Green Aliens, White Sands & Red Rocks in NM

June 28-July 6 Alamogordo, Las Cruces, Mountainair, Albuquerque

We didn't linger long in Roswell. We looked, but the only extraterrestrial aliens we saw were various artistic renditions of possible likenesses. Roswell devotes about two blocks to aliens.

There is a UFO museum we didn't visit because it was too hot to leave the cats in the trailer.

The rest of Roswell looks pretty ordinary if not banal. We saw peacocks in a park where we had lunch. One walked by the trailer and looked at the cats. They looked back. When Neptune heard the peacock's unusual call, he dove behind the couch.

Speaking of green aliens, there are plenty in Alamogordo, south of Roswell. Native to certain places in Central Asia and the Mediterranean, pistachios are grown in the US mainly in California with about 2% grown in a few places in NM and AZ. They thrive in Alamogordo's hot, dry climate. We toured the Eagle Ranch pistachio farm and tasted different pistachio "flavors". Come to think of it,  "green aliens" are everywhere, not just NM! Alamogordo is a dry, dusty place. In fact, the horizon in southern NM was so hazy it looked smoggy, but it's the wind kicking up dust.

 People slide down sand dunes in White Sands National Monument on round plastic sleds. We didn't have sleds, so we went on a hike.

The very white, very fine sand is comprised of gypsum. We tried to go early, but the trails were closed because of military testing, so we went mid-day and trudged up and down the soft sand dunes while trying to follow trail markers. Although the air temperature was only 103o, the sand made it feel more like 150o or so. After about 20 minutes of this, I had had enough and turned back, barely making it back to the car without succombing to heat exhaustion.

The following day we had a much more tolerable hike on the Cloudcroft Rail Trail, 4,000' higher and 20o cooler than Alamogordo. Built in the late 1800's, the railroad transported tourists and timber to and from Cloudcroft and Alamogordo.

It was a pretty trail in the Sacramento Mountains to the restored Mexican Canyon train trestle, the last of 58 wooden trestles on this rail line.

Our next stop was Las Cruces where we visited the White Sands Missile Range museum. David found the V-2 missile exhibit most interesting. Built by the Germans in WWII, the first long-range ballistic missile had its own building and succinct, informative displays.

A mishmash of other historical exhibits, military and otherwise, was in another building, and a huge collection of various outdated missiles was outside.

Las Cruces is bigger than Alamogordo and seemed more prosperous. We went to the NM State University campus and saw the small, striking Zuhl collection of petrified wood, rocks, minerals and fossils. The colorful petrified wood was pure art. We looked in at the Chili Institute, but there was nothing to see there. We learned that there are always a few NMSU grad students studying various properties of the many varieties of chilies.

We spent a few minutes at Mesilla, a restored, old town with lots of galleries and gift shops surrounding a plaza. Not much was happening when we were there.

The following day we drove 3 hours north along the interstate, a pleasant, scenic drive, past wide expanses of land with nothing on them except a few cows and even fewer horses. Once off the interstate, quite a few ramshackle huts lined the road before we reached Mountainair, about an hour south of Albuquerque. Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument is here, comprised of three separate sites. First we watched the video and read the displays at the visitor's center,

then we drove 25 miles to Gran Quivira where ruins of homes, kivas and churches in the striking high desert are all that remains of a vibrant Indian community of thousands.

As the story goes, Spanish Franciscan missionaries arrived in the early 1600s to convert the local Indians to Christianity, insisting on total allegiance and obedience.

They demanded that the Indians give up their traditional beliefs and cultural practices, build churches and provide food and labor for the priests. The Spanish king's men also demanded tribute and labor from the Indians and argued with the priests over who had dominion over the Indians. All this led to a breakdown in traditional farming practices, shortage of food and starvation among the Indians.

The Indians incorporated aspects of Christianity within their existing beliefs, but this did not appease the priests. They insisted that local traditions be replaced entirely, so the Indians had to resort to holding traditional ceremonies in secret. Within about 50-70 years, people were starving to death, and the pueblos were abandoned. Now it's a remote and peaceful location to visit.

