Boxing in Otero County

Last night I got things ready so that this morning I could head over the mountains into Otero County, more specifically Cloudcroft and Alamogordo. I had about an hour and a half to two hours of driving to reach Cloudcroft from Las Cruces. It was a pleasant and relaxing drive and I enjoyed the views.

I arrived in Cloudcroft and immediately headed to Sunspot. Sunspot is south of Cloudcroft high up in the Sacramento Mountains. I took NM130 for a short distance before turning onto NM Scenic Byway 6563 heading up into the mountains. It was about 16 miles on this beautiful winding road up to the National Solar Observatory. As I climbed higher up the temperature was dropping - by the time I reached the Visitors Center at 9200 feet the temperature was 34 degrees. I put on a jacket and hat before stepping out of the car. My first order of business was to get my Alphabetical New Mexico: N (National Solar Observatory) box planted. I walked around a little and found a nice place for this box. By the time I finished writing out the clues my hands and feet were freezing. So I decided to go into the Visitors Center and look around and see the exhibits. After about an hour up in the mountains I headed back down to Cloudcroft. Once back in Cloudcroft I made my way to Burro Street. I parked and followed the clues to find Reach for the Clouds. I found the box and went to a bench to sit and stamp in - it was a beautiful and relaxing morning in Cloudcroft. Once the box was back in place it was time to head back to Alamogordo.

As I drove NM82 I enjoyed the incredible landscape - this is such a beautiful drive. There is a tunnel you go through around High Rolls and on the west side of the tunnel is a parking area with some great views of a canyon and White Sands far in the distance. There also happens to be a letterbox there. So I took some pictures and then found the letterbox. I stamped in while in the car and then rehid the box and then continued my drive to Alamogordo.

Last night I had read through all the clues for boxes in Alamogordo and put them in a little bit of order so that I wasn't backtracking back and forth through town. I also had two boxes to plant here and do a little maintenance for Astro D. So with my plan in hand I started boxing in Alamogordo. My first stop was for The Gun. This was a quick drive by near NM82, but it was a little hard to be stealthy as the box was hidden right off the main road in Alamogordo and there were cars going by constantly. I did my best, found the box and took it back to the car to stamp in. I used my camera pretending to take pictures while retrieving and hiding the box. Next I headed up to the New Mexico Museum of Space History. This is where I had to most to do - hide two boxes, find one and do maintenance on another. I decided I wanted to get my two boxes hidden first. I walked around but it was hard to find a spot near the museum. There is an area off to the left side past all the rockets but Astro D has her box hidden there and the other box I was going to look for is almost right on top of that one. So I thought I should go away from these two boxes. I stumbled upon a wrought iron arch way that said "Indian Wells Trail" and I was elated. The two boxes I planted - Alphabetical New Mexico: X (X Prize) and Alphabetical New Mexico: H (Ham the Space Chimp) are spaced about an 1/8th of a mile apart from each other. Which means that you only have to walk a total of a half mile round trip. The trail does have some ups and downs with some stone steps here and there on the first part. All in all I would say it is a pretty easy hike with some great views. And I was glad to have found a spot away from the museum and all the people. After getting these two boxes hidden I returned to the museum and headed for Astro D's box so I could replace the logbook for her. After getting that done I read the clues for the box I wanted to find. The clues stated to start from Astro D's box and walk SW. I found this box literally ten steps away from Astro D's - I don't think that is right. I really feel that this person should move there box a little futher away. Anyway, I stamped in and rehid the box and was ready to move on.

I spent about another hour in Alamogordo finding three more boxes in town and one more box just outside of town on my way back to Las Cruces. I had a pretty enjoyable day, the weather was nice and the wind decided to take a break today. When I got back to the hotel Thomas and I went out for dinner and then back to the hotel to rest. Tomorrow - another short trip and a little more letterboxing.

Oh, and I forgot about the fire. As I was heading back into Las Cruces I could see smoke in the mountains. I stopped and took some pictures. Later I found out that this it the Abrams Fire in the Organ Mountains.