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[Alaskan Snowbirds]

In the morning we did some exploring and bird hunting near Old Hachita. The dirt road from NM 9 to Old Hachita crossed the Continental divide trail.



Old Hachita was a mining town that moved to the present location at the junction of NM 9, NM 81 and NM 146. There’s a good write-up about Old Hachita at: http://home.swbell.n.../oldhachita.htm .




Ghost towns and old cabins or farms always make us wonder who lived and worked there and what it would have been like to live there during its heyday.

[Alaskan Snowbirds]

“Composite” construction was used in most of the buildings…adobe over stone. It’s held up better than some of our modern materials.



This pile of rock is probably tailings from the mining operation.

[Alaskan Snowbirds]

We could see Hachita across the valley from Old Hachita.



The contrast in colors in this open country was interesting.



After looking at Old Hachita we headed for the area the BP officer mentioned might be worthwhile to hunt, and the old (snow)birds took to the field.



Sure enough, up went a small covey of quail, but no dinner tonight…the old (slow) bird couldn’t produce.

We tried to put that covey up again for a couple of hours then headed back to the truck. I stepped on what I thought was a nail was a mesquite thorn that went through the sole of my walking shoe and about half an inch into the sole of my foot. After I pulled it out of my shoe with a pair of pliers I found two more in the heel of my shoe that I couldn’t get out even with the pliers. From then on I took the time to put hard soled hiking boots on before I went off trail.

Spending a few hours hiking with purpose and putting up a few birds was a joy even though we didn’t produce. We will probably come back and stay a few nights here next time.

[Alaskan Snowbirds]

Next day we headed to Carlsbad, NM. It was a wet and windy drive, especially through the Guadalupe Mountains. I’d guess the combined wind speed and truck speed during some gusts was around 125 to 150 MPH and I was concerned about the camper but no apparent problems.

We spent the next few days being tourists and dodging high winds by staying in motels for a couple nights and going underground in the Caverns on the worst day.

We visited Living Desert, a zoo/arboretum with plants and animals that live in the local area. I lost photos of some of the few remaining Mexican Wolves that are being cared for there, but I did get a flick of “Lena Javelina”. Fisherman's pig cooker might be overkill for this little porker.



The second night in Carlsbad we stayed at Brantley Reservoir State Park about 12 miles north of Carlsbad. This campground was well maintained and nicely laid out, like all the NM State Parks we stayed in, but it was newer than the others and the showers/restrooms were nicer.

Brantley Reservoir is an impoundment of the Pecos River. Crossing the Pecos on the way to the campground brought back memories of a book called “Pecos Bill” that I had as a little kid.

Unfortunately, we had camera brain damage at Brantley, as well as our next few stops, and didn’t take any pictures…duh. There is a nice, short, write-up and some flicks of Brantley, Living Desert and Carlsbad at: http://www.savvycamper.com/exp-28.html

The next morning we were at the caverns before noon and took a guided tour of the “Kings Room” and “Queens Chamber” before we did a self guided tour through the natural entrance and the “Big Room”.



The walk through the natural entrance into the Big Room was our favorite. The third photo above is looking back at the entrance from inside the Caverns.

[Alaskan Snowbirds]

We’d been in the Caverns 38 years ago, just after we were married, on our way to my army duty station in Maryland.




We had forgotten how impressive the caverns are (these photos don’t even come close) and were glad we decided to stop again.

Leesburg State Park, just north of Las Cruces was our next stop. It’s located in a subdivision and our site overlooked warehouses. Nice facilities though.

We gassed up and had tires rotated at Costco in W. Tucson. We found Catalina State Park full and restrictions on off grid camping on state trust land so ran for Pepper Sauce USFS(?) campground about 10 miles past Oracle, AZ. It was dark when we set camp and we couldn’t really tell much about the campground. In the morning we found huge sycamore and walnut trees and a pleasant camp with a little snow around. We enjoyed relaxing here a bit while we got ready to head back to S. Arizona

[Alaskan Snowbirds]

Organpipe National Monument and the area around Why and Ajo is one of our favorite spots. The organpipe cactus (unique to this area in the US), variety of wildlife, easy access to saltwater at Rocky Point, Mexico (if we ever get that far), AND the best rotisserie chicken we’ve ever had from the Ajo IGA :thumb: Downside is smuggling and illegal immigration.

We stayed the first three nights at the main Organpipe Monument campground.



The first evening there was a good talk by local volunteers and rangers on the birds in the area. We were enjoying learning about the desert plants and birds/animals. We also enjoyed learning about the stars that we don’t get to see very often in Juneau.

The second day we drove Ajo Mountain Loop. The loop is a good dirt road that runs 20+/- miles through desert at the base of low mountains.

[Alaskan Snowbirds]

Ajo Loop has good mountain views and trailheads for hiking along the route.

[Alaskan Snowbirds]

There are a lot of cactus and shrubs there too.



The ocotillo and desert shrubs were starting to bloom.




We always enjoyed seeing the Teddy Bear Cholla but Susan tried to give the Chain (Jumping) Cholla a wide berth, but She still managed to get wound up with a couple that drew blood when I pulled them out.

[Alaskan Snowbirds]

Flowers were blooming in February (3’ of snow in Juneau).



I think this shrub is called Mexican Jumping Bean, but it doesn’t produce the beans by that name we normally think of.

[Alaskan Snowbirds]

Plenty of birds too. We'd learned about this Phainopepla (silky black flycatcher) the night before.



We thought Phainopepla was a lot like a black western blue jay but with very good manners.

At the main Organpipe campground we met folks from NM with a FWC Hawk on their F-150 and enjoyed talking to them. They were retired too and traveled a lot in their FWC. She had been reluctant to travel long term but after the first trip she said she missed being out when they went home. Same here.

Rod and Karen were also FWC folks but were in their Casita trailer when we met them. It turned out Rod taught school in Juneau and lived across Lena Cove from us for 20 years. He had worked on remodeling a home 3 houses down the beach from us. We met for the first time at Organpipe. They live on their sailboat in Olympia, Washington, and travel in their FWC and Casita. Small world.

Rod told us about a small campground called Alamo Canyon, part of Organpipe NM. It was in a more remote spot and restricted to tents and small rigs with no generators. We spent the next two nights there.




No showers at Organpipe and we thought this would be a good time to try out our portable outhouse and outside shower.




Susan was a little concerned about backlighting with other camps near (there are 4 campsites at Alamo Canyon) so I checked it and found nobody was going to get a “free shot” but hung a towel on the downstream side to make her feel more comfortable anyway. It took less than a gallon each for a decent shower, and felt great after not having one for a few days.