Another Hike to the Organ Mts before leaving Las Cruces NM…

Bad weather was heading our way and we really wanted to do another hike in the Organ Mountains. Therefore we set off for a hike to La Cueva. After doing the La Soledad loop yesterday we knew we wouldn’t be able to do a 3.5 mile hike in the time allowed so this shorter 1.5 to 2.0 mile hike is what we chose.

We also left earlier for this hike than originally planned to try be sure we did the hike before the winds and colder air hit us. When we left the sky was still blue and partly cloudy but a rapidly approaching cold front would change all of that. We really hoped to finish the hike before we encountered nasty weather.

The trail rose a bit in elevation and took us to a cave with an interesting story. The cave is a nice first stop on this trail and this is where Giovanni Maria Agostini, the hermit, once lived. The story of this man has been captured in books but if you want to know more about him follow this link. It really is a fascinating story.

Surrounding La Cueva are the La Cueva Rock Formations, along with the Organ Mountains and the Dona Ana Mountains. The panoramic views there were pretty majestic.

We hiked past La Cueva up into the rock formations before we started to see the cold front pushing toward us way out in the desert as a wall of sand was looming. Seeing this convinced us we shouldn’t go any further.

We reversed our course to hurry back to our car and we almost made it before the winds hit. The temperature dropped pretty drastically and the visibility was greatly reduced. We were sure glad we started our hike before all the weather kicked in.

On the way back to the RV park we decided to stop in at one of the highest rated New Mexican restaurants for dinner. However since it was a bit early we decided to go for a craft beer one last time at the Spotted Dog in Mesilla NM. Just down the road after we had a beer we went to La Posta de Mesilla where we each ordered a fabulous New Mexican styled burrito.

We are sure going to miss the New Mexican food and the great craft beer but the road beckons and we must listen…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Las Cruces NM and a Hike to the Organ Mts…

We left Marfa Texas and made the drive over to Van Horn Texas for a one night stop at a Passport America park. It’s a nothing special park but Oasis RV Park & Apartments is just fine for an overnight stay.

The next morning we made a longer than normal drive to avoid some colder weather predicted in the west Texas area. We drove into New Mexico and after 166 miles on the road we were at another Passport America park. The Coachlight Inn Motel & RV doesn’t get great reviews but we have never had any issues while staying there.

    

We originally planned a short stay but due to some windy weather predicted for southern New Mexico we stayed until that weather system moved through. In the meantime we certainly enjoyed our stay in Las Cruces, a town we really like. We had great New Mexican food, played a little disc golf, visited nice breweries and found lots of hikes during our stay.

On a sour note our battery died in the Honda CRV so we drove over to Walmart and luckily our battery was still under warranty for another 90 days. It was great to be able to receive a new one free of charge. I must give additional kudos to the guy who took care of us as we were in and out of there in no time despite the crowd.  Afterward we drove over to Spotted Dog Brewery for a celebratory beverage.

One afternoon with the weather fairly nice but chilly we drove over to the Organ Mountains and hiked the Bar Canyon trail that took us by a small cave. The Organ Mountains are mostly shades of yellow since there have been several freezes in this area already. Interspersed with patches of green the Bar Canyon Trail was a nice 3 mile loop with some elevation though not too extreme.

The mountains were scenic but the area was really dry due to drought conditions. We were still able to find the small waterfall many had mentioned was near the midpoint of our loop. It had a little trickle of water and it made for pleasant sounds as we paused to savor the views..

We will be in Las Cruces a few more days before moving on. We hope for another hike if the weather allows…

Yet another quirky stop in Marfa Texas and a hike at Ft Davis Natl. Monument…

We really enjoyed our brief stopover in Marathon Texas but it became time to move on and our next stop would be in Marfa Texas. Marfa is well known for the Marfa Lights.

"”The Marfa Lights, mysterious glowing orbs that appear in the desert outside the West Texas town of Marfa, have mystified people for generations. According to eyewitnesses, the Marfa Lights appear to be roughly the size of basketballs and are varyingly described as white, blue, yellow, red or other colors. Reportedly, the Marfa Lights hover, merge, twinkle, split into two, flicker, float up into the air or dart quickly across Mitchell Flat.”

We wondered if maybe we would see the Marfa lights?

