Quebradas, Water Canyon, and San Mateo Mts.

It doesn't take long for us to get restless, with the itch to go somewhere. Last weekend saw us make our way north towards Socorro. We left Las Cruces in the early afternoon on Friday and hit the Quebradas BackCountry Byway near Socorro. The byway can be accessed two ways: north of Socorro from the Escondida exit, or south of Socorro on U.S. 380, 11 miles east of San Antonio. We opted to take the southern route, which is accessed from County road A-129. 24 miles of dirt road and New Mexico backcountry awaited us.



The road ahead. Beginning of the byway from the south end.




Some people call this area "Little Utah," probably because of the red clay interspersed throughout the drive.




Water out in the desert; a rare sight...


After completing the byway drive and a quick stop in Socorro to pick up a few forgotten items, we made our on U.S. 60 towards Magdalena. Water Canyon campground was our destination, a few miles before Magdalena. A nice campground, and it was a beautiful evening. However, we were camped in a canyon, and the wind began to blow soon after retiring for the evening. As the night went on, the winds blew harder. Neither Marie or I got much sleep until the winds finally died down around 2 or 3 in the morning. Lilly slept right through it, though, which is normal for her.



After some delicious breakfast burritos the following morning, we headed up a road near the campground that leads to South Baldy Peak and the Langmuir Laboratory, which conducts atmospheric research.

Road to the top.


Getting close to the top.


Laboratory Buildings




http://www.ee.nmt.edu/~langmuir/

After coming back down the mountain and gassing up in Magdalena, we headed out to New Mexico state highway 52 and the Very Large Array. We had intended to check out the visitor center at the VLA but they were giving guided tours that day and there were a lot of people there. So, we decided to skip it and head down NM 52. We then made our way on some forest roads up into the San Mateo Mts. where we ate lunch, then made our way back out to 52 and back to the interstate towards home.

Very Large Array


http://www.vla.nrao.edu/

NM 52


In the San Mateo Mountains.








Parting shot.