and really enjoyed seeing the dwellings except for the tall ladder down where she kept her eyes closed the entire time.
Striking a pose 
Lake Roberts
That was our last night with the extended family. We really enjoyed the outings, the outside grilling, and the great company. Will and I also were supposed to be returning home, but as per usual with 2020, plans change. There was a forest fire that was threatening the town where we live and quite a bit of snow was forecasted in the week to come. So, with those two things going on, we decided to just stay down south a little while longer. That is the great thing about traveling with your home and no real set schedule. It gives you a lot of options.
So, Will and I went back to the City of Rocks and decided to do the Big Tree hike. It’s the Fort Bayard Champion Tree Trail, which takes you to a large alligator juniper tree. For a juniper, it is a really big tree. We decided to head back to the parking lot via a different trail, which took us from the easy 3.5 mile round-trip hike to 6 mile hike.
Ran into a local couple and she was nice enough to take my picture.
You drive through the historic section of Fort Bayard in Santa Clara, NM when getting to the trailhead, so, we stopped for bit to take a look around. The historic district still has a number of buildings. The fort was established in 1866 to provide settlers with protection from the Native Americans and in the early 20th Century it was the Army’s first tuberculosis sanitarium. Tours are also given at certain times, but aren’t currently running because of COVID-19.
A couple of Roadrunners, NM’s state bird.
The snow was coming, so we headed further south to Pancho Villa State Park. This park is located in Columbus, NM, a small town on the border with Mexico. The park is named after Pancho Villa, who was a Mexican revolutionary general. He headed the attack on the US-Mexican border in Columbus in 1916 on Camp Furlong. The Army was successful in causing Villa to retreat back to Mexico, however, the Army never managed to capture Villa. The park is said to be the only park named after a foreign invader in the US. Some of the historic buildings remain from Camp Furlong and there is a museum in the park with a number of exhibits about the battle. The museum and the train depot museum, however, were both closed when we were there. We took a drive east on Hwy 9. This highway follows along the border and at one point my phone welcomed me to Mexico. Guess Mexico has a few more cell towers in range than what the US does along that corridor. We reached Sunland Park and headed north along route 28. It was such a pretty drive through cotton fields and pecan groves. Betcha didn’t know NM grows cotton and that in 2019, NM lead the nation in pecan production.
Tank from 1915 
Coote’s Hill 
We had another beautiful day, so we took advantage and checked out the Borderland Café for lunch. It’s a local restaurant in Columbus. I had the enchilada fries and the pizza is said to be good. Then we did a little wine tasting at the Luna Rossa Winery. You receive a flight of 5 wines served in this cool wine glass stand.
Well, the streak of beautiful fall days that we had been experiencing finally came to an end for us. We woke up to much colder temperatures and snow. It was a good day to just hunker down and watch movies.
We woke up to this. 
And then it just got crazy.
Got up the next morning and you wouldn’t even know it had snowed, if not for the ice still left on the top of our slide out. We were headed back to Rockhound and our favorite camp host, Orville. After a night at Rockhound we were headed back to Albuquerque and finally home. The snow had put a huge damper on the fire and we figured the roads north would be snow free by that point.
Snow on the Florida Mtns 
The moon overlooking the park