Our park was the Tumble In RV Park which is a no frills park on the outside of town but it does have an interesting feature nearby that I’ll talk more about later in this blog. Marfa is a county seat and as such has a nice courthouse. The town is also known for being an arts hub and is a bit quirky as well.

We found a small disc golf course in Marfa to play. It had a limited number of baskets and a confusing layout of 18 holes. Even it was a quirky encounter. One that stopped Sharon in her tracks was what appeared to be a Mardi Gras mask buried on a mound of dirt. The course also had a few interesting mandatories (mandos)  to challenge us and we had to smile when we saw some Christmas ornaments decorating the cacti as we played. It was fun.

Close to Marfa is another small Texas town called Fort Davis. We made the drive over to the National Historic Site to tour the fort and take a short 3 mile hike in the hills around it. With several steep climbs we were well above the fort giving us glimpses of what many soldiers and probably Indians may have seen over a 100 years ago.

The hike was scenic, reeked of history and was pretty well maintained. We really enjoyed this hike and as many of you may know about us, once we finish a hike we like to find a spot for a cold beer.

So back to Marfa where made time for a cold beer at the historic Paisano Hotel. It is well known because the entire cast of the movie Giant stayed here. People such as Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Jane Withers, Chill Wills, Mercedes McCambridge and Dennis Hopper.were all there. Pictures taken on the movie set adorn the walls of the lobby and common areas so it was fun to admire them while walking through.

Now back to the Marfa Lights. Did we see them? No, we didn’t but we saw something we thought was cooler. They are called the Actual Contact or the Marfa Pillars. This artistic endeavor began as an idea first constructed at a Burning Man festival and later created in Marfa.

Actual Contact is art that is composed of twelve 10ft steel pillars arranged in a arch adjacent to our RV park so we were able to walk to it. Each 10ft pillar is inscribed with arcane symbols created by the artist Jason WA Tucker.

On each column there are two images, one on each side cut into the pillars.. Inside the pillars are lights that come on at night making the images brilliantly sharp. The illuminated images seemingly float above the desert floor in the dark of night. In the daytime they were simply brown columns with a faint outline of the images seen by day only up close..

So, in a way, YES, we did see the Marfa Lights and they were way cooler than we would have ever imagined.

Quirky Marathon Texas

We left Seminole Canyon and made our way further west. Our next stop was at the Marathon Motel and RV Park in Marathon, TX. Marathon is another little Texas town  we have passed through but never stopped at. It’s not a typical small town in Texas as there is a quirkiness to this town reflecting the population choosing to live there.

We are only staying a couple of nights as we know cold weather can hit us in this part of the USA anytime so we will move through rather quickly to avoid as much cold as we can. Upon arrival we set up and since there was not much of the day left we walked from the RV park into the town of Marathon. The stroll to the town was a pleasant 3/4 mile walk.

There really isn’t a lot to check out in Marathon as it has a population of just under 400 people. However, there are some interesting sights to see. Our first stop was to visit the French Grocer, the only grocery store in Marathon. It wasn’t a typical grocery store as it featured lots of unique items one would expect to see at upscale city stores. It was definitely fun to browse this store.

Another cool spot to check out was the historic Gage Hotel. The hotel is again not one you would expect to see in a small Texas town. The Marathon  Gage Hotel is a higher end hotel complete with a fine dining restaurant and a cool little tavern on premises. Of course one of our two nights we had to try the White Buffalo Bar.

Our last point of interest was a stop at the Brick Vault Restaurant & Brewery. This establishment also makes Bar B Que and recently made the top list of new BBQ places by Texas Monthly magazine. On the Sunday of our visit the BBQ was already sold out but that didn’t stop us from trying their brews, some of which we found to be exceptionally good. Visitors should however be aware that they are only open from Thursday to Sunday.

Before leaving we also made the short drive over to Alpine Texas to pick up a few items and to play a round of disc golf. The disc course is on the campus of Sul Ross State University and while it wasn’t an exceptional course we still had fun playing a round there. Upon leaving we both reflected we were glad we made the effort to explore Marathon, Texas.

Seminole Canyon State Park, TX…

What an unexpected surprise Fort Clark Springs was but it was time to move to our next adventure. Next up, Seminole Canyon State Park, a park we had never been to before but were looking forward to exploring.

The only big negative about staying at this park is there is little to no WIFI or cell service if you have Verizon like we do. Nevertheless we were willing to make the sacrifice for two nights in order to experience this state park in Texas.

While our site was nothing special it did provide spectacular views to the east and west which was perfect for sunrises and sunsets. While it was cloudy a lot during our stay there were still some peeks of color for us to enjoy.

Our first day there we made it in time to set up and to sign up for the Fate Bell Tour which is a guided hike led by a ranger/volunteer. The only way one can see the caves or enter Seminole Canyon is by tour only. The tours cost $8.00 each but we thought the tour was well worth the admission.

Before heading of to our tour we spent some time at the visitor’s center. There was a really nice exhibit at the center worthy of a lengthy visit to get a better feel of what life might have been like when the Native Indians ruled the canyon.

Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and provided some keen insight as to what we were seeing and what might have happened years ago in Seminole Canyon. The Fate Bell tour is a short, less than 2 hour, hike that took us from the visitor’s center down to the Fate Bell overhang with numerous petroglyphs.

The petroglyphs shown are unique in that the style of them are only found along a fifty mile stretch of this canyon. They are colorful, larger and more interesting than the many we have seen throughout the southwest. Walking in the canyon was also delightful as we encountered numerous ephemeral ponds in the canyon complete with frogs, an unexpected sight in the deserts of west Texas.

We thought the tour was great but we wanted to see more so we planned a hike of less than 3 miles along the Pressa Canyon rim. While we didn’t see any more petroglyphs we saw some amazing scenery and lots of wildflowers we didn’t expect to see in December.

While Sharon was working out one afternoon I hopped on my mountain bike and made a 6 mile trek along a dirt and rocky trail down to where Seminole Canyon meets up with the Rio Grande River. Why? Because there is a well known petroglyph in an overhand just before I got to the Rio Grande.

This petroglyph is something special as it is a depiction of a panther and can only be seen with binoculars since it is on the other side of the canyon. A panther you say, what is so special about that? Well this panther is 9 feet wide making this one heck of huge petroglyph and certainly one of the most interesting ones I’ve ever encountered.

Our two days went by fast. While we didn’t have any internet or cell service we did escape the park one night to head back into the town of Comstock where we stopped into the J & L Bar and Café for a cold beverage and some internet signal. But this fun too will end as it will be time to move on once again in the morning.

Fort Clark Springs Texas

We left Canyon Lake mid-morning and made a rather long drive, well at least for us, to Fort Clark Springs in Brackettville, TX. The 173 mile drive also took us through San Antonio around Loop 1604 and we actually drove right past the exit to our son’s house.

Brackettville is a small  two light town and is home to Fort Clark which was once a frontier fort in the mid-1800’s. The fort was built on higher grounds near the the Las Moras Springs ("Mulberry Springs") which are the headwaters of Las Moras Creek.

The fort has seen its fair share of 1800’s American History during the Civil War and during the Indian Wars. It was during the Indian Wars that the Seminole-Negro Indian Scouts were headquartered at Fort Clark from 1870 to 1914. The scouts played a decisive role in the Indian campaigns. And later four of them would receive the Medal of Honor.

Military calvary were stationed at the fort in the remaining years of housing military personnel. During World War II the 112th Cavalry Regiment (Horse) Texas National Guard was stationed there and the fort was even designated as a German prisoner-of-war subcamp. After WWII the fort was officially inactivated in early 1946 and later sold.

Fort Clark Springs is now a  2,700 acre unincorporated community and gated resort. It is a leisure living community and popular with Winter Texans because of the natural beauty surrounding this unique place.

Las Moras Springs discharges an average of 12 -14 million gallons per day. The springs fill a large walled-in area which spills into a 300-foot long swimming pool with 68 degree water year round. The excess flow is diverted to a bypass channel around the pool and helps form the headwaters of Las Moras Creek.

We hiked all along the Las Moras Creek as it is a lush oasis of live oaks, pecans and other woodland species you wouldn’t expect in this arid region. Once a home to Indians it is now home to birds and wildlife. The crystal clear waters make hiking along the creek especially enjoyable.

While we only spent a few days here we certainly enjoyed our stay and would recommend Fort Clark Springs as a nice respite along the long road heading westward in Texas.