Sunday, May 24, 2009

Initial Excusion into the Linclon National Forest

Sheryl just finished a mid shift at the hospital, so I figured I get out of her hair so she could sleep. Decided to take a quick trip into the forest and get a general feel for it. Great thing about the ted forest only being a few minutes away!!! The Lincoln is very diverse in it's geography, from desert foothills to alpine mountains, rolling hills to jagged rock faced mountains and everything in between.

The trip started with leaving the desert floor and heading up.

The foothills give way to more rocky mountains.

The first real roads you can travel off the mainroad are located higher into the tree line, Karr Cyn Rd, is paved for a few miles and then turns to gravel as it enters the NF. The road is several miles long and at about 3/4 in the Aspen tree suddenly begin to appear. Nice change as you gain elevation.


Once off Karr Cyn, it was pavement till Russia Cyn Rd, which would take me close to the village of Cloudcroft at just over 8000 feet, up from 4000 in Alamogordo. Cloudcroft is a nice little mountain village, with all the typical tourist shops and eateries. (more on Cloudcroft in a future post)




On the way back down from Cloudcroft is the historic remains of a once vibrant railroad. The rest of the railroad bed has be taken over by the Rails to Trails organization. The trestle is all that remains today.




In the picture above you can see the White Sands National Park in the distance (more to come on White Sands in a future post also) That's it for the short jaunt to explore just a small section of the forest, much more to see and you'll see it here as we head out on many great adventures.

Were Herrrrre, Alamogordo NM that is

We finally made the move to the great desert southwest, Alamogordo NM. Other than a few loose ends back in Amarillo, we are here to stay for the time being. Why in the middle of "no where NM" you ask, well simply put, Work. Sheryl excepted the position of ER Charge Nurse for the local hospital. We weighed the different options of various other locations and Alamogordo fit our needs both financially and life style. For those of you not familiar with the area, Alamogordo is situated between the Lincoln National Forest at the foot of the Sacramento Mountains and White Sands National Park approximately 1 1/2 hours north of El Paso, TX. and just a few miles from Hollowman AFB.
Sheryl found us a great house to rent, here at the foot of the mountains.
View from the driveway.
View from the back patio.

Thats all for now, as we get settled in. Take care and see ya next time.