White Sands and Bluff Springs

Once again (this happens a lot) we felt the itch to go to the mountains. We decided to make our way to Cloudcroft, New Mexico, which sits 9,ooo feet above sea level, 16 miles from Alamogordo. Deciding to take another route, we headed south towards El Paso and took the transmountain road through the Franklin Mountains. From there it's about an hour drive through part of the Ft. Bliss Military Reservation to Alamogordo. We drove through an old town, Orogrande, which has some interesting old buildings, most of them abandoned. After lunch in Alamogordo, we started the climb up to Cloudcroft, noting the snow on the desert landscape as we gained elevation. There is a small tunnel on the road, with a pullout to view the Tularosa Basin below. After reaching Cloudcroft, we took NM highway 130, then another road that leads to our destination in mind, Bluff Springs. Bluff Springs gets its name from the fact that the water from the spring flows over a cliff down into the creek below. It was beautiful up there, and it was good to see snow again. It was strange to be able to drive a mountain road on the 30th of December. After working our way back down to Alamogordo, we stopped at White Sands National Monument. This place is very cool, and we hope to return and maybe do some sledding.

Bluff Springs

White Sands