Bush Leagues 1st overland adventure. New Mexico/Arizona/Utah. With only the minimal amout of gear and rig upgrades, we went after our adventure. I will do another post to outline our rig and the gear we took on this trip. That's a story all by itself. For now, we'll just tell you about the trip.
Departure Day. If you've read our "About Us" section, then you know this day was a long time in the making. We spent months talking about and planning this trip. In fact, just three months prior, everything about the trip was still in question. Cliff had decided to work the summer in Ketchikan, AK. Matt was now expecting a child, so he had to miss the entire trip. And I was in the midst of changing positions at work. The entire trip was falling apart. Then during one of the many conversations we had via text, Cliff and I decided to just make it happen. We committed to "the trip". I hadn't finished all the upgrades I had planned for my rig. We still did not have all the gear we had planned to purchase. All we had was a route, a truck, and a whole lot of want-to. Dont misunderstand, we didnt completely throw caution to the wind in order to go. We didn't comprimise our safety. We didn't run head long down trails that were more than we could handle. But we did not compromise what we were after, either. Adventure. We gave ourselves realistic goals. We kept our expectations of the trails we could handle grounded. We prepared the best we could. And we went after it.
So when the day arrived, we pointed my beloved rig west and left north alabama headed for our chosen starting point - Roswell, NM. The excitement on our faces is all one needs to see to know and understand how we were feeling...
Somewhere southwest of Dallas, TX about 12hrs later.
Still too excited to sleep, we took a break from the road to stretch and watch a little Crimson Tide football. Roll Tide!! We're from Alabama... We live for College football in the fall.
We made it to Roswell that night. And camped at Bottomless Lakes State Park. And woke to our first views of New Mexico.
How could anyone go to Roswell and not stop here.... We all have a nerdy side.
One of the biggest things that struck me on that first day in New Mexico was the diversity of landscapes. From vast and beauitul countryside with mountains so far away I couldnt even attempt to estimate how far away they were...
To high mountain lakes
And views that belong on post cards. New Mexico is far more beatiful than we ever expected.
Making our way through the White Mountain wilderness, the vast open scenery gave way to higher altitudes and mountains. It was here that we had our first run in with something that I would wrestle with for the entire trip. Switchbacks.
Jornada del Muerto was one of the trails I had truly been looking forward to. The stories of the people who traveled this harsh area by foot are fascinating. With only a few miles of it under our belts, we hit our first real setbacks. The rain we had drove through the day before, had turned this lowlying section of the trail into a small lake. And after testing a few spots in the wet sand, we had make a tough decision. One of the drawbacks to being a one rig convoy? When the trail gets sketchy, its best to play it safe. Getting stranded in such remote locations is not a small thing here. The desert is a very unforgiving place. We decided not to attempt it, and had to scratch the rest of the Jornada del Muerto trail off the to do list. It was very disappointing but there was still so much to see, I didnt cry for too long.
So we backtracked and resigned ourselves to spend the night at Valley of the Fires recreational area. Where New mexico gave us our first reminder that New Mexico is a rugged place, and one needs to pay attention ALWAYS. This little guy spent some time at our campsite, much to Cliff's dismay, before heading off into the ancient lava flows, presumably to find his own dinner.
The next moring brought some predawn beauty that I honestly was not expecting. The sunrises and sunsets we enjoyed during this trip were some of the most memorable of my entire 47 years.
So with Jornada del Muerto scratched off the list, that gave us time to add a destination that we previously felt was too far off our route. White Sands, New Mexico. Yes, a little touristy, but well worth the detour. And lets face it, we were tourists.
A full of history, and if you happen after enjoying the views of White Sands National Monument, we made our way up to Truth or Consequences to hit the next leg of our route. Chloride Canyon, Chloride New Mexico. Though I did not get any pictures, Chloride is full of history. If you happen to be there during the day, stop at the museum and take a break. Then buckle up and get back on the trail. Chloride canyon turned out to be my favorite leg on the trip. A winding trail that seened to have been born of an overlander's dreams. Creek crossings, rocks, creek crossings, wildlife, petroglyphs, stunning views, old mines, and just about anything else you could inmagin.e
And once you come out of the canyon itself, the trail isnt even close to over. We wound our way up out and out of the canyon (more switchbacks) and into the mountains of the Gila Wilderness where we crossed the continental divide. And as luck would have it, we spotted this cabin on it.
Just a truly beautiful place. And if you are into travelling to remote places, give Chloride Canyon a try. We drove for 7 hrs that day with out seeing another vehicle, person or generally any sign of humans at all, save the tracks we were on and the petroglyphs.
When we finally did make it back to paved roads, New Mexico taught us another very important lesson. Open range cattle. If you are traveling after dark slow down. We nearly hit this poor cow. She looks terrified.
Point being... black cows on the road after dark. Not a good combination. You dont want the trip to be over before its over. Always be safe.
After bedding down for the night, we continued on through the Gila wilderness, we soon found ourselves on an old rocky logging road. That logging road was so rough, we nearly turned around more than once. But finally we persevered and were rewarded with more of natures beauty. We were at about 9600ft and found ourselves in complete awe of this view. We spend most of our days around 600ft above see level here where we live so a view like this is one we won't soon forget.
We finished this old logging road and found ourselves at our last stop in Reserve, New Mexico. Next stop - Arizona.
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