Location: Brantley Lake State Park, Carlsbad, NM
First stop this morning was at "New Mexico's Best Rated Farmer's Market." Turns out - not so much. The market is held on Wed. and Saturdays. The Saturday one is 7 blocks long and has lots of fresh produce vendors. Today's was mainly craftsmen. While it was fun to see their wares we were more in the market for fresh produce. We did manage to pick up some fresh spinach and pecans, a local favorite around here. There are many pecan groves that dot the surrounding area. Next in order was a trip to White Sands National Monument. We didn't have high expectations for this field trip and gosh were we wrong! The visitor center is adobe style and built by the WPA in the mid 1930's. The exhibits and film were really interesting and got us excited about exploring the dunes. Several people were buying sleds to slide down the dunes. We seriously thought about it, but opted instead for the one mile hike that led us over several dunes and through an interdunal area. We were amazed that we had the "trail" to ourselves until we figured out that it was high noon and 94 degrees in the blazing heat. (The ranger warned us against taking the 3 mile and 5 mile hikes, you'd think we would've had a clue). The saving grace was the wind. It was blowing so hard that we didn't notice how hot it was - at first. This hike was absolutely fascinating! We saw tracks from lots of different animals, learned about the flora and fauna in the area and got a close up feel for the amazing beauty of these gypsum sands. What I found most interesting was that the sand is not hot at all. I kept expecting it to feel like the beach when you are hopping on one foot to the other and yelling, "ouch, ouch, ouch" as you get to the ocean. Here the sand is rather cool. Turns out that there is water at approximately 12 in. under the sand! When you bury your hands in the sand it actually feels quite cool. I was goofing off and pretending that I had been crawling across the desert in search of water (yes, Ned documented this) and was quite surprised at the cool, moist feel a few inches below the surface of the sand. We continued to explore the park and enjoyed watching some others sledding. The picnic areas in the midst of the sand dunes look surreal and like a science fiction movie. Turns out this park is quite the little gem.
Leaving the park and heading East we assumed we would be traveling through more of the same arid landscape as is so much of New Mexico. Instead, we drove over the Sacramento Mountains, to an elevation of 8400 feet, and were delighted with the town of Cloudcroft. This scenic drive had cherry farms and apple orchards, lots of interesting rock formations and tons of coniferous trees. We were so fascinated by this little gem that we did a little research on it. Turns out Froders rated it in 2002 as the number 3 most overlooked and underrated destination spot. We concur! Unfortunately, after leaving the Sacramento Mountains we were again greeted by parched landscape and dry hot winds. We passed through a little town called "Hope", which actually seemed quite hopeless. We expected the same when we drove into Artesia. Much to our amazement it had a thriving downtown and we thought there must be a university there when we spotted the football stadium. Turns out the Artesia High School Bulldogs have been State Champions 25 or so times. This town takes their high school football very seriously. Go Bulldogs.
Our final destination, Lake Brantley, was supposed to be an oasis in the desert. Hmmm. The lake has all but dried up and instead of having a campsite on the water it's a good mile away. (See one of the pics). This however did not deter us from attempting to cool off from the parching 95 degree sun. We rode our bikes to the boat ramp, inflated our floaties, and plopped ourselves in the mud puddle. The wind thwarted our attempts to go more than a few feet offshore. Nevertheless, a good time was had by all.