The same story was told at Abo ruins, which basically was a church in ruins made of very red rocks near an arroyo, where villagers had gotten their water.

The Quarai site was only nine miles from our campsite, so we went there the following morning. We got there before the ranger and saw a huge rabbit as big as a dog. It turned out to be a black-tailed jack rabbit, which is actually a type of hare.

It was a peaceful, remote site smelling of desert juniper. We walked the 1/2-mile trail around large church ruins and a few other mounds. Then we drove the back road through a varying desert landscape and the Manzano mountains to Albuquerque, which sits in a wide, flat desert valley surrounded by mountains.

First we visited Petroglyph National Monument, which consists of three sites located a few miles from one another. All of them are located alongside urban residential neighborhoods, making for an interesting contrast. Only two of the sites were open.

Boca Negra Canyon had 3 short trails among black rocks,

with about  100 primitive-looking petrogyphs.

The main trail was steep and crowded.

Piedras Marcadas Canyon had a long, flat, sandy trail and fewer people.

After we had walked awhile, we saw a jack rabbit, then another and another.

The farther we walked, the more we saw. We also saw cottontails. There were a lot of petroglyphs. That evening Neptune insisted on going on a walk until he heard the fireworks. He took refuge behind the couch for the rest of the evening.

Our next day in ABQ we rode our bikes 34 miles on the Paseo del Bosque river trail, which follows the Rio Grande (not so grande here). It was pleasant, flat, paved and sunny. The trail borders a pretty preserve on one side and residential areas, parks and a zoo on the other. Lots of people were out. I saw a roadrunner at the beginning of the trail. It was a beautiful day and not too hot.

After going out to lunch at a New Mexican restaurant near our campground, we went to Historic Old Town.

It was hopping with tourists. Some people were giving performances on stage in the plaza--young boys reciting stories, woman singing yodeling country music. We walked around the plaza, looked in a few shops, unsuccessfully looked for an inexpensive "Walter" t-shirt and then went to CostCo and Trader Joe's.

On our last day in ABQ, we drove 45 min north to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. It was a nice, sunny day, not too hot in the morning although it did get hotter as the day wore on. It seemed an isolated area, but when we got there, there were a lot of people.

We drove first to the Veterans' Memorial Scenic Overlook over a 3.5-mile rough gravel road and through a river bed.

When we returned to the main parking area, it was full, so we had to park in the bus area. There were hordes of people, and it seemed like everyone was talking very loudly and kids were crying or carrying on--not the ambience you'd expect or  desire in such a place. We started the 1.2 mile Cave Loop trail, which connects to the 1.3 mile Slot Canyon trail, which is supposed to be very difficult. A lot of little kids and overweight adults were heading up the trail, so I figured I should at least try it until it got too difficult. Well, it wasn't really that difficult, and it was so scenic that you just wanted to keep going.

The trail wound its way through canyons, in and around tent rock formations,

through narrow passages

and up to the mesa. Some places were so crowded you had to wait for people to pass. It did get pretty steep a few times, but I made it the whole way and walked out to the farthest point.
The hardest part for me was coming back from the point, because by then it was so hot.

I think I took over 100 photos on this hike.

I could post them all, but it's better if you just go there yourself. All in all a great hike, in spite of the crowds.

After that we went to the inappropriately-named Coronado State monument in Bernalillo where there had been a Tiwa Indian pueblo. The best and maybe only intact murals from the 1500s were found in a kiva, removed and put on display in the museum. They're not really clear but still interesting. The Kiva was repaired, and a local Indian, much to the chagrin of his pueblo, accurately repainted the murals where they had been. A docent took us into the Kiva to see the murals. Other people kept coming down so that we had to hear the same explanation over and over again. The docent kept looking at me and asking me what I was thinking and what questions I had. I was thinking it was hot and stuffy in the kiva, and I wanted to know if I could leave! (I didn't tell him that.)

Then we walked around by ourselves, looked at the reconstructed site, what there was of it, and read panels explaining what life had been like in the pueblo. The Rio Grande was closeby.