Tex-Mex Trip Days 5-7

Amy has done quite a good job of chronicling the last few days in southeast New Mexico and western Texas. All I can say about Carlsbad Caverns is: WOW! And for Guadalupe Mountains: sunny, dry, scenic, and extremely windy!!! But a good leg of the trip nonetheless.

(the campsite without the violent gusts)

Now, on further south to Big Bend for several days of hiking and camping along the Rio Grande...

The Tex-(New)Mex Trip: Days 1-4

After the first three nights of our trip through southern New Mexico and southwest Texas, we've finally made it to a motel for a night. Without much detail, we started in El Paso and made camp the first night at Elephant Butte State Park (sunrise at the campsite above).  On Day 2, we headed into the mountains and saw the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array (VLA).

Night time landed us at yet another great campground, the Valley of Fires Recreation Area...

And after a couple-hour drive, we headed south to a truly amazing sight: White Sands National Monument.  The gypsum sands looked like Alaska full of snow, but the sun was shining and the weather warm.

This morning began with a 2.5-mile hike with great views over White Sands and the valley below.  The Osha Trail was a good warmup for some of the longer and steeper ones we'll be experiencing later in the trip.  But we will probably find it hard to come across the amount of snow we hiked on today...

Tomorrow morning after a good night's sleep in our motel bed, we're off to Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains.